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whole year without finding, in the good opinion of principals and commissioners, a transfer to a permanent place. It is best to discontinue such teachers from the service. Otherwise the reserve corps may become occupied by a class of professional substitutes and become an invalid corps instead of a reserve to supply capable and vigorous recruits. There are many good features and some unexpected draw packs connected with the plan; but as a plan to enable the school board to establish a standard of professional training, to provide itself with a sufficient number of teachers duly qualified to receive appointment when such teachers are obtainable, it is abundantly successful.

Regardless of the interests of the school.—Superintendent William E. Anderson, Milwaukee, Wis.: The more widely the power of appointment is distributed the greater the weight and influence exercised in behalf of the would-be teacher and regardless of the interests of the school. We are all acquainted with the commissioner who would be good enough to give all persons certificates whose fathers are taxpayers, who look upon the maintenance of schools first of all with reference to the support of teachers, and who sees no farther into the problem of licensing and selecting instructors than what appears to be a charitable mission of giving to as many deserving young women as possible a chance to earn a decent living. The good man who feels that the place should be given to the applicant who comes first, to the girl who has a mother to support, to the graduate of his own school, the daughter of a local politician, or a member of the same church with himself, will always flourish in city school boards. He is frequently a good man for other purposes but hiring teachers, and there is no reason for disqualifying him for exercising that function, when his generous predilections may be rendered harmless by a little wise legislation.

The best way for teachers to acquire control.-J. W. Beeson (in the Educational Exchange, Alabama): There should be a love for children on the part of a teacher. It is a fact, recognized by all good educators of the present day, that the most successful way to govern a child is with love; that when a teacher wins the respect and love of a pupil he has no trouble in controlling or in teaching him. The best way to win this love of children is to love them first. "Love begets love" is a law of human nature. Besides, it seems impossible for one to do the greatest amount of good for those for whom they have no special love. Guard the teaching force against incompetency.-Superintendent A. S. Draper (New York): I lay down the proposition as true that in nine-tenths of the cities of this country the board of education will be influenced in the appointment of teachers, and will appoint whomever the law and the existing regulations of that city will permit them to appoint as teachers, regardless of the peculiar fitness or adaptability of the applicant for the position. The conditions should be regulated by statute law. You must guard the teaching service against incompetency. I undertake to say that in nine-tenths of the cities of the country you will get a stronger corps of teachers from regulations which provide that only graduates of the city high school or the city normal schools or the training schools are eligible to appointment than you will if you throw the matter open and let the board select and bring in "the new blood," because the board, as a rule, will abuse the opportunity thrown open to them.

How shall he learn these things?-Principal George M. Grant, Queen's College (Ontario): That every future citizen shall be taught to read is much. That he shall be taught to observe and to think is more. But that he should learn to love, admire, and revere that which is worthy, and hate that which is unworthy, is most of all. But how shall the average boy learn these highest things save through the voice, tones, and whole life of his teacher?

Better even than mere learning.-Superintendent A. P. Marble (Worcester, Mass.): Better even than mere learning and professional skill is a sincere love for children and an earnest desire to lift them up. The teacher, filled with love for the little ones, will find a way to help them and improve them, far more than one filled with all knowledge and stuffed to repletion with methods, psychology, and the science of pedagogy, if in attaining all this the juice of human kindness has been squeezed out of her. Children must not be looked upon as specimens upon which to practice the arts of the profession. They are human souls to be developed and made manly and womanly.

Wasting their efforts.-Superintendent Henry Sabin (Iowa): I honestly believe that very many of our teachers are wasting their efforts and failing to do their best work, because they are neglecting to regard the things which pertain to

the present wants of their schools, in their desire to attain an undefined, intangible, impalpable something, of the nature and use of which they have no definite idea. I wish we had more institute instructors whose instruction is luminous with the light of common things.

The relations between teacher and pupil.-President E. B. Andrews, of Brown University, in School and College: We need, more than we have as yet done, to get upon a level of friendship with our pupils, not standing off from them, not looking down upon them. Present yourself to your pupils as their guide, friend, adviser, elder brother-one who, having the advantage of age and larger study, is able to assist them. The in loco parentis idea of the teacher's office is sometimes urged as an argument in favor of pedagogical sternness and severity. Not So. Parental authority itself is no longer exercised in the old way. How many civilized fathers horsewhip their boys nowadays? In the lower grades, and to an extent in all, authority must exist, but it should be kept as much as possible in the background. Never coerce a pupil save as a last resort.

Kindness to pupils is never exercised in vain. Strive by unselfishness and perfect uprightness to make your pupils regard you the finest man on earth. To this end do not assume infallibility, but, if mistaken ever, admit it. Be an original thinker, an authority in your department, no mere expositor of a book; yet if you pretend never to err, your dullest scholar knows better and puts it to your discredit.

Never use sarcasm toward a pupil or make fun of him. You are a coward if you do, taking advantage of position to enable you to hurt a fellow-being as good as yourself, and you will be despised as a coward deserves. But worse, when you treat a pupil so, you can teach him little more. The inclination on that learner's part to question you is gone forever, and has given way to timidity, or perhaps to a sullenness or obstinacy, which you can never overcome.

Until he withers into a machine.-Rev. Smith Baker: A teacher who simply hears children recite will grow less of a man or woman until he withers into a machine, like a circus clown or a magic-lantern lecturer, repeating the same performance; but the living teacher, though he remain in the same humble school for a generation, will, like a tree, grow broader and higher and deeper each year. His teaching will expand his manhood.

What the teacher is imparts itself.-Rev. Smith Baker: Every teacher is a picture. Eyes are following her while she is silently imparting ideas of life. Every teacher should be such a man as we want our boys to be; such a woman as we want our girls to be. No teacher can help being a character builder. What he is imparts itself to others. The teacher of my boy is doing more for my boy by what he is than by what he says.

The most powerful lesson.-Superintendent T. F. Wilson (Stillwater, Minn.): Set lessons are of but little value. The most powerful lesson by far is unconsciously given by the teacher whose life is a true type of noble manhood or womanhood. A teacher must live a life above reproach. This alone secures respect. Without respect nothing can be done. Once secure this respect and the frown of dissatisfaction or the smile of approval will cause deeper lessons to sink into a young heart than hours of admonition.

* * *

Women as school teachers.-Hon. John L. Buchanan, of Virginia: Among persons liberally educated more women than men find employment as teachers in the public schools. In fact, in a good many States public-school education is already largely in the hands of women teachers, as is shown by late school reports. In some States there is still an excess of male teachers, but it is constantly diminishing. This preponderance in the number of female teachers is easily explained. The avenues of remunerative employment for women are more numerous at the present day than formerly. They are proving themselves faithful and efficient workers in many positions which in former days were thought to be unsuited to them or to which they were thought not adapted. Public sentiment has materially changed touching this matter and more liberal views prevail. But still the sphere of woman is much more restricted than that of the other sex, her range of occupation much more limited. Again, it is almost, if not quite, a universal custom to discriminate against her in the matter of compensation. Why the same service equally well performed should in one case have a different money value from what it has in another is hard to explain on any principle of justice. Yet such is the fact. But woman is the natural guardian of childhood. Her delicate sensibilities, quick perceptions, active sympathies, and unselfish affections peculiarly fit her for training and managing

children. Hence her success, especially in the primary departments of school work, suffers nothing by comparison with that of the other sex. And in higher departments also, and in positions requiring executive or administrative talent, her work is often at a premium rather than at a discount. Doubtless the best results in education are to be secured under the influence of accomplished teachers of both sexes. As skilled artists, the delicate feminine touch of the one and the vigorous masculine touch of the other are both necessary to give the highest beauty of form and finish to the plastic nature of youth.

The small proportion of male teachers to be deplored.-State Superintendent John W. Dickinson, of Massachusetts: The standard of qualifications for teaching has considerably advanced in ten years, so that the demand for men and women fitted to take important positions far exceed the supply. As a consequence women of experience are now called to positions formerly occupied by m n who taught for a brief term to obtain pecuniary aid in preparing for other pursuits. The policy is doubtless as wise in many instances as it is economical, but the small proportion of male teachers is certainly to be deplored.

Why so?-The Chicago Evening Post: Shall a woman of strong character and great ability, who has made a long and honorable record in the public schools of Chicago, be refused promotion because she is a woman?

Why should they not do so?-Educational News: A New York journal publishes it as a fact that the Mercantile Library of New York has but one member who reads educational books, and adds that teachers ask for novels. Well, probably teachers find a better supply of novels in the Mercantile Library than elsewhere. If so, why should they not enjoy them? Probably, also, these same teachers have a supply of pedagogical literature at their homes, and they seek for the lighter and more entertaining reading elsewhere. If so, why should they not do so? The statement might mean much, and it may mean but little. We know of no class of people who would more fully enjoy the classical fiction or even the lighter literature of our language than teachers. Surely the constant strain which they suffer during the working hours of the day entitles them to whatever inno cent recreation they can get, even if it be the novels of the Mercantile Library The supreme question.-Superintendent Henry Sabin (Iowa): Except only the question of moral training, all other questions sink into insignificance compared with this of supplying the schools in our smaller cities and towns and in our country districts with competent teachers.

The pensioning of teachers recommended.-The following resolution was adopted by the department of superintendence of the National Educational Association at its Philadelphia meeting (February, 1891):

Justice, as well as the best public service, requires the retirement and pensioning of teachers after a service of thirty years and upon carefully devised conditions. We recommend the enactment of laws in the several States to permit and to regulate the retirement and pensioning of professional teachers.

Against pensions.-C. W. Bardeen (Syracuse, N. Y.): Pensions after a certain amount of service will make it only the more difficult to get rid of incompetent teachers who wish to complete that term of service.

-Master teachers wanted-How to secure them.-President D. C. Gilman in the Cosmopolitan: The tendency of our times is not toward the fostering of such teachers [as Arnold, Thring, Abbott, Taylor]. Many of the brightest Americans are attracted by business. The three professions traditionally called learned and the modern scientific pursuits enlist great numbers. Of those who devote themselves to teaching the most prefer to enter the service of the college or the university. Few only, so far as my acquaintance goes, seek permanent careers in the service of boys' schools; few declare that they will be satisfied with the opportunities and emoluments of a good and faithful teacher. Hence one of the most delightful of intellectual pursuits, one of the most useful, one of the most honorable, one of the most sacred, is in danger of falling into the hands of inferior men. The only remedy that I can see is for the head masters, trustees, and parents to be on the watch, and when a born teacher appears engage him, reward him, encourage him, retain him. See that his path is free from stones, that he is not overworked or harassed, and that he is kept contented in his lot. Let him be sure that as much respect and as much income will be his as would fall to his portion were he to enter the pulpit or be called to the bar. Let it never be forgotten that the teacher's gifts are as rare as the poet's. The methods of education can make scholars, pedants, specialists, and a very narrow man

may live in his den and benefit the world by patient observations and minute researches. But no process has been discovered for making teachers. They are like gems, that must be found, for they can not be produced. I would rather place a schoolboy under one "all-round man" whose manners, morals, and intellectual ways were exemplary, and who was capable of teaching him Homer and Euclid, than under a group of specialists selected simply as mathematicians, physicists, and linguists. Later on, when the character of a boy is established, when his habits are formed, when he knows how to study, when he has learned the art of acquiring knowledge and the graces of expression, let the specialists take hold of him. Even then let it be provided that the specialists shall not

be too narrow.

XVII.-TEXT-BOOKS.

The valid objection to free text-books.-S. S. Parr: All things considered, free books promise most to our schools. There is but one valid objection to this system, and that is the communistic one. The State undertakes to do what the individual should be left to do for himself. Doubtless, free books would be a long step towards solving the knotty problem of how to more efficiently educate the children of foreign-born parents, who are deterred from the full benefit of the public schools by the cost of books and appliances. They would also solve the questions of cost and economy.

A warning voice from out of the past.-Azariah C. Flagg (State superintendent, New York, in 1830): Great improvements are constantly going on in the charac ter of school books. The greatest experience and much of the best talent of the country are enlisted in this business, and the fruits of their labors are constantly giving them new claims to the approbation of the public. The adoption of a particular book would amount to a prohibition upon all improvements and subject the inhabitants to a loss of the prohibited books on hand. The interests of the common schools may be seriously endangered and can not be essentially benefited by the adoption by law of any book or set of books.

The text-book system of Ontario.-Hon. George W. Ross, minister of education: No text-books can be used in any public or high school of the province until sanctioned by the department. There is now but one text-book in each of the subjects taught in the public schools. In the case of high schools more than one text-book is used in some of the subjects, although the tendency is towards the same limitation as prevails in the public schools. When a text-book ceases, in the opinion of the department, to serve its purpose it is set aside and a more advanced one substituted. The price of the text-book, the quality of the paper, style of binding, typography, etc., are all regulated by the department. Under a statute, boards of trustees may provide free text-books for pupils in cities, towns, and incorporated villages.

CHAPTER XVI.

EDUCATION ABROAD.

NOTES FROM EUROPEAN EDUCATIONAL PERIODICALS.

Associations.-2. Bibliography.-3. Classic Languages.-4. City School Systems.-5. Compulsory Attendance.-6. Crime.-7. Exhibitions.-8. Hygiene.-9. Illiteracy.-10. Language Study.-11. Libraries for Pupils and for Teachers.-12. Manual Training.-13. Medical Supervision.-14. Miscellaneous.-15. Museums.-16. National School Systems.-17. Pensions.-18. Psychology.-19. Religious and Moral Instruction.-20. Salaries.-21. Secondary Education.-22. Secular Sunday Schools,-23, Special Schools.-24. Superior Education.-25. Teachers.

1.-ASSOCIATIONS.

Denmark.-From the 6th to the 8th of August, 1891, was held the sixth Scandinavian school meeting in Copenhagen. These meetings were at first frequented chiefly by primary teachers, as the topics discussed concerned primary schools solely, and secondary teachers had their separate philologists' meetings; but at the last two meetings there have been also lectures and discussions on subjects concerning secondary schools, the result of which has been a discontinuation of the previous philologists' meetings. The last conference numbered 5,300 visitors, 3,000 of whom were from Denmark, 1,100 from Norway, 1,000 from Sweden, and 200 from Finland. (Allg. D. Lztg.)

Germany. The German National Teachers' Union had 44,449 members on July 1, 1891. Seventeen local teachers' associations joined the union during the last half year. (Paed. Ztg.)

Saxony.-The "Pedagogical Circle" of the women teachers in Dresden has closed the twenty-sixth year of its existence. The number of its members exceeds 300. The society has listened to several courses of professional lectures, and special courses in botany, French, drawing, and gymnastics that were arranged for the younger members. The society maintains a bureau of information for teachers without positions. It has a sick fund from which during the year 1890 eight members were supported for several weeks and even months. (Die Lehrerin.)

Prussia. The pastoral letter of the bishop of Ermland (province of Prussia), in which he objects to independent teachers associations, has had quite the contrary effect to what he aimed at. The teachers are clubbing together more than ever before. In resolutions couched in respectful terms, they say that while they shall never be found wanting in respect for the clergy, they energetically protest against ecclesiastical interference, and all inroads made into their natural and political rights. (Allg. D. Lztg.)

France. The first timid attempts at holding national teachers' meetings in France for the purpose of discussing professional affairs date back to the year 1840; they were kept up for ten years, and then ceased, until revived in 1871. Not until that year did these meetings show a firm organization, adapted to promote the successful exchange of professional ideas and practical cooperation. The example of other states was decisive. The great educational meetings in Germany, Belgium, and Switzerland induced the French teachers to attempt similar meetings, and they were well and readily supported by the centralized state authority.

The first large teachers' meeting was held in 1878 in Paris. Though the elementary or common school claimed the lion's share of attention, it did not occupy the meeting exclusively. The elementary school did not then have the

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