Kentucky Irish American. (Louisville, Ky.) 1898-1968, 1911-02-04
IRISH GIRLS.
Educators Awake to Their
Value as School
Teachers.

That the educators of the United
States are awakening TO the value OF
girls OF Irish birth or breeding az
school teachers is shown by an
article in the latest issue of the
Worlds Work. How to Choose a
Public School Teacher" is the sub
ject, and the author is winiam Nc
Andrew, Principal of the Washing
ton Irving High School of New York
City. He says in part:
IL you want to choose a man, you
will need to make haste-for the
annual reports of the Commissioned
of Education show that the ped
agogicus masculinus is disappearing
so rapidly that II will seon be ex-
tinct. IL you seek female teacher,
choose an Irish girl. This kind
stands the strain best. If 1t Mad
not been for the light-heartedness of
the Irish race its own heavy history
would have killed 1t. These merry
young women, in spite of the ex-
cessive Journalism and system that
have encrusted American education
are the best able to keep the bright
side OF the schooling turned upward
An Irish teacher won't be imposed
upon. Forty boys sometimes get
the devil into each one of them, all
at once. The rules nowadays pre-
vent you from driving him out by
muscle. The Irish girl laughs at
him. II any body takes a mean adj
vantage of her she can launch an
outburst of sarcasm, invective and
correction in perfect taste-and in
few moments you will hear the
whole company, teacher and chill
dren, laughing together. Your typi-
cal New England woman, with her
ingrowing conscience, would be re-
sentful all the rest of the day. The
irish teacher counts more on affec-
ton than on system. That's what
makes her children learn faster. for
teaching originated in a mothers
love for children, The instructive
primordial, atavistic love-essence in
teaching seems to beat scientific
pedagogy every time. II lad likes
his teacher, he'll like whatever she
proposes = geography or penman-
ship.
Example of Irish affection: One
day / heard a great noise in the
street. 1t was day of the first
snowfall-one of those soft packable
SHOWS, such as just naturally forms
itself into balls. A big putting
policeman dragged into the school
office a boy who had dented the
officers helmet and dignity. The
preserver of the peace demanded
that l send for the lads parents or
the youngster would be hailed to the
station house. Someone told the
Duffy girl (of the 6-B) that one of
her flock as held by the enemy. In
she came with flashing eyes.
What are you doing with my
boy?" she demanded. Give him to
mel" Then we had pretty tab
leau, my lady with one arm around
sobbing youngsters neck and the
other hand extended defiantly at
the tyranny of the law.
II know you, Flanagan, You
strut around the post like a walking
target. Everybody itches to heave
at you. Now you get out
OF here, and don't you dare to touch
a boy of mine againl"
Then he laughed and she laughed
and that's the kind of Irish spirit
that keeps the systematic educators
from killing the schools entirely. A
teacher needs plenty of warmth to
keep the blood from freezing and
plenty of humor to cool it with.
Many of us know this to be true,
but there are many to whom it will
come as strange tldings. The more
they investigate 1t the more they
will learn of its truth.