Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1890-01-19


to ignore the question, what do [ know
3 about children?' Do l.. or can l. realiz
how prone they are to act as prompted b.
: the nearest motivej Do l know how t
sympathize with the unregulated work
, ings of the youthful mind? Do | under
stand how true 1t Is tnat the strong
steady. fixed traits OF a nble character ar
: found in many an adult today. not becaus'
, truthfulness, honesty, industry and fidel
ity have been inherited by, or were promi
| nent in the child, but rather because thost
things have been cherished and nurturet
in the healthful growth-a growth like
that of the bodily growth of the full grown
man or woman? Do | see that every virtue
must be fostered and encouraged, and thai
it is crime to assail these tender begin
nings of noble lives. by placing tempta
tions-or leaving them-ln the way OF
children? 1t is just as foolish, just as
wrong. to over-tax the growing moral Ma
ture of child-and it is infinitely more
harmful-as it would be TO over-taX and
over-work the bodily powers of the child
If we are to be successful teachers
successful in the best sense. we shall need
to consider very seriously the question,
what do l know about children" Let
US now consider another question.
What do L care about children
will depend very largely upon what /
know about them. Hence this question is
intimately connected with the one just
preceding it. Still it is true that every
teacher ought TO stop frequently long
enough to inquire, What do | care about
children" and to ask himself: ''Do |
/ know with what motherly affection and
fartherly pride some little, oashful and per,
haps unattractiye child has been intrusted
to me its first teacher? Oh, the danger,
through negligence or heedlessness, of of
Tending one of these little ones" Do |
see in each boy or girl the germ and prom
Use of future that may influence the
world for good? May say to you in all
| honesty: I doubt the ability OF very
large majority of our pubic school teach
ers to understand these things; doubt it,
| because none but parent can comprehend
| them: and l am certain that you who may
| be blessed with children of your own viii
assent to the trnth of the assertion.
! did you but understand this you would
| be ready to excuse what sometimes seems
| to you the over-anXious, illy-advised dlrec-
lions and Investigations of parents con-
| corning their children. You would say
! less about meddling interference; you
would try harder to nave, and to show par
ents that you have, an abiding interest
in the highest welfare CT the children
whose future usefulness, or useless
ness is so largely to be determined by your
| influence and your example, Shame upon
| that person who can the heart and the con-
! science to keep school while acting or say
| ing, 81 hate children and have no patience
with Them You have no right and no
| business to remain in the school room I'M
! less you love children in the fullest sense
of the word.
How do 1 governor misgovern my
| SCHOOL," perhaps this question Is little
more practical, a little more of the every
day kind than than the questions what
| do know or what DO | care about chill
dren?') 1t should not be so, but l am
| certain that the estimate Is made IN most
communities of the teachers efficiency-or
| lack of it's largely based upon his sue
cess or failure in government. 1t is adj
mitted that this condition of things often
works an injustice to very excellent teach
ers: but teachers, like other people, must
| take tho world as they find it, and because
it is true that skillful teaching need not
be divorced from good government, may |
ask you to consider for yourselves the fol-
lowing Questlons:
In governing my school am justified in
all the requirement l make? Have my
pupils been led to see and acknowledge the
reason for and the necessity of every regu-
lation made for the government OF the
school?
And now, ladies and gentlemen, 1 have
done with questions which L fear have
been proposed III such numbers as to weary
you. Nevertheless, am sure they have
been pertinent questions; such questions as
every teacher ought TO try to answer. You
know, am persuaded that your humble
servant, after twenty years OF service In
the common public schools of Kansas, Is
ready TO concede-nay, more than thls-ls
anxious to affirm that our public schools
are doing work without which our future
as state would be far from assuring. L
know something of the things which him
der your largest success in your work. /
know that parents and patrons need as
well as you TO be asked certain personal
questions concerning the best interests of
the youth and the schools Of today. But |
have not been before you tonight in the
capacity of one addressing patrons of the
public schools. | have addressed my
self to teachers l know, as you know.
that the chief criticisms made regard
ing not only teachers, but the school sys-
TEN comes some times from those who
know little about either. l know, too,
made by persons of the best intentions;
persons who really have at heart the good
of the schools. AS l have said, most OF
the current. loose. unjust criticisms come
from those who seldom or never visit the
schools Some of this criticism is male
violent, but much OF 1T Is honest. One
mans children are not advancing as rap
idly in their studies as lie wishes, or he
sees that they have become iawless and
disobedient, and are acquiring evil habits;
and with little discrimination he blames
the school, He forgets or ignores the fact
that the ma jorlty OF the pupils are making
progress in their studies, and are surely
forming good habits. He does not see
that his emphatic my" when he says
''my child upsets his argument. He falls
to remember perhaps does not know, that
his boy may be regular attendant at one
of those night schools which the devil con-
ducts on the streets OF every town or city.
He crawls from under his burden OF re-
sponsibility, and lets 1t down on the over
burdened public school.
Another mans boy or girl perhaps de-
votes an evening or two weekly TO the
acquiring OF that easy grace and polished
air that can be had only by attending
Prof. Lightfoot's dancing school. Hard
study becomes distasteful, even impossi-
bic with the sleepy eyes and
drowsy head that follow an even
ing out. The little study done By
such pupil is in the vain hope of acquir
ing superficial veneering that shall
cover self-admitted shallowness; but even
the buoyant spirit of youth cannot long
hope against such fearful odds, and before
many weeks are numbered we learn that
school work doesn't agree with Johnny,
and he is going into store" or poor
little Jennie so-and-so has worried herself
sick over those beastly examinations"
There is one chance in thousand that the
child may have studied too hard; there are
nine hundred aud ninety-nine chances
that she has danced too much, and the
public school must pay the fiddler. When
I was child | spake as a child, under
stood As a child, thought as a child; but
when I became man, put away childish
things" Alas, for the one who has no
childish things TO put away when he be-
comes a man-if indeed one can come 70
broad, generous, full-grown manhood, not