Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1907-08-23
SCHOOL TEACHERS
AS SOCIAL FACTORS
Interesting Lecture at High School
Last Evening by Professor Mac
arthur of Agricultural College.

the High School last evening to listen
to the lecture on The Teacher as a
Social Factor which was delivered
. by Professor John r. Macarthur, who
occupies the chair Of English at the
New Mexico College Of Agriculture
and Mechanic Arts. Among those
present We're a number of teachers of
the public schools Of the city, and
those who have been in attendance at
the teachers institute Of Santa Fe
County, which closed yesterday.
Professor Macarthur is an interest.
ing talker and his address was lis.
tened to attentiyely and with evident
appreciation. After a few introduc-
tory remarks the speaker plunged into
the subject Of his address, discussing
the social status of the teacher in an
cient, medieval and comparatively re-
cent times. He said in part:
at is necessary for the teachers OF
the present day to ask themselves
some frank questions. What does
the world think of teachers? What
do they think of themselves? Why are
they teachers? There is need of more
thought in this world.
"To determine the position of
teacher as social factor we have to
know the opinion the community has
of him. A mans influence varies di-
rectly as the opinion held of him. The
personality of the teacher is a vital
thing but very few people regard
teachers in the proper light. The
teachers ought to educate the parents
as well as the children. The public
does not realize what the good teach
er can contribute to society
THE haZy views of the public con
cerning teachers is perhaps due to the
fact that the teachers themselves
profession.
Glow are we to know what should
characterize the ideal teacher? The
lpublc and our pupils can furnish val
uable help of negative kind. They
! can ai%aJs tell us what we should not
be. The community outside can al
ways gauge teachers by the affection
the children have for them. The cen
tral motive of the greatest teaching
has always been love
There are other essentials. First,
the teacher must himself be educated.
| This may seem an absurd statement,
for one would suppose that an unedu-
Gated teacher must be an impossibility
and contradiction in term. Unfor-
tunately this is not the case. Culture
is essential in teacher, especially in
the lowest grades, and the culture
should grow and grow. One of the
greatest charms of the teachers life
is that of acquiring and acquiring cul-
ture in order to transmit it and diffuse
| Iit throughout the ever widening circle
Of a teachers influence
| Secondly, the teacher must know
how to teach, but must be careful
that the charge should not be laid
against him that he knows nothing,
and knows how to teach it.
The mind essential is that of the
possession of character which will en-
able the teacher to become moral
trainer. The majority of the children
spend more of their waking hours
with their teachers than with anyone
else. This gives the teachers a great
chance to influence them for good
That is the life work of the real
teacher.
Numerous conditions operate
against the teaching profession, one
of the chief of which is the poorness
of the pay which prevents the best
minds of the community from going
into the most important profession
in society. This is pitiable Money
should never be weighed against the
soul of a child. We know not how
society can be aided more than by
the formation of a wise and efficient
body Of educators. We know not any
class which would contribute so much
to the stability of the stat eand to do.
nestle happiness.
J "The teachers position as factor
Of society is that Of the former and
moulder OF society itself. All the oc-
equations of society have an inter
dependence upon one another, but
there is hardly any one which holds
such fundamental and basal one as
that Of the teacher; and when once
the teaching body awakens to its pos.
sibiities, to the endless possibilities
that there are in it for joy
bringing service to society, then, and
only then will society respond by ac-
cording to the teacher the position
which he will then deserve"