The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-07-12
Qualified Teachers and Our Schools
By EDWARD FRANKLM nUcHNER rA D. PhissopAy Alabama

1 guarantee that result. We are prone | 10 treasure the false idea that the | the school is merely the place for | instruction and knowledge getting. Neither an individual school nor q system of schools has eyer effectively nourished under such 6 notion.
 Among the many desirable qualifca- tfons which fit a teacher for s place in a system of schools we name as four as essential. Q liberal education professional education, personal fitness, and character. The teacher must know in a lively way the topics of instruction. Even more. he should have an academic training which Is higher than the grade of work he Is to teach. No one ought to undertake teaching in the elementary schools without having first completed the course in a thorough high school. Teachers in high and normal schools should be graduates of a standard college. College teachers ought to be teachers In our highest institutions ought to be acknowledged specialists in their respective departments. So liberaiizing must the teachers own education be as to enable him to grasp thoroughly the interrelations between the different grades of work done by pupils as they advance from
 
 educational laws make just such re- quirements; and the experience ofsup- erintendents and presidents in our schools is enforcing the basic wisdom of such a plan of qualifications
 To his knowledge of things to be taught, the effectively qualified teacher must add a training in the principles and practice of his profession. Teach ing Is more than the sorry business of mere school keeping. We generally find no diffculty in rightly distinguish ing between the usual professions. such as law and medicine. and mere business, as keeping store to carry on trade. When 1t comes to education, many of Us refuse to make such dis tinction, and accordingly lose in our power of true appreciation of the school. Education rests upon principles as soundly established as are those of law or medicine. These the quali- fled teacher must know and follow. They require a working knowledge of the history and of education, of the laws controlling the action and de- veiopment of the human mind and human society, and of the foundations of character. Likewise professional trainging includes acquaintance with the theories and methods of teaching the different subjects of study. and the best economical management of school
 
 and supervision for the best interests of the child and society. And. inas- much as education is . scince daily widening It's horizon. the qualified teacher must know all these principles as they are formulated today rather than years ago. These principles can never be learned incidentally in the acquisition of the subjects to be taught to pupils Academic training can never displace professional train- Ing.
 The teacher. moreover, must be per- sonaliy fitted by a joyous soul and a right disposition towards his work. Personal appearance Is no less an es- sential element In that leadership which a successful teacher working with plastic children and youths must possess. No pessimist ought ever to admitted to the teaching force of a school or a system of schools.
 No one ever questions that character. in the highest sense of the word. must qualify our teachers. They stand as living examples before our children. And no model for proper living should be brought before initiative childhood that is not as perfect in It's bearing as the pursuit of ideal virtues can