The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-12-28
TEACHERS COME TO TOWN
ANNUAL MEETING or THE STATE AS
ISOLATION OPENS.
school superintendent Also Hold a
acknowledging of the Library As
sociation-To-Day's Programme.

The teachers and others interested in the
State Teachers Association arrived yester-
Gay in large numbers, and last evening the
Grand Hotel! which is the headquarters for
the association was nearly filed. 1t is ex-
pected that the total attendance will be over
thousand. The first formal meeting of the
association was held last evening in Plym-
outh Church, and those who arc not MEM
bers OF the association will evidently be
made to suffer before the session is over
There was a strong feeling developed at
the meeting against teachers and others
coming TO the sessions and participating in
the privileges who are not members of the
association, and some action will be taken
looking TO drawing the lines closer.
The church was decorated with green's and
flowers, and on the stage were the pupils of
the Brct dway Colored High School, of Mad
ison. The invocation by the Rev. c. W.
Tinsley of Fletcher-place Church, in this
city was followed by music, Joyful We
Greet" by the pupils OF the Broadway
school The retiring president, Superintend-
ent r. A Ogg, of Kokomo, made but
few remarks in leaving his Office. He urged
upon the teachers that they should not run
to "fads," but that they observe practical
teaching After giving this advice he pre-
Stalker, of the Indiana State Normal School.
THE BEST EDUCATION.
President Stalker took for his subject
1.-THE Best Education and said in part;
Prophecy has forward and oackWalu
look ones power or Insgnt depSSiiu les spot'
The infinite in man is measured by the as
tance he has come from the finite, when is
his point of departure. Intuition Is OWE ne
Tut 1t is no less an acquisition than glft.
Great truth comes only with great strlVlng'
Dreams are not born Of stupor but or wake
fulness. Visions of the future are put the
The pictures that one paints for himself and
his own are but the hopes and longings that
he would realize. All the seers OF all the
ages have shown that these things are true.
This spirit of prophecy. this inspiration, has
invariably been coupled with a love of the
people that was deep and abiding.
Every people has its prophets. Every age
of progress is marked by. and presided over,
and led on by a great spirit. tbs has been
prophets. A great spirit has guided its des-
tiny. The immortal Lincoln standing where
the tide of war was turned back pro-
claimed the great principle OF state. IL was
a new expression OF what Hastings ana the
Magma Charta, and the Commonwealth, and
Saratoga had tried to say 1t was the ideal
of a mighty people built up out of the
understanding of its centuries of struggle:
The time was ripe. The place was halloWed
by the memory of those who gave there
1.-THE last full measure of devotion to their
cause" 1t was peculiarly fitting that the
words should be spoken ~ Lincoln. his life
was the counterpart of the life of the peo-
pie and the nation. He was no mean prophet
who had come up out of the struggles of
life His prophecy had backward look and
knew the very temper of the people. 1t was
born of experience This is the great idea
of the century, because 1t in measure
finished the work our fathers began and did
that which they could not do. 1t proclaimed
for all time the supremacy of the people. 1t
was the triumph of democracy.
Abraham Lincoln was the best educated
L. h. hot
excellence in manhood which the spirit of
the century foretold and demanded. He had
schooled himself to meet calmly any condt-
ton that might arise. lie was type or
excellence in whatever he undertook. The
few books that he read he assimilated so
thoroughly that they became part of him.
self. But what he took in did not rest there.
1t was given back again with his stamp
upon it and it was the stamp of genius for
taking pains. The fact that he is the author
of English that is regarded a perfect
model of the tongue, can be explained on the
ground of his persistent practice from boy
hood in expressing clearly and forcibly the
with his life work is the secret of his sue
cess. He was first a man and, being
man, he was equal to all things.
THE spirit of the century emphasizing the
infinite in humanity dictated a government
of the people. The perpetuity and growth
of such a government depends upon the en-
nghtenment of the people. Education of the
masses became a necessity. For this pur-
pose the public school, the greatest of all
with a great mission to fulfill. 1t was to
make men and women. This same spirit had
also dictated the type of manhood and had
set the standard high. With such theory
of life, with such government, and with
such a type of manhood as our ideal, edu.
cation is not only a big problem, but Sc
riouS one. The student of education has a.
threefOld problem before him. If he works
out a science of education he must first be
a student Of consciousness Second, the stu
dent of education must be a student of the
teaching process. Third, the student of edu-
cation must be able to take the facts in this
science, and the facts in this art and out
of them construct his science of education.
Whether or not 1T is too much to expect to
find this triple capacity in the average
teacher, 1t IS surely not too much to ex-
pect to find 1t in our educational leaders.
He may be expected to be a positive factor
IN education, leader of the people. direc,
of a mere figure-head who proceeds along
lines of least resistance. The study of con-
sciOusneSS the actual process of teaching.
and the science of education all demand
that the march of the vast army of teach
ers be toward individuality and away from
unity and away from uniformity; that it be
toward the artist and away from the arti-
san that 1T be toward the plane of freemen
and away from that of puppets.
THE CHILD AS SOUL AND BODY.
Education in trying to determine it's pro-
cess appeals to the whole nature of the child
in regard to the possibility of the realization
at once that any theory that disregards the
close relation of body and soul is defective.
and that the spiritual and physical needs of
the child will dictate the mode of procedure
All instincts and tendencies are to be de-
teeted and studied. Some are to be encour-
aged and strengthened; some are to be dis
couraged and eliminated by substitution
These two phases of human life indicate
the possibilities of the individual. He is
most largely sensuous and human in the
beginning, but he has within him the germ
OF the spiritual and the divine This lower
nature must become a means for the de-
Velopment of the higher, and the progress
Will be marked by the degree in which the
body becomes servant to the soul. Here
educator. The practical education will make
artists instead of artisans: dreamers that
are also doors; men that will fill places in
life. To these ends the body must be
brought into play.
The kindergarten has the proper concep-
ton, but the idea should not stop with the
kindergarten Even when the kindergarten
becomes part of our school system as it
should. unless the thought is carried for
ward the work will be useless. Indeed there
is already complaint that the work in pri-
had the kindergarten training There is
need of adjustment. Something is wrong
somewhere Possibly in cases where real
Kindergarten work is done the trouble may
be located in the work in the grades. The
work here probably needs TO be adjusted so
as to bring into play more of the child's
powers The surplus energy that cannot be