Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1906-11-23
THE TEACHER.

thing in heaven above, the earth b
meath and the waters under the cart
She receives no special credit for kno'
ing them, but woe oe to her if 81
knows them not.
She must teach the three RS" as
the olden times, but mark the add
tions.
She must teach physiology with q
the skill of physician. but withol
his opportunities for hiding his mi
takes
She must teach civics with all tt
learning of lawyer, but without b
. library.
She must teach virtue and eodline
with all the zeal Of minister, bu
without the Bible Or his sectarian bia
Under the title Of Mature Lesson
she must teach the elements of all til
sciences known to man, but unlike b.
sister in the high school, she must d
it without text book.
She must teaoii music, drawing
penmanship, and p-y ysical culture wilt
the ability of specialist, but mus
give the supervision all tie credit TO
success attained.
She must give direct Instructions Ii
morals and manners or the school viii
60 to the demnlt1on bow vows.
She must teach the effects of alcoho
and narcotics with all the enthusiasm
of the original Investigator, the labor
atory methods of the expert chemist
and the blind devotion of the religious
zealot.
She must teach business forms, bust.
ness usages, short cuts. and brief meth.
DDS with all the knowledge of y book
keeper, or the schools are impractica
ble
She must teach spelling as Of old
but must make her own book, having
the pupils copy it each day as she goes
along with no knowledge of what has
proce ded or what is to follow, to the
end that all of her hours ont of school
may be fully employed, and that she
may have no time for recreation or
frivolous Amusement
She must do continuous perform
nee in the line of new an untrred
theories which she we'll kno VS. are i'm
practical and worthless, to keep things
stirred up for fear some one may be
c llled an old fogy.
She must spend from six to eight
hours day in the nnwholesome at
mosphere of a poorly ventilated school
room, and one or two hours more in
selecting material and copying it on
the board, to be again copied by the
C lildren, thus exhausting her 7isaliiy
and running The eyesight IF her pupils
to please the fancy of some sap-headed
who thinks he is car
ryiug out some original scheme.
She must try and continue to try
silly experiments Of young and callew
principals who are learning the bust
ness empirically, and with whom she
dare not differ.
She must be present at innumerable
teachers meetings; called often with
out plan or purpose, without leader
ship or direction, without beginning
or end, aud with no visible earthly OBJ
ject except to consume time and "have
a meeting"
She 10 ust at her own expense attend
Institutes aud associations, listen to
long winded theorists. dry-as-d dust pro-
fessors, sentimental idiots, enthusiastic
promoters, visionary reformers shrewd
persistent hobby-rid
ers, and educational mountebanks only
to attend the next meeting and hear
new crop of theorists with a j ID lot of
contradictions, series of orders and
counter orders which would bewilder
the most astute philosopher.
She must govern wild and wicked
children even when parents fail. She
must be wise as Solomon, patient az
j oh, strong and enduring as C8sar,
tender as MaceLas, and more even
than the Almighty, for the
Almighty was "wroth with the wick
Q i" when he punished them, but a
teacher who Furnishes in anger ls guilty
of assault. She must be q model of
in all things, for are not the
eyes of the whole community upon
her She must knew the usages of
the world and society. but must stand
aloof from both. She must have hu
mility, confidence, Infinite tact, per
feet health, common sense in abund
ance, a modicum of wit, a world of wis
dom. and little wick edness. Sne
must endure the fou. air, the nerve
racking confusion, and the thousand
of the school room. She
must submit to the thoughtless critic
isms of the ignorant, the unjust abuse
of disappointed parents. the blandish
ments of those who would help their
children by patronizing attentions to
the teacher, and the domineering die
tation of self-seeking politicians.
She must spend hours upon hours
devising lesson plans. making reports.
compiling statistics, striking balances
and averages, figuring standings, cor
recting countless papers and tabulat-
ing foolish answers to silly questions
with the machine-like expertness Of a
trained accountant to mate more tor
midable and less readable the superin-
tendent's s report, and impress confid-
lug and gullible public with the com
plicated machinery necessarg to a sys.
tenn of public schools.
And for all this she receives salary
which enables her 70 live in poverty,
on the charity of her friends, on rare
and hard earned p, nsion, or on the
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