Year: 1874




others by process known only to few,
are kept by the school A director visits
school. The proficiency of few pre-
cocious ones is exhibited and the director
on taking his leave is invited to make
few remarks which he generally does to
this affect: "Well children you have
spelled well, and you have ciphered well,
but you hain't sot still u Vitalize your
schools by introducing life-giving princi-
pies, even at the risk of public opinion or
law. Here is patient that has long been
ailing. He has spent thousands of dol
lars in vain. He has lost nearly all the
flesh from his bones, and especially is his
system in need of that vital principle, the
blood The most experienced physicians
are in attendance, but they shake their
heads gravely. They determine as last
resort to try one more remedy, or rather
experiment, as the patient is pretty sure
to die any way, they think. Blood must
be taken from living, healthy person
and introduced into the system of the
patient. The proper instruments are
ready. One of their number bares his
arm, and vein is opened. The blood is
conveyed through air-tight tubing to the
arm of the patient, and sent coursing
through the veins of the dying man, and
what is the result? The heart begins to
futter,i and the pulse to beat, and he
lives again. Who says he will not live
new life? Do you recognize in the pa
tient our "Sick Public School Sys-
tenn" and in the physicians, our district
school teachers, and in the living princi-
pie infused into the patient, the new
studies and the new methods of instruc-
tion?


THE TEACHER NEEDS LIFE AS WELL.





What are their most noticeable charac-
teristics? The first is, that three-fourths
of all the teachers in the country are
teaching common district schools. The
second, is common remark, that they
are notable for dullness, listlessness, mar
-mindedness; lack of spirits, energy
and ambition Mark you, we do not
admit all this, but if this surprising as
sertion is not true, fellow teachers, is
there not tendency in this direction
that requires constant watchfulness to
keep from lapsing into drowsiness Who
is to blame for this? l. The teacher is
most, for not throwing off the shackles
that to say the least OF, are self imposed.
The district school teacher has an over
whelming majority in his profession, and
yet he is the last to speak or move in
favor of reform. 2. Our school system
is to blame, in that it does not
demand and provide for this kind of in
struction in primary schools. The teach
er needs the spur and inspiration of new
studies to prevent him from becoming a
stupid, listless torpid lethargic peda-
gogue. Let us note some of the effects
that teaching of the Natural Sciences
has had, and will continue to have, upon
the teacher. This is not 'new-fangled
notion" that found birth in the brains
L r. I.
ter The State of Illinois has given it fair
trial with the most encouraging results.
Many of our principal cities have tried
it for years. And here is what one of
the leading educators of the day, W. T.
Harris, Superintendent of Public Schools
at St. Louis No, says: THE effect of
preparing and giving one exercise, of one
hour per week, in Natural Sciences, in a
single year, was to increase the efficiency
of teachers at least fifty per cent" Again;
Each lesson becomes for the teacher a
practical experiment in the art of in
struction, and when the pupils are al
lowed to become listless, the teacher sees
her ineficiency portrayed before her,
and must make greater effort next time.
1t seems to me this phase of the subject
its value to the teacher-is worth
quite as much as the immediate value of
these lessons to the pupil. l do not lose
sight of the fact that he gains from week
to week an impression that deepens into
practical scientific thought in after
years But the teacher is led to study
and thoroughly prepare herself, and
then in that lesson, she is led to probe in
freer manner, than ordinary, the mis-
cellaneous fund of experience possessed
by the individuals of her class; thus she
cannot fail to find new means Of getting
hold of pupils in each of the regular
branches of the daily course She will
find herself getting more and more eman-
cipated from the slavish use of the text
book and be able to stand before her
class with consciousness of her strength
and ability to draw out the resources of
each and all her pupils and combine the
| same into one result. l cast no rehec-
| ton upon the profession, when | say that
many of our schools are poorly managed.
The school system is defective in one of
the most essential elements of school
management. The parents are utterly
Indifferent. The "makeshift' teacher
who has no love for the work, brings the
system into disrepute. Now if pro-
fesional teachers will only use their COM
mon sense, prepare themselves for the
| business, and assert their legitimate
rights, they could then use this element
of school management, and the results
would be: l. You would have more
confidence in yourself; 2. You would
inspire your pupils with confidence and
respect for you; 3. The Indifferent pa
rent would disappear; 4. The "m AXE
shift teachers would be thoroughly weed
ed out of the profession; 5. The pro-
fessional teacher be furnished with an
inexhaustable mine of facts, and princi-
| pies that children can comprehend g.


You will accomplish infinitely more in
| the advancement of your pupils; I. 1t
will raise you in the estimation of the
community, who will take a deep inter-
est in your plans, and thereby you may
rescue the honored name of the Ameri-
can teacher from reproach. The time is
fast passing when the plea of ignorance
will be sufficient excuse. The teacher of
the future will be expected to know
something about the elements of Natu-
raj Science Our leading educators are
discussing this subject and the people
will sustain them in getting the proper
legislation. If you don't know anything
about Natural Science you would better
quit the business, or prepare yourself to
teach.


The old adage, Like priest, like peo-
pie" is just as applicable to teacher and
pupil. Whatever paralizes the best en-
ergies of the teacher or dampens his
ardor, or begets dullness and apathy,
will certainly have it's effect in the crea-
ton of artificial stupidity in the children.
The novelty of these new and useful
studies will awaken an interest and en-