The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1896-06-24

for the preparation of teachers for their
business, and this should be their sole
and only purpose. Academic work, as
such, is foreign TO their true aim. There
can be no question, other things being
equal, that any one Will make better
teacher by attending even a tolerably
good normal school. Still, it does not
follow that such a school is the only
place where the preparation can be
made. Multitudes of most excellent
teachers have never attended a normal
school. Nor can the best normal schools
make a first rate teacher out of every
one who enters. But what l wish to
assert most earnestly and confidently
is that somewhere and somehow, by
thought, reading instruction, observa-
ton. or all combined the teacher
should be required to make some thor
ough and reasonable preparation for
his work before he is permitted TO en-
ter upon it.
Dr. Edwin G.. Hewitt, president of the
Illinois State Normal University, says:
There are three distinct. fields in
which preparation should be made
-First-The candidate for the teach
er's office should become well acquaint-
ed with the nature of children, physical,
mental and moral.
ed with the branches of knowledge that
he is to teach" And he emphasizes the
fact that the teachers knowledge of
subjects ought to be of a special kind:
1T must extend to underlying prin-
ciples
''Third-He should be prepared both
in the principles and the methods of
imparting knowledge, and in the prin-
ciples and methods of governing and
managing children no less"
The same eminent authority adds:
THE teachers preparation must not
stop with getting ready for his school,
it should continue until the last day
that he comes before pupils as their
teacher
1t has been asserted as an unques-
HonabIe truth that conscientious tea
cher to be successful should make a |
daily preparation for every class that |
he is to teach. No matter how familiar |
the subject, he should bring it before |
his mind in order that he may be fresh |
upon it, that he may have it's inherent |
difficulties clearly in mind, and that he
may adapt his teaching of it to the per-
sonal peculiarities of the particular
Toms and Jennies that compose his
present class. Furthermore, he should
not be content always to present the
subject in the same way, nor to confine
himself to the same plan of removing
difficulties. He should seek new and at
tractive ways of presenting the most
familiar subjects, and this for his own
sake no less than for his pupils. In no h
other way can he keep out of "ruts'' or
keep up his own interest in what he is s
doing, and thus avoid that humdrum
monotony which is special bane of
the teachers work
Again, 1t is fair to suppose that every
teacher is DESTROYS of securing better
position, with consequent better pay. ;
The only practical and sure way of at
tanning higher professional rank is by II
daily preparation in addition to daily
preparation for his class work Progress
means continuous work and study. It {
may be so in many other things, but I
certainly in the teachers work there is 6
no such thing as standing still-not to |
go forward is surely to go back. In 9
this connection 1 am reminded of a /
story told by Mr.. Phillips of Boston, c
Mass, some years ago, of his expert {
ence as an examiner of teachers. One 7
day, after examining a candidate, he
told him that he must refuse him a GER I
tificate Well" said the man, Il think i
that is very strange. 1 taught school t
hve years ago in this very town, and i
you, Mr.. Phillips, gave me my license
think it is pity if l don't know as t
much now as l did five years ago." S
Mr.. Phillips replied: Il think you q
do know as much as you did then but 7
no more. and that is a sufficient reason Il
for refusing you a license I
The preparation for higher profess f
sional rank, like the preparation for
teaching, should be of three-fold ma l
ture: :
Ffrst-The teacher should certainly q
push forward in the subjects he is call
ed upon to teach. Who can gather in all S
knowledge on such familiar subjects as t
geography and history, to say nothing T
OF the higher walks of literature, sci a
ence and mathematics? 7
Seeond-He should select some de- r
partment of knowledge not particularly I
connected with his school work and be- r
come faithful and constant student in T
that direction. 1t is important that the f
teacher study in the way proposed, not V
simply to broaden his knowledge, to- t
cannot in any other way keep himself f
an the true attitude of a learner. which s
keeps his manhood from being smother Il
ed in the schoolmaster, but because he G
is absolutely necessary in order that he O
may be fit to lead others in that atti-
tude. r
Third-He ought to keep up constant V
professional work by reading profess In
s1onal literature, books and periodicals. a
and by attending and taking part in b
professional meetings. The literature N
OF pedagogics is very considerable and fl
very respectable, and is growing and Il
improving every day. both in quantity W
and character. And yet how many tea n
cheers there are who never read a book n
On teachingt Perhahps they do not a
wish to do so. Some undoubtedly pre- S
Ter yellow-back novel And how O.
many take no teachers periodical?
Still, those very persons are perhaps il
he most clamorous to be counted mem is