Los Angeles herald., 1909-12-23
TEACHERS MEET
IN SEVENTEENTH
ANNUAL SESSION
DR.. VINCENT DELIVERS AD-
DRESS OF EVENING
SAYS ENTHUSIASM is KEYNOTE
OF SUCCESS
Institute of Southern California Peda-
gogues Opens with Well Attended
Session at Polytechnic High
School Auditorium

Polytechnic high schools auditorium
was packed last night with teachers
and their friends attending the seven
teenth annual session of the Southern
California Teachers association. DR..
George Vincent, professor at the Uni
versity of Chicago and president of the
New York Chautauqua, was the speak
er of the evening.
Those in charge of the program were
happy in their choice of DIR. Vincent,
for he is one of the most up-to-date
and entertaining educators in the
country. A fund of bright reminis-
cence wells about the Cterner and more
serious problems of which he treats,
and he handles his subjects in a man
ner calculated to keep an audience in
terested from beginning to end.
DIR. Vincent chose for his subject
last night New Education"
"The old idea seems to have been
that knowledge should be measured by
the amount a person possesses. Now
1t is neither amount nor quality, but
human nowledge-knowledge of the
person with whom one comes in con-
tact. Make it better for the children
to understand the generation in which
| they live.
II we'll remember when I was boy
| JUST WiciI L hIGW u NhC SObLOi 6lAi' ia
our speller there was some mention of
the cotton gin, and l went to the
teacher for an explanation. She went
on to tell me about the man who in
vented the machine, but told me
nothing of it's workings.
! well, the next Sunday I went to
church, and somewhere picked up the
idea of gin and strong drink. AS
result it not being explained to me
| I lanl AaT MI
ture for years of the cotton gin being
machine surrounded by demons, with
bottles of gin ranged all about 1t. My
| impression of the whole was that the
cotton gin was something to be alb
| horred.
Newer education should not permit
of that Teach facts; grasp for the
tangible things of life. Reach out for
the living things 1t will add to the
power of the only test-life. Knowl-
edge must be organized, systematized,
and does not consist in being able to
choose the right words to consider
yourself socially appropriate.
"Solve Small Problems"
"Higher teaching means more or less
specializing-and in that most complex
thing, human nature. You can close
your mind to the newer ideas, and the
result is that you'll hang on a few
years and then lose your jobs. You
can put your ideas in pigeon holes and
perhaps you'll get away with life If
you take out one at a time. Take the
small problems day by day, solve
them as they come, and when the true
test is held you'll be prepared.
"These are the days of painless edu-
cation, and we are all more or less au-
donations. Individualism is needed to
bring our resources to bear on new sit
uations, and power is in we'll trained
resources. We are machines only up
| to a certain point, and then, If we
stand the test, we graduate from the
automaton stage and become real pow
ers of something else than mechanical
perfection.
81 must tell a little story about
President Hadley of Yale One year,
when Yale was celebrating something
or other, all the colleges of this and
| foreign countries sent ambassadors to
congratulate her on the great event.
| OF course Hadley, as head of the uni
versity, was expected to receive the
delegates.
"As long as the English colleges were
represented no one paid much atten-
| tion to the performance, but then the
French. and German, and Spanish, and
Italian delegates pressed forward, and
to each Hadley, to the infinite delight
of his friends, replied in the language
of the country he represented.
1.-THE next day after all of President
Hadley's friends had congratulated
him on his wonderful performance IN
| dealing with all nations, the belated
Swedish delegate came along to offer
his greetings to the university. His
address was made in the choicest of
| Latin, and in the same tongue Presl-
dent Hadley made reply. Chauncey
Depew standing near, said, by
George, 1 was afraid Hadley was go
ing to fall down. never knew that he
understood Swedish, too"
Met Situation Perfectly
"Aside from the humor of 1t, this
goes to show what a great educator
Hadley is. He was able to meet the
situation perfectly, his training was
| such that he was never caused to fal-
ter, and that is the way we shoulo All
be.
enthusiasm is a great thing. Not
| the fiery fervor of a short squirt, out
the glowing achievement of work day
| by day. Put your heart into 1t. Have
a steady object in life, and success is
| yours. All great persons are enthu-
siasts, whether they be educators or
business men.
"Some have knowledge, wisdom, but
/ lack enthusiasm. Education should
mean larger, happier life. and when
put into power should mean true en-
thusiasm for the work of the day and
of the morrow, and should mean liv-
! ing for what it is worth.
"Let us lose the old idea of the lit
tie red schoolhouse. Let us bring the
children in contact with the real
things of life. Teach them to be en-
thusiasts in their school work, and
later they will develop into enthusiasts
over life itself"
In addition to the adress by DR.. Vim
cent the entertainment last night con-
sisted of an invocation by Rev. William
Horace Day, solo by Arthur T. Mer-
rill and an address, 1.-THE Needs of the
Rural Schools" by Edward Hyatt,
state superintendent of public instruc-
ton. DIR. e. c. Moore was called upon
to deliver the Introductory remarks
and announced that a meeting of the
resolution committee of the institute
would meet this morning at the Nor
NAL school at S:45.
Municipal art, music and develop
ment was taken up yesterday afternoon
II =. l. 90