The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-05-27
ADDRESSES IN THE
TRAINING SCHOOL
concluded from page ~


classes in contradistinction to those |
who are engaged in professional work, |
but in the highest sense all self-respect- |
ing men are workers. No man ever be- |
came great without effort, no man ever |
leaped into excellence by a single bound. |
We are accustomed to speak of self
made men, men who have won fame |
and fortune without the prestige or
assistance of an alma mater, but all
men who have achieved greatness are |
self-made men. Our mental destiny is
just what we make 1t, nothing more,
nothing less. Shakespeare, the door
keeper of a London theatre: Franklin,
the job printer; Burrtt, the black
smith; Lincoln, the rail-splitter. were
self-made men, but they were educated
men in all that the term implies. They
never won a senior wrangle or a doc
tors degree, but they were thoroughly
educated. Yes, honor men in the uni
versities of Nature. Adversely and Com
nonsense. An education, however ac-
qured, stands for hard work.
Your success in the school room de-
pends upon two things: First, your
ability to work, that is, to gather in
formation; secondly, on your ability to
make others work, to incite the mind
to action, to awaken dormant sensibil-
tiles. The teacher who can sound the
alarm, awake to arms, and have il
penetrate the deepest reCesses of the
soul is the one who will wear the crown
of immortelles. Arnold, Guyot and
Mark Hopkins were great teachers. not
because they could impart instruction,
but because they had the ability to fill
the minds and hearts of their pupils
with zeal and burning animation.
HONESTY IS NECESSARY.
on the threshold of the school room
door. before you have enrolled a single
pupil, let me admonish you to be hon
est. Never allow your fancy to en-
bellsh facts. Never dress your work
in showy garb, never sacrifice sense
and honor for popularity. The most
contemplate being bearing the image
of his Maker is the man who says yes
and no in the same breath to a direct
question of discipline. When your
pupils ask your judgment. give them
a definite answer, never talk your ideas
into the vision of dream. Positive
characters may not be popular, but they
| are the only characters that can COM
mand respect. An invertebrate school
| teacher has no right TO pose as Soc
! rates.
| BE plain in dress and speech Sim
| plicity is a badge of honor and a mark
| of intelligence. You can neither add
| to- nor subtract from classical archi
| lecture, poetry and prose. There is
| nothing found in them or on them that
you dare take away. On the columns.
| Corinthian and Ionic, you find just
| enough leaf just enough scroll, and in
| the Greek masterpieces we find no
| words that can be erased or omitted.
! The Greeks knew the eternal charm of
| simplicity and we can profit by their
| example. AS to speech, follow the ad-
vice of Lincoln. Get an idea, bound it
on the north, on the south, on the east,
and on the west, then clothc it in Ian
| guage simple enough for child to
understand. Words are like sunbeams,
the more they are condensed, the
deeper they burn.
Avoid serVile imitation. You cannot
fight in SauPs armOr. However, do not
| be self-sufficient take every mans
| counsel. Moving among children you
are apt to give undue prominence to
| your own thoughts. Profit by the views
| of others. Listen attentively to other
! plans and experiences, but never lose
your personality. You may adapt all
the plans and methods and devices Of
| our best teachers, but they are not
your own and never become your own
until they are thoroughly examined,
weighed in the judgment balance and
ground i'm the intellectual mill. No
mechanical process or method can take
the place of personality. 1t adds clear
its effects are permanent.
WHAT MLELLAN SAYS.
Mcclellan says: In discussing meth
Ods, it should be remembered that
! the true method for the educator
is not To he found among the
scores of WAYS. plans, devices
and methods that are so often
cnumerated it is the method of per-
sOnality. Too much reliance on meth
OdS as methods makes education me-
chanical dull benumhing, destructive
of vitality in both teacher and pupil.
Personality, not method. is the only
power to produce personality. Method,
based on recognition of personality,
gives the mesmeric energy of the true
teacher.
Never peddle a boys reputation. II
he has been misChievous in your room,
let the teacher to whom he is promoted
find it out without your assistance,
You have no right to herald a bad boys
record. No boy should carry the brand
Of Cain. Further, the reputation Of
father and mother brother and sister,
should never operate against him. The
laws of heredity are not infallihle We
can approximately predict the speed of
thoroughbred colt. the instinct of a
Saint Bernard dog, the milk capacity of
a Durham calf, but we cannot foretell
the possibilities of the human soul
There is no law known to science 10y
which we can designate the mechanic,
statesman or scholar in the nursery
Neither stupidity nor precOsity is an
index of a boys future, He may have
to carry mOrtgaged inheritance
through life, for the sins Of the father
are visited upon the children of the
| next generation. But the teacher has
| no right to remind the boy of his bur
den. or even see it i'm the presence OF
others.
Again, be sympathetic, interest has
its root i'm sympathy. To be a teacher
in the best sense Of that word, you
| must have a heart full of sympathy;
you may he martinez, a conscientious
monitor, a profound scholar, a prince
Of rule and routine, hut unless you
have a sympathetic mind, you car
never touch the heart and through il
lift the child into higher and more
beautiful realms of thought. | know
no stronger force i'm the moral wOTt
than sympathy 1t is TO the mind what
gravitation is to matter, In the spirit
ual world it stands for system, har'
mony and unity.
THE RESPONSIBILITIES.
The responsibilities of the teacher dC
not terminate with his intellectual in
structiOn. He Is an important facto
i'm character building and should neve
underestimate personally his influence
as a moral guide. True, he is not tn,
only teacher for the boy. The boy get
material FOR ideas in a thousand way
unknown to teachers. He has man!
70 teachers eXerting a silent influence OF
his character that are not enrolled IN
| the professional catalogue. FatherWh,
comments on the tough steak at tn