St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-01-14
Prof, Cummings Paper Re ad
Before the Late Teachers
Gathering.
The Complaints Of the Public
and Press Against Ex-
listing Evils.
Wherein the Teacher May Be
a Cause for Cpiti-
cism,
and the Part Of the Blame
the Public Must
Bear.

At every gathering of teachers
methods and plans are discussed, yet the
discussion too often terminates without
definite conclusions, as if hole or par
tial failure had so often been the results
of previous methods that a cloud of
doubt mystified the path whichever way
we turned. In years gone by our edu-
cational system was the Jealous care of
all. Our system of public schools was
looked upon hardly as creation Of
human wit, but an alchemy to transform
all the baSer metals of human frailty
into the pure gold OF strict morality,
high intellectually and upright citizen
ship.
Our country has grown older. Per
haps with departing youth has gone
that enthusiastic faith only possible in
the perfect physical vigor of youth.
cism is heard on every hand. 1.-The
priest complains because we do not
make the child religious, the physician
because we make him sick, the parent
because he is not courteous and Obedi-
ent, aud the general public because he
is not intellectual" Now, while this
brief quotation may seem somewhat
exaggerated, we must all acknowltd dye
that il quite effectually summarizes a
Widely-spread disappointment i'll the
results of our public school work.
Parents are dissatisfied, and the press
voices the general unrest OF the people.
Constant is the cry for putting a new
for an old, often with no more just 'rea-
son than is shown when the physician
prescribes one remedy after another,
HOY Of n "a q fhn
happy hit, but there is never hint of
organic malformation beyond his power
TO cure.
1t is not satisfying enough for us to
say, or feel, that these complaints are
but yagaries Of the few, and the great
mass of the people rests in unmOved
content that our public schools are an
Swering in wonderful way the queS-
tiOns that gave rise to their existence.
Such apologiZing answers satisfy none.
Serious impediments do impair the eff
cheney of our work, but they are in the
main impediments which no improved
method of instruction can eradicate or
overcome. They exist in the cOnstitu-
tion of society as now developed, and
in a great degree are tine obstacles that
handicap progress in other departments
Of life. They are the results of human
infirmties. TO blame our public schools
for failures attributable to these sources
is double fol y; it nislocates the trouble
and leaGs to the application of Wron
correctives.
Teachers too often fall into the error
Of attempting to adjust their methods
to rectifying the evils the eradication of
which should demanded of the par
ent. the general public. or of other re-
ligous or social forces. The public
school has been called on to do every
thing, and we teachers take the blame
for this omnibus failure without remon-
STRANGE, as the dumb brute takes the
drivers lash, as something decleed by
fate.
Much, very much, of the lack of eff
cheney charged against the schools is
due either to the indifference of the
general public, the social tendencies of
the age, or the timid heSitancy of the
individual teacher.
There is to be noticed in the work of
the public schools and in a wise diSsem-
inatiOn of an uphOIdIng spirit, the lack
of active cooperation OF other analogous
missions. The church calls upon the
teachers to take an active part in push
ing the work Of the church, not as an
individual, but as teacher. 1t is pre-
supposed that the teacher will use her
influence to Soldify Christian spirit in
the community. The call is rightly
made, and the records of the
church work throughout our land
show how well the teaching
force answers this demand. The stIong-
est coadIutor of the church is the
teacher, and the service is not rendered
simply as an individual, but as
teacher Reverse the case. How many
,aI,t 70
miliar with the real and inward work
ings and needs of our schools, and up
hold the teachers right arm? From
how many pulpits is heard direct
preaching against the special evils Of
the community-evilS which they must
daily confront? In how many puIpitS
and church prayer meetings are the
public shoots regularly remembered? [
do not mean in how many pulpitS are
we not helped in general or incidental
way, but i'll how many cases does the
minister, realizing what a great factor
for good or i'll is the public school, lend
Il zealously helping voice? The answer
is too plain.
The apathy of the church is men,
toned because in the fitness of things
it is more conspicuous, and it is repre-.
sentative of the apathy of the commu-
battle alone where so much is at stake?
More than all, should it be blamed for
its methods when it does not attain per-
feet results? On the other hand, is it
not c0mmendable that amid the apathy
and inertia of religion and DeneVOlence
so much is attained? To-day the public
school is doing more for public morals
and virtue-veS, for religion-than all
other forces combined.
The physician complains because we
make the child sick. Arduous tasks,
long hours, severe application, are CON
demning the children of to-day to a
lifetime of invalidism. What teacher
has not heard this unmitigated rot.
1t is an old adage-possibly trite,
certainly true-A sound mind in sound
body. Few parents realize the sequence.
Because in these days of physical de-
teriOration the child is many times less
capable of mental eXertion, the parent
charges it to overwork at school. This
cause, too, has the advantage OF tone.
1t indicates ambition. A sort of self
satisfied smile plays around the lips of
the parent as he gives this cause for his
child's sickness. The task presented to
the school of to-day often is, ''given a
body enervated by improper hours, lack
of proper exercise, unheathful food
and clothing, to place therein a sound
and ornate mind"
1t cannot be done, yet the schools and
their methods are blamed for the in
tellectual zero that results. No magical
power sits enthroned in the school
room to undo, with one stroke of mys-
tic power, the results of years of fool
ish neglect: yet it is fact that the
teacher takes far better care of the lit
tie ones than the average mother, and
the atmosphere of our school rooms.
vile as it often is. is far better than that
of the average home.
Certain circumstances connected with
our modern living are to be considered.
The aggregation of our people into