Putnam patriot., 1922-10-20
TEACH THREE R'S THOROUGHLY
 IS SUPERINTENDENT'S ADVICE
MIR. JENKINS, ADDRESSING LOCAL TEACHERS. DE- cLARES THEY SHOULD HAVE NO SYMPATHY
 FOR PADS AND FRILIS
Its Great Thing Be Teacher, He AfrnsGives Inter
 esting Talk on Education"

bers. shall have mastered thoroughly the mechanics of reading and applied them Co getting intelligent thought from the printed page. whether it be newspaper. magazine, or bound vol tune: shall have mastered thoroughly the fundamentals of writing and ap- piled them not only in the writing les sons. but in every bit of writing that is done" First. second, third, fourth. fifth and six grade teachers share equally this burden.
 1T it were as easy Co build charae- ter aS to train an athlete for race or a spelier to compete for prize, more of us would be angels. But the very fact that character training Is so much more difficult than training the mind or body. is a ehailengs to the real teacher to make this the vital part of the education of her future citizens. Just how character grows, nobody knows. But there are certain factors that enter in. Discipline. habits, ex. ample. social training. are among them.
 Would Secure Punetuality
 would have boy puaetual and regular in his attendance at school, not because it makes for neat look ing school register. but because 1t Is ineuleating in him habits that will be necessary to his success as future citizen.
 would have children marching. endlessly marching. heads up, body erect. straight lines, not because 1t saves doors or floors. but because 1t will inculcate habits that will tend to make them successful citizens.
 would have children taught to obey. eheerfully. immediately, not be cause the teacher Is a tyrant and the pupil her subject, but because no one can be a successful citizen and rule the minds of others, who has not first learned to obey.
 would create many social situa- tions from Kindergarten to college in which little tots in the primary grades, boys and girls in the intermediate rooms. youngsters in the grammar school and youths in the high school were continually provided with train ing in working together. in doing something for common end. in sub ordinating self to the good of the group.
 Teacher Should Set Example
 So far as l was able, l would live my life as teacher with the thought in mind that children are always look ing up to me to set them a good ex- ample.
 This then Is the last article of our teaching creed: eNo child shall have ! been through the experience of having gone to school to me without having become little stronger in character through the process. "
 No teacher will want to subscribe to as rigid a creed as this who is merely holding down her job for the money ! 1t obtains. But that kind l am not ad- dressing today l am talking to teach CTS who find n real joy in the work Of teaching school.
 It's Wonderful to Teach School
 '1f an Agassiz finds pleasure in dig. ging among fossils in order that he may interpret the story of prehistoric | life, If Thoreau by Walden Pond is delighted with his work among bugs and beetles. if John Burroughs on his little plot of ground in the Valley of the Mohawk glories in his life among the birds and bees, if Luther Burbank is enraptured by his work of transforming a worthless desert cactus into an edible fruit or of producing a ! swceter rose or fairer lily. if these and other workers (and their name is le- eion) revel in the joy of their work by what name shall we call the joy that should be the teachers who works not with fossils, nor with bugs, bees. or flowers, but with the child, who is at once the most complex, the most plastic. the most beautiful, the most wonderful of Gods creatures. : It's great thing te be a teacher It's ! a wonderful thing to teach school.