St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-12-30
TEACHING AND TEACHERS.
President Northrup's Topic Las
N,ebt..An Interesting Address.


President Northrup's Topic Last
Night-.An Interesting Address
The ninth annual session of the Mime
sofa Educational association opened laSC
evening in the hall of the house OF repre-.
sentatiyes with the president, L. j. Gray OIL
G. Cloud. in the chair. The exercises
opened with music followed with prayer Dy
Rev. Forbes of the Jackson street NJ Il.
! church. The balance OF the evening SEES
sion was occupid by Cyrus Nortnrup' presl-
dent of the State university WHO was M
troduced by President Gray. VINO t tG' co for
bis tonic Teaching and Teachers. Inc 1ol-
in,,,iUa ic an abstract of his address:
We meet as a convention OF teachers, 10
take counsel with one another as TO no"
we NAV become more successful in our work.
With some of YOU the question OF success
or failure is settled Others are just De-
ginning and have the problem still before
Them The interchange of ideas ana eX-
nerience. the ouickening OF NINA Dy colh-
munion with mind, and especially the sug-
gastion of new methods of work are stlrlu-
lating and helpful. An assoclatloh lihe
this should lift the teacher out OF tne ruts
and start him on a course which SililI na'o
for him some beauty, interest ana utility.
There are many employmentS III WHICH
men and women engage with Hltle or ho
other thought than that OF securing lhe lheaiiS
of Iivelihood. 1t matters not to the pubic
,rbatbar they are fitted for their employ
mont or NOT and the test of their success Is
nrosperity. There are other employlientS
whose relation to the pubic weilafe Is So
positive-in which the highest interests OIL
society are intrusted that no one should ell
gage in them solely from
MONETARY CONSIDERATIONS,
and in which lack of ability, skill or fidelity
work irreparable evil, such in the most
eminent degree is teaching. Society as
well as the gospel suffers from incapaclty
and unfaithfulnesS of poor teacher. 10
ACCOMPLISH much that is necessary to the
public veal. the state confidently looks to
the teacher. 1t is a grave responsibility
which the teacher assumes ana no one
should become a teacher without deep
consciousness of the responsibility. some
persons admirably adapted to teacn Go not
do good work because of moral inertia. Inc
teacher who knows enough and can lmpart
it. who can keep up his own and awaken
the pupils enthusiasm, has call TO be
teacher-as much Of call as ever man had
to preach-and he who has this call can enter
on his work feeling that he is working on
that which is immortal, and the impress OF
his work will be imperishable. Those who
engage in this work should have special
training, and should carry on this
general education, as far as pos
sible. in the highest institutions OF
learning in their reach. SO much OF the
work of the teacher is sodefinitely arranged
for him that there is but little opportunity
for him to exercise his wisdom, or put in
practice his theories respecting the proper
order for the development OF the faculties.
The personality Of every person so effects
what he saws and does that we can seldom
tell what the effect of one persons saying
or doing thing will be, from knowing
what was the effect when another person
did or said it, The results of
THE SAME METHODS
in two teachers would be different, because
of the absence or presence of some charm
in the personality of the teacher. 1t is i'm
portant to make this personality as attract
i've as possible, closely connected with the
personality of the teacher are neatness of
person, pleasantnesS Of manner and the APP
pearance of the schoolroom. ManifeStly
one of the most important requirements of
a teacher is the matter and manner of his
speech. | regard correctness of speech and
true copiouSness of the dctiOn as among
the most necessary qualifications of the
teacher. The children OF the common
schools with their various degrees of re-
finement and various qualities OF mind and
body are to control the political, moral, So
cial. intellectual and religious life of our
commonwealth. They are in your hands
What will you do with them? What may
you not do with them? There is moral
reason for insisting on correctness of speech
and richness of dction. In every
properly conducted school exercise, there
are two processes going forward at the
ssme time-one seen, the other unseen.
One may be recitation in geography, the
other Quickening of all the higher facul-
ties of the being. The one may be accom-
plished by clear exposition of the text
book; the other can only be accomplished
by the teachers becoming an example in
speech and manner and thought of what
the scholars ideal should be-a perpetual
guide and iuspirer alive to all things BEAU
tiful and noble. And no teacher can be
this whose speech is full of improprieties
or whose vocabulary is meagre. These
things are important as a part of a teachers
personality. They are the means by
which the teacher exhibits to his
pupils his mind and heart, just as by the
features of his face, he presents himself as
recognizable being, and neither should be
uncouth or repulsive. 1t is the duty of the
teacher TO help the pupil to rise above his
surroundings-out of the inferiority in
which he may have been born-to fit him to
adorn the higher position for which his
intellectual powers and attainments may
fit him. He must supply and be surrounded
by an intellectual atmosphere and the air of
sulture. Correctness of speech is one OF
the means and evidences of intellectual and
social elevation. Communications
CLOTHED IN BAD GRAMMAR
are evil and from teacher are especially
so. Bad grammar. like sin, infects all with
whom it comes in contact. The child who
is never allowed to speak incorrectly be-
comes practically master of the language,
even if he does not know rule of gram
mar. This should afterwards be supple
mented by an acquaintance with the princi.
pies of grammer. But many children grow
up accustomed to a dialect of which they
become ashamed and of which they find il
hard to rid themselves Of. One that lives
thus in a perpetual atmosphere of bad gram
mar must have bright mind and strong
will to rid himself in after life of such un-
desirable expressions. When pupils
are allowed to study grammar
as they learn to bound Senegambia.
never expecting to have any use for either,
they derive no practical benefit from it.
Shall the teacher be mere day laborer,
knowing and caring nothing Of the real cul-
ture, the taste, the speech, of the child? Let
there come to the child some sense of the
beauty of symmetry in culture, in charae-
ter and in development. Toll on through
difficulties, faithful teachers. The Divine