St. Landry democrat., 1889-03-02


That watched us through the peaceful days,
That lead us home or brought us thence,
And kept us in our various ways.
Hrs. SQng&ter.
Thoughts on Teaching.
BY ANNA C. BRACkETT.
If we are justified in calling education a
SCI Ace, it is at best only a secondary
st1ence. Its tools are furnished by the
other sciences; it's end is outside itself F;
its results are able to be treated only years
after the work is done. 1t is for this res
son, doubtless, that educational assoca-
tons often seem to be of SO little profit to
those attending that they tend on the
one hand to become mechanical, and on
the other to be only social gatherings,
whose chief occupation is the product of
pleasure. In the first case, their work
consists of series Of essays and long files
of resolutions in the second, they resolve
themselves into an audience for some club
of glee singers or some elocutionlst, or
they go off on excursion trains to see the
natural curiosities of the vicinity.
The practical teacher may be either
mentally exhausted by the effort to ab
sorb the numerous views which follow
each other with oppressive rapidity, or she
may be physically refreshed by change
and rest. But after she gets home again,
if school has begun, she may often ask
herself, latter all, what did gain at the
association which can help me right here
in this school room, with this particular
set of girls and boys, under these given
circumstances p
If her dissatisfaction shall prompt her
to search for herself into the sciences
which stand behind all theories Of educa-
ton, to delve for herself in the mines of
psychology and philosophy, she may not
reckon the days of that dissatisfaction as
lost time. But this is, after all, only g
negative recommendation for associations
of teachers.
The art of education is an ever chang
ing application of truths The principles
remain the same, but man changes and
the applications which INST be made of
them in the seventeenth century, will not
suit the nineteenth-nay, we ourselves have
lived to see complete reversals of opinion
and of methods in our schools. The ma
terial and the circumstances under which
we work are ever varying. Notwo pupils
ever are exactly alike, and unless prip-
ciples and theories are broad enough to
sweep round and embrace all these varie-
ties, they will not be of much use to US in
our practical every day life. But, as has
been said above, such principles as these
must be sought for outside Of the science
of education properly So called.
And, therefore, it is that education must
be called secondary science.
We, as teachers, are like painters who
should be called to paint on a canvas which
is constantly changing in size and even in
texture. Or we are like fresco painters,
who must put their colors on wall which
is in process of building, all the time.
And yet our painting must be harmoni-
Gus whole. The difficulty is great, as any
one can perceive. Nay, we are not allowed
to see even the complete picture. Is it
ever complete? The canvas moves away
from US as fast as we can lay on the colors
The fresh plaster dries and we must never
linger. What we do not do to day of to-
days work must remain forever undone.
Our province is to work, not to talk.
Only by teaching shall we ever learn to
teach, shall we ever help any one else to
teach. l think that this is truer in our
profession than in any other.
1t is the passing moment which is so
precious. 1t is the living child just before
u.s. here and now, with whom we have to
deal. The vitalizipg contact of mind with
mind is sharp and sudden as the leap of
the electric spark.
And again we must never forget that it
is character building that is the work of
the schools. All the geography, arithme-
tic, history, and whatever studies may
enter into our curriculum, are only means
to this end, are only tools in our hand by
which the training of the mind is to be
carried ON. Hence it is that mere technical
arts. as sewing or cooking, have no right.
full place in our schools. It is mistaken
idea of the province of a school which
would introduce them there, and this is
ing and cooking.
human mind. use the word mind in its
broadcast sense. Our tools to work with
are the studies which are pursued, and our
own personality-which must include clear
broad vision-strong will to pure
motives. Given these, and we shall be
creative teachers, our studio will be the
school room, not the lecture room ; our
teachers the mightiest thinkers of ancient
rs well as of modern times our method
as varying as the days of the passing years
Of our pupils; our results, we shall never
see.
But if we build on principles as broad as
The universe-and none others will do for
1s-we shall find them elastic enough for
all times and all circumstances, and we
must be content to leave the outcome to
he great Creator, whose work, not ours,
we shall then be doing.-Fron the Amer
can Journal Of Education.
eve venture the assertion" says the
Pontotoc (Miss.) Democrat, ''that the