but good readers are so rare among us, that we cannot too strongly urge
teachers to qualify themselves for the great work. I say _great work_,
because everything else is comparatively easy to the teacher, and
comparatively unimportant to the pupil. Grammar is merely an element of
reading. It should be introduced as soon as the child's reasoning
faculties are in any degree developed, and presented by the living
voice, without the aid of books. The alphabet should be taught in
connection with exercises for strengthening and modulating the voice,
and the elementary sounds of the letters should be deemed as important
as their names. All this is the proper work of the female teacher; and,
when she is ignorant or neglects her duty, the evil is usually so great
as to admit of no complete remedy.
Reading is at once an imitative and an appreciative art on the part of
the pupil. He must be trained to appreciate the meaning of the writer;
but he will depend upon the teacher at first, and, indeed, for a long
time, for an example of the true mode of expression. This the teacher
must be ready to give. It is not enough that she can correct faults of
pronunciation, censure inarticulate utterances, and condemn gruff,
nasal, and guttural sounds; but she must be able to present, in
reasonable purity, all the opposite qualities. The young women have not
yet done their duty to the cause of education in these respects; nor is
there everywhere a public sentiment that will even now allow the duty to
be performed.
It is difficult to see why the child of five, and the youth of fifteen,
should be kept an equal number of hours at school. Each pupil should
spend as much time in the school-room as is needed for the preparation
of the exercise and the exercise itself. The danger from excessive
confinement and labor is with young pupils. Those in grammar and high
schools may often use additional hours for study; but a pupil should be
somewhat advanced, and should possess considerable physical strength and
endurance, before he ventures to give more than six hours a day to
severe intellectual labor. It must often happen that children in primary
schools can learn in two hours each day all that the teacher has time to
communicate, or they have power to receive and appropriate. Indeed, I
think this is usually so. It may not, however, be safe to deduce from
this fact the opinion that children should never be kept longer in
school than two hours a day; but it seems proper to assume that, if
blessed with good homes, they may be relieved from the tedium of
confinement in the school-room, when there is no longer opportunity for
improvement.
We are beginning to realize the advantages of well-educated female
teachers in primary schools; nor do I deem it improbable that they shall
become successful teachers and managers of schools of higher grade,
according to the present public estimation. But, in regard to the latter
position, I have neither hope, desire, nor anxiety. Whenever the public
judge them, generally, or in particular cases, qualified to take charge
of high schools and normal schools, those positions will be assigned to
them; and, till that degree of public confidence is accorded, it is
useless to make assertions or indulge in conjectures concerning the
ability of women for such duties. It is my own conviction that a higher
order of teaching talent is required in the primary school, or for the
early, judicious education of children, than is required in any other
institutions of learning. Nor can it be shown that equal ability for
government is not essential. There must be different manifestations of
ability in the primary and the high school; but, where proper training
has been enjoyed, pupils in the latter ought to be far advanced in the
acquisition of the cardinal virtue of self-control, whose existence in
the school and the state renders government comparatively unnecessary.
Where there is a human being, there are the opportunity and the duty of
education. But our present great concern, as friends of learning, is
with those schools where children are first trained in the elements. If
in these we can have faithful, accurate, systematic, comprehensive
teaching, everything else desirable will be added thereunto. But, if we
are negligent, unphilosophical, and false, the reasonable public
expectation will never be realized in regard to other institutions of
learning.
The work must be done by women, and by well-educated women; and, when it
is said that in Massachusetts alone we need the services of six
thousand such persons, the magnitude of the work of providing teachers
may be appreciated. Have we not enough in this field for every female
school and academy, where high schools are not required, or cannot
exist, and for every high school and normal school in the commonwealth?
If it is asserted that the supply of female teachers is already greater
than the demand, it must be stated, in reply, that there are persons
enough engaged in teaching, but that the number of competent teachers
is, and ever has been, too small. It is something, my friends, it is
often a great deal, to send into a town a well-qualified female teacher.
She is not only a blessing to those who are under her tuition, but her
example and influence are often such as to change the local sentiment
concerning teachers and schools. When may we expect a supply of such
persons? The hope is not a delusion, though its realization may be many
years postponed. How are competent persons to be selected and qualified?
The change will be gradual, and it is to be made in the public opinion
as well as in the character of teachers and schools. And is it not
possible, even in view of all that has been accomplished, that we are
yet groping in a dark passage, with only the hope that it leads to an
outward-opening door, where, in marvellous but genial light we shall
perceive new truths concerning the philosophy of the human mind, and
the means of its development? At this moment we are compelled to admit
that practical teachers and theorists in educational matters are alike
uncertain in regard to the true method of teaching the alphabet, and
divided and subdivided in opinion concerning the order of succession of
the various studies in the primary and grammar schools. Perfect
agreement on these points is not probable; it may not be desirable. I am
satisfied that no greater contribution can be made to the cause of
learning than a presentation of these topics and their elucidation, so
that the teacher shall feel that what he does is philosophical, and
therefore wise.
The only way to achieve success is to apply faithfully the means at
hand. Generations of children cannot wait for perfection in methods of
teaching; but teachers of primary schools ought not to neglect any
opportunity which promises aid to them as individuals, or progress in
the profession that they have chosen. As teachers improve, so do
schools; and, as schools improve, so do teachers. The influence exerted
by teachers is first beneficial to pupils, but, as a result, we soon
have a class of better qualified teachers. With these ideas of the
importance of the teacher's vocation to primary instruction, and,
consequently, to all good learning, it is not strange that I place a
high value upon professional training. A degree of professional training
more or less desirable is, no doubt, furnished, by every school; but the
admission does not in any manner detract from the force of the statement
that a young man or woman well qualified in the branches to be taught,
yet without experience, may be strengthened and prepared for the work of
teaching, by devoting six, twelve, or eighteen months, under competent
instructors, in company with a hundred other persons having a similar
object in view, to the study, examination, and discussion, of those
subjects and topics which are sometimes connected with, and sometimes
independent of, the text-books, but which are of daily value to the
teacher.
At present only a portion of this necessary professional training can be
given in the normal schools. If, however, as I trust may sometimes be
the case, none should be admitted but those who are already qualified in
the branches to be taught, the time of attendance might be diminished,
and the number of graduates proportionately increased. There are about
one hundred high schools in the state, and, within the sphere of their
labors, they are not equalled by any institutions that the world has
seen. Young men are fitted for the colleges, for mechanical,
manufacturing, commercial, agricultural, and scientific labors, and
young men and young women are prepared for the general duties of life.
They are also furnishing a large number of well-qualified teachers. Some
may say that with these results we ought to be content. Regarding only
the past, they are entirely satisfactory; but, animated with reasonable
hopes concerning the future, we claim something more and better. It is
not disguised that the members of normal schools, when admitted, do not
sustain an average rank in scholarship with graduates of high schools.
This is a misfortune from which relief is sought. It is a suggestion,
diffidently made, yet with considerable confidence in its practicability
and value, that graduates of high schools will often obtain additional
and necessary preparation by attending a normal school, if for the term
of six months only. And I am satisfied, beyond all reasonable doubt,
that, when the normal schools receive only those whose education is
equivalent to that now given in the high schools, a body of teachers
will be sent out who will surpass the graduates of any other
institution, and whose average professional attainments and practical
excellence will meet the highest reasonable public expectation. Nor is
it claimed that this result will be due to anything known or practised
in normal schools that may not be known and practised elsewhere; but it
is rather attributable to the fact that in these institutions the
attention of teachers and pupils is directed almost exclusively to the
work of teaching, and the means of preparation. The studies, thoughts,
and discussions, are devoted to this end. If, with such opportunities,
there should be no progress, we should be led to doubt all our previous
knowledge of human character, and of the development of the youthful
mind.
And now, ladies and gentlemen, before I conclude, allow me to remove, or
at least to lessen, an impression that these remarks are calculated to
produce. I have assumed that teaching is a profession--an arduous
profession--and that perfection has not yet been attained. I have
assumed, also, that there are many persons engaged in teaching,
especially in the primary and mixed district schools, whose
qualifications are not as great as they ought to be. But let it not be
thence inferred that I am dissatisfied with our teachers and schools.
There has been continual progress in education, and a large share of
this progress is due to teachers; but the time has not yet come when we
can wisely fold our arms, and accept the allurements of undisturbed
repose.
Nor have I sought, on this occasion, to present even an outline of a
system of female education. In all the public institutions of learning
among us, it should be as comprehensive, as minute, as exact, as that
furnished for youth of the other sex. Nor is it necessary to concern
ourselves about the effect of this liberal culture upon the character
and fortunes of society. I do not anticipate any sudden or disastrous
effects. The right of education is a common right; and it is
unquestionably the right of woman to assert her rights; and it is a
wrong and sin if we withhold any, even the least. Having faith in
humanity, and faith in God, let us not shrink from the privilege we
enjoy of offering to all, without reference to sex or condition, the
benefits of a public and liberal system of education, which seeks, in an
alliance with virtue and religion, whose banns are forbidden by none, to
enlighten the ignorant, restrain and reform the depraved, and penetrate
all society with good learning and civilization, so that the highest
idea of a well-ordered state shall be realized in an advanced and
advancing condition of individual and family life.
THE INFLUENCE, DUTIES, AND REWARDS, OF TEACHERS.
[A Lecture delivered at Teachers' Institutes.]
It is the purpose, and we believe that it will be the destiny, of
Massachusetts, to build up a comparatively perfect system of public
instruction. To this antiquity did not aspire; and it is the just boast
of modern times, and especially of the American States, that learning is
not the amusement of a few only, whom wealth and taste have led into its
paths, but that it is encouraged by governments, and cherished by the
whole people. Antiquity had its schools and teachers; but the latter
were, for the most part, founders of sects in politics, morals,
philosophy, religion, or the habits of daily life; while its schools
were frequented and sustained by those who sought to build on the
civilization of the times such structures as their tastes conceived or
their opinions dictated.
There were not in Athens or Rome, according to the American idea, any
schools for the people; and Carlyle, Brownson, and Emerson, are such
teachers in kind, though not in power and influence, as were Socrates,
Plato, and Aristotle. These men were leaders as well as teachers, and
their followers were disciples and controversialists rather than pupils.
But it is not possible for modern leaders in politics, philosophy, and
social life, to rival the ancients. Manual labor is not more divided and
subdivided than is the influence of the human intellect. The newspaper
has inspired every man with the love of self-judgment, and the common
school has qualified him, in some degree, for its exercise. The
ancients, whose names and fame have come down to us, taught by
conversations, discussions, and lectures; the moderns, as Carlyle,
Brownson, and Emerson, by lectures, essays, and reviews. But these
systems are quite inadequate to meet the wants of American civilization.
Indeed, however men of talent may strive, there cannot be another
Socrates, Plato, or Aristotle; for the printing-press has come, and
their occupation has gone. Teachers were philosophers, pupils were
followers and disciples, while learning was devoted to the support of
speculations and theories.
But, while we have no such teachers as those of Athens, and need no such
schools as they founded, we have teachers and schools whose character
and genius correspond to the age in which we live. Teaching is a
profession; not merely an ignoble pursuit, nor a toy of scholastic
ambition, but a profession enjoying the public confidence, requiring
great talents, demanding great industry, and securing, permit me to say,
great rewards. To be the leader of a sect or the founder of a school, is
something; but the acceptable teacher is superior to either; he is the
first and chief exponent of a popular sovereignty which seeks happiness
and immortality for itself by elevating and refining the parts of which
it is composed. The ancient teacher gathered his hearers, disciples, and
pupils, in the streets, groves, and public squares. The modern teacher
is comparatively secluded; but let him not hence infer that he is
without influence. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, had their triumphs;
but none more distinguished than that of a Massachusetts teacher, who,
at the age of fourscore years, on a festive day, received from his
former pupils--and among them were the most eminent of the land--sincere
and affectionate assurances of esteem and gratitude. The pupil may be
estranged from the master in opinion, for our system does not concern
itself with opinions, political or religious; but the faithful teacher
will always find the evidence of his fidelity in the lives of those
intrusted to his care. No position is more important than the teacher's;
and his influence is next to that of the parent. It is his high and
noble province to touch the youthful mind, test its quality, and develop
its characteristics. He often stands in the place of the parent. He aids
in giving character to the generations of men; which is at once a higher
art and a purer glory than distinguishes those who build the walls of
cities, or lay the foundations of empires. The cities which contested
for the honor of being the birthplace of Homer are forgotten, or
remembered only because they contested for the honor, while Homer
himself is immortal. If, then, the mere birth of a human being is an
honor to a city, how illustrious the distinction of those who guide the
footsteps of youth along the rugged paths of learning, and develop in a
generation the principles of integrity and mercy, justice and freedom,
government and humanity! If in a lifetime of toil the teacher shall
bring out of the mass of common minds one Franklin, or Howard, or
Channing, or Bowditch, he will have accomplished more than is secured by
the devotees of wealth, or the disciples of pleasure. As the man is more
important than the mere philosopher, so is the modern teacher more
elevated than the ancient.
The true teacher takes hold of the practical and elementary, as
distinguished from the learning whose chief or sole value is in display.
Present gratification is desirable, especially to parents and teachers;
but it may be secured at the cost of solid learning and real progress.
This is a serious error among us, and it will not readily be abandoned;
but it is the duty of teachers, and of all parents who are friends to
genuine learning, to aid in its removal. We are inclined to treat the
period of school-life as though it covered the entire time that ought
properly to be devoted to education. The first result--a result followed
by pernicious consequences--is that the teacher is expected to give
instruction in every branch that the pupil, as child, youth, or adult,
may need to know. It is impossible that instruction so varied should
always be good. Learning is knowledge of subjects based and built upon a
thorough acquaintance with their elements. The path of duty, therefore,
should lead the teacher to make his instruction thorough in a few
branches, rather than attempt to extend it over a great variety of
subjects. This, to the teacher who is employed in a district or town but
three or six months, is a hard course, and many may not be inclined to
pursue it. Something, no doubt, must be yielded to parents; but they,
too, should be educated to a true view of their children's interests. As
the world is, a well-spoken declamation is more gratifying to parents,
and more creditable to teachers, than the most careful training in the
vowel-sounds; yet the latter is infinitely more valuable to the scholar.
Neither progress in the languages nor knowledge of mathematics can
compensate for the want of a thorough etymological discipline. This
training should be primary in point of time, as well as elementary in
character; and a classical education is no adequate compensation.
Elements are all-important to the teacher and the student. It is not
possible to have an idea of a square without some idea of a straight
line, nor to express with pencil or words the arc of a circle without a
previous conception of the curve. Combination follows in course. We are
driven to it. Our own minds, all nature, all civilization, tend to the
combination of elements.
We think fast, live fast, learn fast, and, as the fashion of the world
requires a knowledge of many things, we crowd the entire education of
our children into the short period of school-life. Here, and just here,
public sentiment ought to relieve the teacher by reforming itself.
It should be understood that school-life is to be devoted to the
thorough discipline of the mind to study, and to an acquaintance with
those simple, elementary branches, which are the foundation of all good
learning. When a knowledge of the elements is secured, then the
languages, mathematics, and all science, may be pursued with enthusiasm
and success by a class of men well educated in every department. Public
sentiment must allow the teacher to give careful instruction in reading
and spelling, for example, in the most comprehensive meaning of those
terms--in the sound and power of letters, in the composition and use of
words, and in the natural construction of sentences. This, of course,
includes a knowledge of grammar, not as a dry, philological study, but
as a science; not as composed of arbitrary rules, merely, but as the
common and best judgment of men concerning the use and power of
language, of which rules and definitions are but an imperfect
expression.
Nor do we herein assign the teacher to neglect or obscurity. He, as well
as others, must have faith in the future. His reward may be distant, but
it is certain.
It is, however, likely that the labors of a faithful elementary teacher
will be appreciated immediately, and upon the scene of his toil. But, if
they are not, his pupils, advancing in age and increasing in knowledge,
will remember with gratitude and in words the self-sacrificing labors of
their master.
We are not so constituted as to labor without motive. With some the
motive is high, with others it is low and grovelling. The teacher must
be himself elevated, or he cannot elevate others. The pupil may,
indeed, advance to a higher sphere than that occupied by the teacher;
but it is only because he draws from a higher fountain elsewhere. In
such cases the success of the pupil is not the success of the master. He
who labors as a teacher for mere money, or for temporary fame, which is
even less valuable, cannot choose a calling more ignoble, nor can he
ever rise to a higher; for his sordid motives bring all pursuits to the
low level of his own nature.
Yet it is not to be assumed that the teacher, more than the clergyman,
is to labor without pecuniary compensation; for, while money should not
be the sole object of any man's life, it is, under the influence of our
civilization, essential to the happiness of us all. Wealth, properly
acquired and properly used, may become a means of self-education. It
purchases relief from the harassing toil of uninterrupted manual labor.
It is the only introduction we can have to the thoroughfares of travel
by which we are made acquainted personally with the globe that we
inhabit. It brings to our firesides books, paintings, and statuary, by
which we learn something of the world as it is and as it was. It gives
us the telescope and the microscope, by whose agency we are able to
appreciate, even though but imperfectly, the immensity of creation on
the one hand, and its infinity on the other. The teacher is not to
labour without money, nor to despise it more than other men; and the
public might as well expect the free services of the minister, lawyer,
physician, or farmer, as to expect the gratuitous or cheap education of
their children. While the teacher is educating others, he must also
educate himself. This he cannot do without both leisure and money. The
advice of Iago is, therefore, good advice for teachers: "Go, make money.
* * Put money enough in your purse." The teacher's motives should be
above mere gain; though this view of the subject does not, as some might
infer, lead to the conclusion that he ought to labor for inadequate
compensation.