Los Angeles herald., 1906-07-31
INSTITUTE FOR
SISTERS OPENS
ANNUAL EDUCATIONAL SES-
SION BEGINS
Nearly Two Hundred Catholic Edu-
Gators Attend Opening Meeting.
Addresses by Bishop conaty
and Sister Loyola

daily until August 10.
At the sessions yesterday the speak
ers gave the latest methods in the diff
ferent branches of teaching
Bishop Conaty, on coming to this dio-
cese three years ago, established the
annual institute. which has proved a
great help and impetus to the educa-
tional work of the diocese.
Sister Mary Loyola, principal Of the
st. James high school, Chicago, will
give twenty-five lectures during the i'm
stitute on the different phases of school
work. which will be from the newest
and most up-to-date pedagogical meth
DDS of the east.
The institute opened yesterday morn
ing with a scholarly address by Sister
Mary Loyola on Words"
Bishop conaty Speaks
At the afternoon session Bishop
Conaty delivered an eloquent address
on "The School Room" He pointed out
the dignity Of the teachers calling and
the work to be accomplished in the
school room. He said:
'The school room, of all places after
the church, is the most sacred to re-
ligion, for in the school room the re-
ligious life seeks development. 1t is
sacred to life itself, for in it life finds
development. 1t is a seeding field, where
thoughts are planted and cultivated
following the seeding and harvesting
following the growing.
"The school room is a sanctuary and
the teacher the priestess. For in it life
develops and grows in the direction of
the spiritual and it Is not out of place
to call it sanctuary. In the same sense
one may call the sister a priest,
sacred minister.
1.-THE school room is an influencing
room and there is no influence so great
as that which makes us think right and
do the right thing. To the Christian
child, whose eyes are fixed on eternity
and whose probation moments here
are a preparation, the sacredness al
most appalls us. The atmosphere
should be alive, stimulating, encourag-
ing, uplifting and ennobling.
"The aim of the school room is to
teach life to live and to help it to
grow. There is nothing more beautiful
in life than a young life confided to
the care Of another.
Wild Flowers Not Fragrant
"We marvel at the rose garden, and
we know that some roses will grow
wild and creep over the wayside walls.
but when we touch them, the leaves
fall and there is no fragrance because
they are wild. But the cultivated rose
is something different, not altogether in
it's formation, but in it's beauty and
richness, fragrance and strength. House
plants grow toward the sun, and so all
living things need the sun. We need
the sun as we need the moisture; as the
earth needs it so does man.
1.-THE sun of the school room is God.
It's atmospheres should be goodness and
it's moisture and light in the grace of
God. Those beautiful plants, more
beautiful than the most beauteouS rose
need more. The school room should be
cheerful. There should be sunshine, not
only that which comes from the win
dow, but in the child life and in the
life of the teacher. Everything in the
room should teach something, the
motto on the board, pictures, clean
windows, neat curtains, place for
everything and everything in it's place.
"School responsibility it not graded.
Sometimes teachers imagine those in
the higher grades have the greatest
responsibility, but they have not one
whit more than the kindergarten teach
err In fact, if / were to grade the
responsibility of the schools, it would
be from the lower to the higher. The
responsibility is greater when the child
is plastic clay in the hands of the
molder.
Don't blame the dull child and push
the bright one, putting the dullard in
the shadow. Your duty is to the dull
-
room is in the bringing to the average
the dull child The best teacher is the
one who has no ounces. There are few
ounces in the world, and if there are,
1t is because the teachers have not made
them work out the problems they could
have done"
Talks About Grammar
Sister Mary Loyola followed the bishop
on the topic Grammar" and in her
interesting manner she pointed out the
fallacies of teaching grammar in the
accepted sense. She said in part:
There are two methods of teaching
grammar. One, that the mother tongue
need not be taught, that it can be
picked up some way, and the other is
that it cannot be taught. We should
learn the art of speaking the English
language with propriety. Grammar is
not an art, but science underlying
the art of speaking. Art is learned by
practice. We study the great masters
and at a great distance initiate them.
ITO pass through almost any school
room one viii see from the second and
third grades children studying gram
mar. They give hours and hours which
are absolutely wasted in the child life
In the study of the so-called grammar.
In the new way the formal study of
grammar is relegated to the seventh
grammar has been introduced into the
third year of the high school course,
where the pupils have had some ac-
quaintance with a foreign language"
Believes In Simplicity
Sister Mary Loyla advocates the ex-
elusion of the English grammar books,
of which there are thirteen, from the
grammar grades She advocates the
use Of grammar in a simple, concise
manner that win interest the child, Of
which she gave lucid example with
blackboard illustrations. The speaker
advocated the study of the Latin gram
mar She continued:
Some have found fault with post
poning the study so long. But how
capwe teach the lowest form of science
before the pupils have reached a re-
hectiye age? Grammar as grammar
must be taught logically, hence not
learned by the child until at a more
mature age.
There must be certain principles
which are true to all languages. II we
learn the principles on which the noun.
tains Of Spain are formed. win the
same not be true In France and I'm our
own Sierras? II we discover the prin-
eiples of Latin, are they not true IN
all languages?
The whole teaching of grammar is
an anI