The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1908-10-02
sca0Ol TEACHERS i 4. S
THEIR DUTIES AND RESPONSE
BILITIES ARE GREAT.
Some Patrons Still Believe That
Teachers Should Keep School
From Sun to Sun.

Teachers Should Keep School
From Sun to Sun.
!. News and Notions says there is
doubtless no other profession so
commonly used as stepping stone to
enable many to enter a profession
usually considered more ,remuner-
tive and exalted than teaching.
Perhaps society itself IS partly re-
sponsible for permitting this in
trusion, but the intrusion is being
made, whether fostered by society
or not. What common occurrence
it is to see young man keep
school" law or medicine, or a young
lady keep school" to earn money for
her wedding trouseau. Society, pat
rons and often trustees are unable
to distinguish between the teacher
who scientifically trains and devel-
opes all the God-given physical and
mental powers Of the cnild
In rank, teaching should be class
ed as profession next to lne minis
try, or perhaps coordinate with it;
for the teacher details with the mind
while it is in a plastic condition and
very capable of being nodded Then,
too, the teacher, by means of daily
association and personal contact with
the child, is able, in manner, to
guide and assist the mind of the child
in haracter-building He helps the
child's mind to do right-thinking and
right-acting.
Many people have erroneous ideas
about teaching, yet almost every
patron knows just precisely what 1t
behooves the teacher to do at all
times. How common its the idea
that. the teacher sits in an easy-chair
in the shade for few hours in the
day and coins money with very little
effort. Really, the true teacher is,
and must always be, the most dlligent
pupil in'the school, regardless OF his
preparation for } an experience IN
teaching. The teachers work is not
confined to a few hours in the day,
but begins with the opening OF school
and ends with. the closing. Just as
the body hungers and thirsts daily
for the various food substances, so
necessary to sustain life, so the MUD
hungers and thirsts daily for the
food necessary for mental growth
and development. This mental food
must be supplied daily by the teach
er if we proceed in accordance with
the laws of nature.
Some patrons still bg'ieve that
teachers should keep children in
school from sun to sun. They forget
that there is difference between
manual labor and mental labor.
Keeping a child in school from sun
to sun chains his body to seat; but
it. fails, to keep his mind at work.
Though his body is in school, his
mind is most likely elsewhere. The
mind receives instruction only while
in receptive attitude. Teachers
may rush children mechanically
through books, but they cannot rush
or force the contents Of any book
through the child's mind.
Perhaps tie Greeks realized the im-
mense responsibility of the teacher
better than many others; for they
employed pedagogues to attend the
children to and from school and very
carefully direct and guide the child
in character-building and virtuous
living. This lett the teacher free to
impart what we term book learn
ing" for want of better term. The
modern teacher has the work OF
teacher and pedagogue. Still his
profession is regarded as a trivial
enc by many; when skillful expert
enced teachers look into the faces OF
old pupils of theirs and see their own
thoughts, ideas and habits reflected,
as it were, in a mirror, we think they
have Just cause to think of shirking
duty and shuddering at the erroneous
amount of responsibility.