Evening star., 1936-09-03
Primary
Teacher
Important
Little Child's First
Contact With School
Is a Serious Matter.
BY ANGELO PATRI.

THE childs first teacher is the most
influential in his life. Mother is
that teacher She gives him his first
lessons and they stay with him as long
as he Hives, weighing every thought
and action, helping him or hindering
him according to the amount of under
standing that went into them.
The mothers voice is the first voice
a child learns to hear. 1t will modify
his voice and his speech and the man
Liner OF them. Her hands are the hands
the learns to love or dread, according
te their deftness, their gentleness,
their sureness. AS he has been hans
died in babyhood he will tend 10
handle other people and things.
Mothers code becomes the childs code
and shapes his character. FROM her
the child learns the ways Of industry.
friendliness, honor, duty. What he
learns during the first few years when
mother is his only teacher and his
closest friend, is what equips him for
life.
After he goes to school the first
teacher he has is the most important
of his school life. If she is well ex-
perienced in the care and manage
ment of little children, she has a
motherly attitude along with the
teachers viewpoint, she will lay a
foundation for the childs education
that will stand through the years, an
underlying strength that will give the
child courage, certainty and hope.
Mothers are mothers and first
teachers by the grace Of God, but
teachers are appointed by school
boards. Teachers can be selected, and
because they are imposed upon little
children, and have such far-reaching
influence upon their futures, they
ought to be selected with the utmost
care. The teacher of the first grade
ought to be selected after fasting and
prayer, for upon her the greater part
of the children's success in school
must depend.
Too often this is disregarded. The
high school teacher is carefully Sc
lected and very well paid. Dignity
goes with the position of the high
school teacher. The primary teacher.
especially the teacher of the "baby
class" gets a small salary and toler-
ant smile. Education in school, un-
der such a condition, is upside down.
We create poor scholarship in the be-
ginning and then try to patch it up
in high school. It cannot be patched
up. Children's minds do not let go
what they learn at the start, but
hold to it to the end. Half-learned
facts, inaccurate use Of educational
tools like reading, tables, handwork,
stay inaccurate and worry the stu
dent.
Give the baby class the finest teach
er that can be found. She must be
healthy, clear headed and vigorous.
She needs a good disposition and a
sense of humor, a dash of motherli-
ness and a lifetime's worth Of teach
ing power. She has to take the baby
Just as he comes from his mothers
hands and, without friction Of loss,
merge school education with home
training. It is an artists job and
worthy of honor and high salary.
The primary grades are important
throughout. The fundamentals OF
learning must be acquired accurately,
thoroughly and as pleasantly as pos
sible, but they must be acquired or
the high school might as well close.
More attention to the first teachers
will result in greater success through
out the educational scheme.
(Copyright 1850