Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1898-03-15
MISTAKES OF THE TEACHER, As SEEN
FROM THE PARENTS STANDPOINT.

When Was asked to give my views OF
the points wherein, from parents
standpoint, u teacher WAS most liable to
fail, WAS strongly minded To refuse.
do not like To fnd fault with our teach
ers. IL IL contrary 10 my best principles
and then 1t IL such common, easy
thing TO do. Almost everybody does !,
after a fashiOn-but such fashion
such poor, personal, spit"ful fashion.
that IL Ia worse thsn useless, and usu'il
81 irrational and conflicting in opinions.
thst any teacher- wh' tried 10 be guided
In sny way by the rumOr- that reached
their ears would be more divided 10 ac-
ton than the baby In Solomou's fsmou.
case WAS 10 danger Of being In limb.
So l thought again, what ought an In
tell,gent, Careful, loving parent TO fear
from our typical public schoolsI Surely
our interest Can not be less than that OF
the superinteudent-. yes, surely II
Ia a little different interest. His Il the
mechanical psrt-the ~iae engineering
of school craft-it IL his business with
the parent the children are ones ige.
Their moral and physical welfare arr
quite as important as their intellectual
and Il /. with many inward qualms and
fears that the mother lets fve-yesr.old
Johnny start out alone to schOol-quslms
and fears that grow no less when Johnny
ID fifte-n and just going into the high
school and wanting TO play football.
1t IL not the running-gcar OF the school
that she Is afraid Of. but the influence,
the direction, the results on character,
that she fears, and first 10 the list l
should put the teachers unconscious In.
fluepce. mot what have, but what !
Am, will give 10 my friends" Emerson
saws. So with the teacher. Look back
to your own schooldsys and pick out the
one or two teachers who Influenced you
Do you know how they did II! don't,
but do know with my maturer judg-
ment that they were superior persons,
understanding each individual character,
and thoroughly In touch with what We
call now "child study; and / think that
those who Influenced US most loved US
most and loved their work, and were
not always looking over the edge OF
their work to their pay, and to their
pleasures and other interests.
There Is q c0ntagion Ia nobleuess, as
in inferiOrity and wrong. Do you re-
member this of Lowell's?
"Be noble! And the nobleness that lies
In other men fand, oh. . hundred times more In
childrenl sleeping, but never dead.
VIII rise In majesty 70 meet thine own;
Then Wilt thou see II gleam In many eyes"
Another thing that the parent breads
Is thst the teacher shall be q person Of
immature or warped and narrow judg-
ment. incapable Of understanding and
mastering the thousand and one shifting
emergencies Of the daily school life.
When I look back tn my first school, |
tremble for myself. was just fifteen.
and had an uugrsded country school OF
thirty scholars. Nothing but my strong
love for the work md for each one OF
my scholars carried me through without
q failure.
In the matter of progress In stu lies
we have little to fear. That Is point
hich neither teacher nor superintendent
IL likely to neglect or psss by lightly. A
child's natural receptive powers u I'll help
him to gain, even when the Efforts OF the
teacher are 'upposing the
child 10 be the right kind Of child, with
the proper influences at home.
Some wise man says OF progress =
"Progress is not move uant, but I'm
provement. Its measure Is not the
ground passed over, but what has been
gained 10 passing. There are people who
imagine that 90 long as they are going
from one thing to another they are pro-
gressing; and there Is probably no
greater hindrance to advancement than
the modern habit OF dropping the latest
metht d, or ide,, or machine, for the next
that comes 10 sight. Many persons who
have all the latest methods on their 6n-
gers ends are making no more progress
than did the little girl who tried hard to
gath r bouquet, but dropped dover
whenever she reached out to pluck q
new one. True progress consists in
bringing forward from yesterday the
good Of yesterday, and adding TO the
store the good Of to-day"
Another point b the wise enforcement
OF obedience or its non-enforcemeut.
Nothing Il 90 bad for child as lawiess-
ness. believe With old Governor Wash-
burn IN obedience at school without
question, and little rhyme nom Kip