St. Paul daily globe., 1892-03-13
ISMS And OLOCIES
Will Not Enter Into That Fa-
nous Examination Of
Teachers.
Supt. Gilbert Very Lueidly
Explains the Course to
Be Pursued.
Commander Palmer Has a
Qneer Idea OF the South
ern Youth.
His Suggestion for an Amend
ment to the Davis Pen
sion Bill.

The dreaded word psychology" will
no longer strike terror to the hearts Of
st. Paul teachers. Its horrors take to
themselves wings and disappear before
the simple and lucid explanation Supt.
Gilbert gives. An examination is to be
given to all teachers before they are
recommended for permanent position,
but it is not to be an examination in ob-
secure isms and unknown OlogleS. The
teacher will not be expected to know
anything beyond the things her general
education, her experience in teaching
and her interest in her work ought to
teach her.
There has been n deal Of misunder-
standing all round, and Supt. Gilbert
expresses himself as more than willing
to correct any of the errors which have
crept into the public mind. He says;
"A wear ago the legislature made the
law that teachers who are given final
appointments by the board of education
shall not be subject to annual re-elec-
ton. 1t was left for the board to inter
pret the law and impose conditions.
The rule of the board says: Teachers
having received a preliminary certificate
may be continued for another year, at
the en0 of which they may become can
didates for permanent positions III the
st. Paul public schools Such candl-
dates shall be required to pass an eX-
animation satisfactory to the superin-
tendent Of schools and the board OF
school inspectors upon the history and
theory of pedagogy, and to present un-
qualified certificates of recommendation
from the principal of the school i'll which
they last taught and from the super
intendent of schools The object of
this is merely This, that before comforting
the special honor Of permanent APP
pointment on teachers and fastening
them on the school system as perma-
nent employees, it may be assured, III the
first place, they have been successful IN
the work. and IN the second place that
they have such an intelligent appreci-
alton of the science and art Of teaching
that they will be likely to progress and
continue to be good teachers. AT the
request Of teachers and principals,
class in the principles OF practlcal
teaching was organized by me. ms
class, which has been organized all WIN
ter, is composed, for the most part, OF
principals of schools who themselves
conduct classes on the same subject
based upon study of the child, and was,
perhaps, unfortunately called psychol-
Ogv, a word evidently too large for the
average consumption, inaSmuch as l
learn it is confused in the popular mind
with spirtualism and hYpnotlsm In
these classes we studied what has been
found out by others in regard to the
character of the child mind and It's
proper training, and supplemented that
bv the observations made by teachers of
the child in the school room, and also
indirectly by study of themselves. Tnls
work was purely voluntary, and
some schools were not repre-
scented at all. 1t was taken up by
me unwillingly, and after much urging.
The result has been very marked I'M
prOvement in the quality OF teaching.
Teachers who had before performed
their tasks mechanically really began
tostudy themselves and the child with
the result that in many cases, they
found children better and themselves
worse than they had supposed, and I'M
mediately applied the remedy to them
selves. 1t gave the teachers the only
true scientific basis for good teaching:
Unfortunately, this became connected
in the popular mind with the eXamina-
ton, teachers looking on it as prepara-
ton for the examination; but the law
does not prescribe the character OF the
examination, and the board have not
determined it. 1t may be said, however,
that the examination will be the most
sensible and practical test that the
board can devise OF the teachers $ real
ability and fitness for permanent posi-
ticn in the corps of teachers. 1t will
have nothing to do with mysticism and
clarvoyance. No trst-class teacher will
have her position in the schools in any
degree impaired by lack of technical
knowledge of the unknowable. The eX-
animation will be on the history and
theory of education, which practical
teacher ought to know-the philosophy
of her ari, and what has been contrib
uted to it by the great teachers of the
Dast.O