Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1909-06-19

minds of those of us who are aspiring tC
become the teachers of the future citi-
zens of Maryland are
What does the world most need and
How can we better the world?
In the early part of the nineteenth cen
fury Browning wrote
"The world wants men, pure men,
Free from the faint of sin
Men whose lives are clean without, and pure
within.'
And i'll this respect we do not think
that the world has progressed very rap
idly since Browning's time If the
world has not become better, it is our
duty to better it; and if it has become
better, we want to make it even better
than it has ever been before. For, to
quote Emerson, we are
Built of furtheranCe, and pursuing
Not of spent deeds, but of doing"
The question now arises-how can we
give to the world better men, intellectu-
ally, morally, socially, and physically?
We hold that it is the duty of the
school to furnish these men. There are
public schools i'll all parts of the United
States, and parents send their children
to these schools.
Why?
The answer is to get an education.
Therefore, the children of to-day want
such an education las will meet the de-
mands of modern life. both in its pro
visions for the development of the in
dlvidual, and in its training for social
service
The stability of a republican govern
ment rests upon its citizens. Therefore,
we need men who are intelligent and
pure men who are stirred up with high
hopes of living to be brave men aud
worthy patriots, dear to God and famous
to all ages"
Someone has said-"aS the teacher, so
is the school" The training of the
young is the most important work which
can engage the attention Of men at the
present time, and this duty devolves
upon the schoOl-teaCher who has been
called the high priest of the future,
Bishop Spalding says that to be a per
manent educational force is the highest
earthly distinction. The Sklllful teacher
inspires faith, admiration, confidence,
and love; and such a teacher forms a
body of men distinguished by zeal for
truth and love of moral and intellectual
excellence. The teacher ought to pre-
fer his life work to that of every other
calling, because to him is committed the
highest and most sacred trust And
every teacher ought to feel as FrOebel
did when he said-'it seemed AS if | had
found something | had never known,
but always lUnged for, always missed :;
as if my life had at last discovered its
native clement" or as PeStalOZZi did
when he expressed his souls longing in
these WOrdS-'l want to be school
MASTER
a skillful teacher must possess certain
qualities. He must be whole sOuled,
honest, manly, and true; for Lowell
says that the spirit of the teacher is
more than his method and that person
is the most valuable i'll the school room
who fills 1t with sweet reaSOnableueSS.
1t is also necessary for the teacher to
possess patience, sympathy, and love for
children. He must have a happy dis
position and keep sunshine in the school.
Also, he must be an altruiSt; that is, he
must be imbued with the spirit of self
sacrifice and wide-reaching benevolence.
Such teachers as these are wanted every
where to prepare the children for success
i'll this life and happiness hereafter.
We have shown what teacher should
be and now perhaps you may ask
where are we going to get such teachers
for our schools? 1t is just such teach
ers as these that the normal schools
strive to send forth. When we speak of
the training of teachers we mean not
only academical but also professional
training. The high schools give us the
academical training, and the normal
schools the professional. BY profess
Sional training is meant-nOt merely the
study of psychology and child study
history of education, methods of teach
ing, school management and law, but,
more than all else, actual teaching under
intelligent, skillful guidance. This is
secured i'll the model departments of all
normal schools. All teachers should
have this training. And these teachers
have some particular aims i'll view which
they wish to accomplish.
The goal in all education is ever re-
cedlng before the advancing contestant
as the top of a mountain seems to re-
treat before the climber remOter aud
higher SUBMITS appearing successfully
as each apparent summit is gained.
But we will strive forward with unfiag-
ging persistence, for Nature teaches us
that
THE little bird upbuilds its nest
OF little things by ceaseIess quest,
And he who labors without rest
BY little steps will reach life's crest
Nevertheless, the goal in all education
rs the acquisition of knowledge, the
training of some permanent capacity for
productlveneSS or enjoyment, and the
development of character
The general aim in education, not its
actual attainmentan and not even its hopes
of attainment in the near future, but the
ideal toward which it aspires is to pre-
pare for "a complete living. Complete
living involves usefulness and happi-
ness. To be useful, one must be able to
do some service which will promote the
welfare of the individual or of the ma
ton. To be happy, one must enjoy
both his work and his leisure. We do
not contend that everyone can be happy
i'll the same way. For, education is
fourfold-aesthetic, ethical, intellectual,
and moral, and it develops the powers
of the individual as nature the flower
along the lines of least resistance.
We may divide education into three
classes -elementary, secondary, and
higher.
The special aims of elementary educa-
ton are-thrOugh good instruction and
wise discipline to present to the child s
mind the whole field of knowledge and
to exercise his pOwerS-mental, moral
physical, and aesthetic.
The special aim of secondary educa-
ton consists III the discovery and de.
velopment of each pupils dominant in
terests i'll harmony with the general aim
of educatiOn As the DuDilS acunirp