The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1894-03-08
"a Training School for Teachers.
THE PARENT AND THE SCHOOL.

TcuuN huO"ieUSe, iHCllDdllOu, tIudc dLd
skill to instruct their children teachers
and schools could be dispensed with.
Bat IN large majority OF cases parents
dnG it impossible TO attend to the CON-
plete education of their children. Even
az 1t is, though, the indirect home train
ing Is of such paramount Importance that
no school can vie with it IN its peculiar
and exclusive sphere OF action. The pa
rent is the only natural educator during
the early years of childhood. No school,
however excellent, can correct evils that
have their origin in defective home train
ing, and no school, however poor, car
| render nugatory good family nurture.
Family influence touches the child in all
periods OF development. The school is
| introduced not to supplant parental train
| ing but to assist it and to extend 1t main
ly IN one direction, that of instruction.
It is IN this one respect only that the
school goes beyond the home, but even IN
instruction home influences can never be
| lost sight of. They permeate the entire
school life Of the child.
THE TEACHERS QUALIFICATIONS.
The prime function of the school then
| Is 10 instruct. but it is not the sole func-
ton. Besides imparting knowledge in
the common implements of learning the
| school assists the parent in building
| character. To secure these ends neces.
states certain qualifications on the part
Of those persons who are given charge OF
must have fund OF positive knowledge
at their immediate disposal; they must
| have clear and definite notions as tC
methods of imparting this knowledge and
they must possess a true reverence fcl
| childhood and It's WAYS. Without this
last child nature cannot be understood
and the springs of action can never be
set flowing. Without it deep and broaC
| chasm separates the teacher from those
he is to help in actualizing the latent
force Of their beng. With it the teacher
IS moral force acting directly by pres
ence and without MEANS" Rather little
learning and authority clothed in the
vestment of love than the wisdom of Sol
ONION united with a cold and unsympa
| thetic heart.
From a theoretic standpoint every
teacher, be he destined for the smallest
| district school, should possess all these
| qualifications. But in new and sparse
! ly settled country the conditions are sucI
as to demand a less rigid insistence or
technical and other qualifications. Fol-
years to come the education of our chill
dren will probably be in the hands o.
persons not far removed in point of age
from the period of youth. On the Other
| hand, where conditions warrant it the
ideal preparation for the teachers pro
fesslon should be insisted upon as far as
possible. This brings us to the question
OF how teachers are prepared at the pres
ent time for the important duties they
| perform in elementary education.
THE TRAINING TEACHER ENJOY AT PRES
| Out of total of sixty-seven applicants
for certificates last year. who had never
taught, only three can be said to have
had any special training for the work
they were to engage In. They had at.
| tended a normal school for year OF
more and received there both academic
| and professional instruction. There
were three others who had appar.
emily attended normal, but in reality
they did not get farther than the prepare,
tory class, which is not an integral part
of the normal, and does no more for the
students than It's name implies. For the
past fifteen years the proportion attend
ing normal before teaching was never
higher than that of last year. Thus it is
clear that the great body of elementary
teachers are practically untouched by
higher and professional influences. They
enter teaching directly from the district
or high school. OF these the district
school can hardly be said to be in a posi-
ton to give adequate preparation for the
profession of teaching. 1t were idle to
argue upon that point. High schools ap-
preclate the fact that they are peoples
schools and that their function would be
strangely perverted if they engaged 10
training pupils not for life but for a
special calling. District and high schools
are primarily schools that strive to give
d general education common to all that
attend. High schools give broad cul.
ture and under certain conditions their
students soon show aptitude and strength
IN teaching. Many of them in conse-
quence of their training are of a pb,loso.
pho bent of mind and readily acquire
proper methods of teaching. But there
are one or two inevitable drawbacks
which affect somewhat the advantages ac-
crulng from course of study in high
school. The academic work in the dis
trlct school relates principally to the So
called third grade branches. In the high
school little attention is given to these
branches during the last three years of
the course, when the time is largely de-
voted to the higher branches, and proper
ly so. This time, however, often suffices
TO obllterate much of the work in the ele-
mentary branches that was clear at the
time those studies were pursued. Hence
students leave high schools with a lack
of clear and positive knowledge in some
of the lower branches which they are ex-
pected to teach directly they enter the
district school. This cannot be con-
strued as possible reflection upon the
work OF the high schools. 1t must ever
be bone in mind that their mission is to
train for the duties of citizenship ire
spectlve of any particular vocation to be
followed by certain pupils. ApaIp- thasa