The record-union., 1892-11-24
DUTIES OF TEACHERS.
Some Of the UnrecOgnized But No
Less important Ones.
A Thoughtful Paper Read Before the
Late Teachers Institute by Miss
Annie Z. Weeks.

Annie Z. Weeks.
Is it within the bounds of possibility
that for teachers there still remain un-
recognized duties?
Ii we fulfill one that is often dwelt
upon, we read, with tolerable regularity,
some educational magazine, some literary
magazine and the newspapers Of the day.
AS a result Of such reading, together
with a receptive consideration of the opin-
ions of people in general, we know that
on US rests the responsibility of the
child's future, physical, mental and
moral; that we ought to do more for him
than nature has done, than his parents
are doing, than he himself will ever think
it necessary TO do. We must so conduct
ourselves that he will be inspired
with wholesome fear, with unbounded
respect, and with adoring love. We
must so arrange matters that for the
children whose parents dislike to see a
lesson studied there shall be no home
work to be done, while for the equally nu-
merous class whose parents feel that very
little Is being accomplished unless the
children study long and faithfully, there
shall be assigned lessons enough to keep
the pupils busy for an hour or two every
evening. Of course il is understood that
all the pupils in the class must of neces-
sity perform exactly the same work, and
must be brought up to the same standard
completing thoroughly the course OF
study prescribed by the Board of Educa-
ton.
We are to have frequent public exer-
cises, and public taste demands that such
exercises should be quite elaborate and
extremely varied, and, more than all
&c in hot lira
quire hours of patient search for selec-
tions, dramatic and musical, hours of
careful training, and innumerable re-
hearsals.
The esthetic side of the child's nature
IS to be assiduously cultivated, and our
school-rOoms are to be bowers OF beauty,
and eXemplihcations of the refining in
huences of high art. Flowers are TO
bloom along the rugged paths of learn
ing; the works OF the old masters tat
popular prices are to decorate our walls;
and art draplngs are to soften, if not hide,
all that might offend the sensitive eye
These are not unpleasant duties, but their
fulhllmcnt requires time.
incidentally we are expected TO "per-
sonaIly conduct our classes to fairs, loan
exhibitions, and 'shoWs' OF all kinds
We must hold ourselves in readiness to
be ordered out as deputy marshals in
case OF any public demonstration in honor
of anybody, living or dead, foreign or
native-born, and must march on'' to
discomfort and often sutiering-if neither
to victory nor death.
above all, and over all, and through
all, P" 'at all times and in all places, !" ''in
sickness and in health we must correct
papers and mark them, and register
standings; and as soon as one set is COM
pleted hurry on to another " hen n
grammar-school teacher goes home with
out roll OF papers in her hand she feels
very much as she might ii she had left
her hat hanging on its hook, or had acci-
dentally started without her shoes.
have said nothing about the actual
teaching OF the various studies; nothing
about questions of discipline. 1t goes
without saying that they are to be at
tended TO, faithfully and conscientiously
some time. They are never to he ne
elected; they are never to interfere with
anything else. 1t is the old story of the
mint and aniSe and cumin and the
Weightier matters OF the law. These
ought ye to have done, and not to leave
the other undOne." just at present il is
often hard TO decide exactly what consti-
tute the welghtler matters, and what are
to be considered the mint and anise and
cumln; so we rise to the occasion and
solve the difficulty by trying to accom-
plish everything with what success we
sometimes almost fear to ask ourselves.
The fact that aside from being teachers
we are at the same time human beings,
4
burdens OF our common humanity press
as heavily upon us as upon the women
who are sheltered in homes and sur
rounded by the projections of home life.
Each one of us has an existence apart
from her life with her pupils-an exist
ence with its own anXieties, its hopes and
fears, its joys and sorrows. And when
the shadow Of sickness or death or griev-
GUS sorrow has come solemnly near:
has bent over teacher through
the long hours of the weary night; has
walked close beside her as she turns her
feet toward her schooIroom; has almost
shut out from her saddened eyes the
SUMS glad light and the sky's divine
blue. Sometimes it insists on being her
companion even longer; insists on pass
ing the barrier OF the schoolroom door
and haunting her with its chilling pres
ence. She is fond of her pupils and of
her work: she knows her duties. She
knows that she should never be irri-
tated; that no impatient word should
ever escape her lips, but sometimes un-
called-tor lnsolence, or still more exas-
peraung trlflng, is more than her already
over-JaXed powers of endurance can
bear, and the crime is committed-the
impatient word is spoken. Very possi-
bly,, with similar provocation. it would
nave been spoken much sooner and with
more emphasis in the child's home but
there II would not have been 4 crime
while uttered by a teacher it is com
mented on in many home, not always
very mercifully. If we could only by
some device be transformed into patent
teaching machines perhaps everything
would be easier. 1t certainly would be
simpler.
The fact that in spite of our manifold
and most thoroughly recognized duties
we still live; that our hair does not turn
gray in single night, nor our shoulders
bend at once under their burdens: that
many Of us are occasionally known to
smile, and that there are a very few of
our number who can pass along the
streets without hearing the small chill
dren say to one another in tones of con-
vicuon, There goes a school teacher,''
speaks well for the strength and vigor
and elasticity of the average American
constitution. The fact that one of your
number dares to stand before you and
talk of further duties speaks volumes in
regard to her opinion of your patience
and good temper.
Those points upon which l shall ven
ture to touch may be summed up in three
general classes the duties OF organ
ization, of mutual aid and of occasional
emphatic though respectful protest.
do not mean that we should organize
with the idea of holding frequent meet
iugs. Few of us could find time for any
thing OF the sort. Neither does it seem to
me advisable that we should form an or