The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1895-08-09
WHAT TEACHERS SHOULD DO
PRACTICE MORALITY IN EVERY
DAY LIFE.

AS the Pupil LOOKS to the Teacher as ar Ex-
ample Il Should Ever be the Teachers
Object to L,ve a Life as Nearly Perfect
as Possible.
The teachers who expect to teach in
Pennington county are in attendance at.
institute this week, refreshing their
bids upon the various branches taught
IARrr common schools in South Dakota
and exchanging ideas on the methods Of
teaching and school management.
Ii we had the power to do so we would
like to say something to impress upon
the minds OF those who have the care
and training OF the young minds OF this
country. Doubtless many realize the
responsibility Of their positions but UNI
fortunately many do not. The position
OF teacher IS a rule i this country is
simply used as a stepping stone to some
thing better, and too often is dlsliked by
those who follow teaching, making it
doubly hard for such to fill the position.
We are not finding fault with the svs-
tenn we have adopted in allowing those
seeking other occupations to teach while
securing educations, as we believe, in a
country like ours where everything is
new and in their formative condition,
this is perhaps the best system we could
adopt.
But unquestionably there is coming a
time when our institutions become
o established, the school teacher will
have to choose his profession the same
rs any other and stick to it. and this
will require better pay than is now re
celved by our teachers, IN order to in
duce the best talent to enter upon that
profession.
In our opinion the qualifications of a
teacher extends farther than an under
standing Of the various branches to be
taught, or to use a commo expression
"book learning" He should be moral
himself and capable of teaching it.
When we say moral we do not mean
that he should be religious in the ordl-
nary sense Of the word, that should be
seperate and apart from our schools,
We would not care what church he be-
longed to-, or whether he belonged to
any, just SO he understood morality
and believed in it and carried out his
beliefs by his every day acts. He should
be capable OF teaching these great fun
damental principals Of morality from a
scientific standpoint. Show to the
young the effects of immoral conduct.
and that it pays to do right, and that
every immoral or wrong act must and
will be followed by pain and punishment
to the wrong doer. These are the truths
that many of our teachers do not seem
to comprehend, and to that extent are
unfit for that position. Who has not
observed the constant effort on the
part Of pupils to initiate the teachers
and how everything done by him is
looked upon as being right. This being
true a great responsibility rests upon
those who have in training young and
tender minds. 1t would appear from
the reports from the dolngs in many of
our colleges, that moral training is
wholly neglected and the effect is
plainly descernable. How many ques-
tlonable things are said ard done by
our teachers before the pupils; things
which give the pupil a start in the
wrong direction; the drift of which Is
away from instead of towards the right;
these should be avoided by the teachers.
We do not mean to lnsinuate that
the Pennington county teachers are
worse than others, for we can truly say
that our teachers will compare favor
ABBY with these in any other county in
the whole United States; what We have
here said is intended for teachers gener-
allv. and we feel deeply on this subject.
The training OF a human soul is a most
responsible position to occupy, and es-
pecially it's early training. You may
say the young soul is at the forks Of
the way, and should 1T start in the
wrong direction it may continue SO for
SJternity, Or at least the full life of
the Individual. We would say prepare
youglyes teachers in this much ne
&-iitp3branch of education.
~ The Implement Business.