Wichita eagle., 1889-11-30
AN INTERESTING DAY.
TWQHUNDRED AND EIGHTY-F0UR
TEACHERS PRESENT
Topics Introduced for Discussion by
Interesting Papers-Election of Off,
cerS-Meet Next Year in Wichita.

The meeting of the Southwestern Teach
ers association Yesterday was generally
considered the most interesting ever held.
The topics under discussion were not num-
erous and more time given for thorough
discussion and considerations The
program was arranged on the theory
that thorough work on few topics was a
better result than scanning OF many
subjects. The early morning trains
brought in quite number of teachers and
the enrolment reached two hundred and
| fifty-four. This was considered very
large attendance and the teachers all SEEM
ed greatly interested in their work. The
| morning session was called to order at
o'clock by Prof j. NJ. Nsylor and the in
coming president, Mr.. Jonas Cook, was
presented who on assuming his duties said:
Time flies. Since we last met as an as
ISOLATION another year has been numbered
that same dividing line-the present-that
separates the eternal past from the infinite
future.
Behind US, all along that part of the
pathway OF life we have trOdden, We see
many mistakes we have made. many
hopes unrealized. We see some victories.
But the future rises before US with all it's
proportion as it assists US in making the
present better
A great deal of time is lost by wandering
| through the graveyards of the past and
| restricting men and ideas that can not
| serve the present age.
| The origin of man is a question which
science and theology have commended loud
aud long, Volumes have been written on
| the subject, and yet no definite conclusion
has been reached. Column after column
| has been written on the exact location OF
| the Garden of Eden; sermon after sermon
on the kind of forbidden fruit of which
Adam and Eve partook.
Books have been written to prove that
Shakespeare did not write Shakespeare,
and now late histories state as an indisput-
| able fact that POcahontas is a myth, ahd
| hence John Smith WAS not saved by her
and poor John Rolf is thrown upon the
world as man who has no one to love him.
The world IS made but little better and
| wiser by arguments and statements such
as l have enumerated. The origin of man
the creation of his body-in fact his
whole being, no one doubts, comes from a
| Supreme power above and beyond himself.
Every boy or man may be considered an
Adam-every girl or woman an Eve-thls
life a garden OF Eden with the forbidden
fruit as well as the fruit of which they may
| partake, hanging about them everywhere.
The parents-the teachers in the gardens
of Eden, called the family and schOol-are
to direct and instruct the lii tie Adams and
Ewes as to what fruit to pluck from the
| tree of KNOWLEDGE 1t is not within the
province of the teacher to discuss the
origin of the children that come to her
school. Her duty is to assist in building
| and developing the best man
or woman that can be made
out of the material furnished, ever
bearing in mind that goodness is the only
true greatness. Nor should it be forgotten
| that the public schools are for the chill
dren and not for any particular teacher or
teachers; that the methods are made for
the child and not the child for the meth
DDS. a method is good or bad generally
as 1t is applied. a good method wrongly
applied produces evil results. Teaching
| implies, at hear, three thiugs-a lesson, a
learner and teacher. The lesson must
be adapted TO the age and ability of the
learner, and the teacher must be adapted
TO both.
System Is one of the frs things to be
considered in successful teaching System,
L mean, as to time, place, manner and de-
gree. Cotton planted in Greenland will
not yield Il crop, even though the manner
of putting 1t into the ground be according
to the latest and best methods of hus-
bandry. Just SO with some of the best
methods. They fail utterly because they
have been improperly applied. Ideas are
as contagious as disease and each educa-
tional method, like religious creeds, has its
followers and dovotees, and. in their
opinion, whatsoever believeth not as they
shall be educatloually lost. Cranks, i'll
education, no doubt are necessity, even
though at times they be more aggressive
than progressive. Many of them have
been and are yet the forerunuers-the
j ohn-the-B aprists of their day and age.
But after all, conservatism is necessary 20
hold the world OF mind in balance. Teach
ers sometimes run wild on some fine spun
| Theory and bee me imbued with the idea
that an education can be played into boy
or girl, u kind of vaccination of ideas and
infusion of 'Browns-Sequard elixir of ed
ucation" by which tue boy or girl becomes
the passive factor instead Of the active.
A kind of Strasburg-goose method.
which tends to enlarge the liver rather
than the brain. | have no faith in the
school which does not give the boys and
girls to understand that attending school
means work Let it be understood that
education is a growth--a developing of the
man or woman.
1t is not. by any means, the sole object of
the school to inform merely-but to in
spire. Lessons of Information are useful;
| but lessons o! inspiration are just rs use
| full. and far greater in number. knowl-
edge-usetul knowledge-ls "a good thing;
but discipline of mind is better.
Results should not be expected too soon.
| The seed sown may not bring forth fruit
| for many years The seventeen year locust
goes down into the ground and remains
| there seventeen years before 1t comes forth
perfect insect just so with many les
sons of inspiration which the child must
| learn and the teacher teach. What child
can feel the force of many lessons found in
our school readers. But when years have
gone by these lessons well up and are
source OF joy and comfort to him.
Ii Ike the food we eat, after the processes
of digestion and assimilation becomes a
part of the living tissue of our body, so
these lessons OF inspiration become an in
tellectual food which mas been converted
to part of our very being. | have great
faith in our public school. 1t is the best
institution that has ever been dedicated
to man. That it is capable of improve
ment none but fool would deny. Let the
teachers of Kansas renew their faith and
do their work with increased vigor. Let
us labor to cultivate the heads, the hearts
and the hands of the boys and girls who
come under our care and thus build ma
tioual defense, not OF stone, as did the
Chinese, but of material indestructible.
The inaugural address was referred to
in most complimentary terms
The high school department. was the
first topic for discussion and was opened
by Prot L. 2. Shull who read n paper on
Aim and scope of high school work" He
said in part:
| In order to consider intelligently the
scope and aim of the work it is essential to
consider, for moment, who attend our
high schools. In any city or community
| where high school has been maintained
/ for few generations We find that very