The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-09-10
THE MODERN TEACHER.
UNIVERSITY GRADUATES WHO
 HAVE

my child?" Is the question that mas
 been asked by anxious parents since
 schools began to be. Perhaps never be-
 fore has there been so satisfactory an
 answer as to-day. In the last fifty years the ideals of education in this
 country have undergone radical revo- lution for the better. To-day in the schools of America the continuation of
 these ideals is in a fair way to be req
 Iizet. --E -.-
 Teachers, like poets, are born, not
 made, as one of them has aptly sald'
 This, indeed, is the keynote of the pres-
 ent day test of an educator. Hence, in
 dealing with the training of a teacher
 it is necessary first to look at those in- nate qualifications now considered es- sential to his success. Not more than
 a generation ago it was believed that
 any one endowed with physical ability to preserve order and a sufficient
 knowledge of subject matter taught could keep school" to quote the popu-
 lar phrase. Since that time pedagogy
 has advanced from a make-shift for be- ginners and a eatchall for educated
 failures, as it too often became, to the dignity of both a science and q profes- sion. The members of this profession
 are coming to follow it as a life work,
 because they feel that of all others it is
 the one for which they are pre-eminent-
 ly qualified.
 First. then, the modern educator te Is us the teacher must be inlhued by ra- | oei ,s1
 have genuine abiding sympathy with
 the young. a sympathy through which
 he knows the difficulties of the growing mind and is thus able to lead 1t intellt- gently. All to this unlimited patience,
 a broad attitude of mind, the magnetic
 presence of a leader, and the ideal teacher is born
 It goes without saying that the teach-
 CT of to-day must possess irreproacha-
 ble character. At no time has this de- imand been so strong. Never befo<e
 has there been SC, efficient means of en-
 forcing this requirement., with thn years of training through which the prospective teacher must go and the
 consequent intimate aoauaint anee with those on whose aprrohation his final
 credentials depend.
 I It is his training, however, that the
 present day teacher is most marked. Within the last ten years there have lbeen enormous strides iii the state of
 New York in the requirements for teachers certificates in the common
 schools. This is equally true in other lstates. Indeed, within the memory of Ithe older teachers there were practical Fly no requirements. Professor William
 H. Lennon, of the science department
 of the Broekport State Normal school, ltells a story of his younger days as a teacher to illustrate the severity of the school commissioners examination for
 a teachers certificate twenty and thlr- ty years ago. q was just out of college" he said,
 and was looking for position to teach in one of the southern counties of tthis state The commissioner was not
 particularly impressed with college linen, and as he was left to use his dis Icretion entirely as to the nature and lextent of the examination, l prepared l for the ordeal with some fear.
 ''It was in the winter, and reached 1 the old mans house carly in the after noon, hoping to get away before dark. found him at game Of chess, a pas l time of which learned he was passion | lately fond He was just finishing a
 game, so. after learning of my errand, l he excused himself and continued.
 When he had finished, the conversation turned on the game. I admitted that I knew a little about chess. Thereupon he insisted that try a game with him. We played and, of course, he won.
 Then I suggested the examination again.
 "'Oh, we'll have time for another short game he urged, and then we ca finish the examination before supper time We'll we played another, and again lost. The commissioner was
 beginning to get fond of me. When I suggested the examination once more he looked at the clock and foud 1t with | in half an hour of supper time. He called for an early supper and said we could hustle the examination off in short order afterward,
 After supper it was the same story.
 He insisted on more chess till 1t was too late for business, and then kept me all night. I arose early, determined to get away soon. No; I had to play more chess. We kept 1t up all day.
 Finally, at five in the afternoon he sud- denly realized that I might have other
 business. He took a blank certificate from his desk, filled it out without a question and handed it over to me. Then he talked about our last game till
 I drove off. I earned my first teachers certificate by knowing how to play
 chess-not too well.
 To-day the teachers grade certificate for limited time requires a rigid ex- animation in all the common branches, and then gives opportunity to teach in only the smallest district school. Prac- tically the certificate of that class has
 ceased to exist, and has given way to the life certificate. This is given only to graduate of normal school or equivalent training course, to college graduate with certain term of ap- proved experience, or to one who has had the required experience and has passed state examinations in all the subjects embraced in "a good high school course As for the private schools, while they are Independent of state supervision, it is the aim of all headmasters to surpass if possible the standard hU tbo rI1hIin coton1o ,,,d