The teacher and the parent; a treatise upon common-school education; containing practical suggestions to teachers and parents

Front matter

THE

TEACHER AND THE PARENT;

A TREATISE UPON

CHAPTER I. Common Schools, 11

CHAPTER n.

The Teacher, 16

CHAPTER ra.

Thorough Knowledge, Aptness to Teach, Accuracy, Patience, and Perseverance, 26

CHAPTER IV.

Candor, Truthfulness, and Courteousness, 31

CHAPTER V.

Ingenuity, Individuality, 36

CHAPTER VI.

Kindness, Gentleness, Forbearance, and Cheerftilness, .... 41

CHAPTER Vn.

Common Sense, Knowledge of Human Nature, General Information, Desire to do Good, and Hopefulness, 46

CHAPTER Vm.

Correct Moral Principles, Exemplary Habits and Deportment ; Diligence, 53

CHAPTER IX.

Neatness and Order ; Self-Control, 68

VIII ' CONTENTS.

CHAPTER X.

Earnestness, Energy, Enthusiasm, 66

CHAPTER XI.

Judgment and Prudence ; System and Punctuality ; Independence, 71

CHAPTER Xn.

Professional Feeling and Interest ; a Deep and Well-grounded Interest in Teaching, 76

CHAPTER Xm.

Means of Improvement, 81

CHAPTER XIV.

Teaching 93

CHAPTER XV.

Discipline, 106

CHAPTER XVI.

Means of Interesting Pupils and Parents, 119

CHAPTER XVII.

Moral Instruction, 130

CHAPTER XVni.

Emulation and Prizes, 147

CHAPTER XIX.

Primary Schools, I54

CHAPTER XX.

Lessons and Recitations, , 153

CHAPTER XXI.

Examinations and Exhibitions, 178

CHAPTER XXn.

Multiplicity of Studies, 182

CHAPTER XXni.

Reading Igg

CONTENTS. IX

CHAPTER XXIV.

Spelling, , 194

CHAPTER XXV.

Penmanship, ....• 204

CHAPTER XXVI.

Geography, 211

CHAPTER XXVn.

Grammar, 219

CHAPTER XXVm.

Letter-Writing and Composition, 225

CHAPTER XXIX.

Arithmetic, 229

CHAPTER XXX.

Book-Keeping : Declamation, 237

CHAPTER XXXI.

Singing, 241

CHAPTER XXXn.

Miscellaneous, 245

PART II. CHAPTER L Introductory Remarks, 251

CHAPTER n.

School Houses, 257

CHAPTER m.

Children should not be sent to School too Young, 262

X CONTENTS.

CHAPTER IV.

To Provide Good Teachers, ' 268

CHAPTER V.

School Supervision, 273

CHAPTER VI.

Parents should Encourage the Teacher, . 280

CHAPTER Vn.

Specific Duties, 284

CHAPTER Vm.

Candor and Charitableness, 307

CHAPTER IX.

High and Honorable Motives, 814

COMMON SCHOOL EDUCATION.

CHAPTER I.

COMMON SCHOOLS.

The establishment and liberal support of common schools should be objects of special interest to every citizen of our Union. On them, more than on any other causC; under Providence, depend the general diffusion and perpetuity of those great national blessings and privileges which tend to the true exaltation of a people. Free schools are the nurseries of the public mind, — the lights by which republican virtues and honors are most clearly and extensively reflected, — the best safeguards aojainst all the ills of ignorance and vice. Without them no republican government can long exist and flourish; with them, wisely fostered and generally supported, no tyrant's sway can long continue, no bigot's views be widely disseminated. In view of this, how earnestly and assiduously should every good citizen strive to guard and improve a judicious system of public-school instruction !

Common schools have been very appropriately styled the "People's Colleges;" and the character of those who graduate from them must determine what the general condition of our country shall be. It is true that our academies and colleges exert a powerful influence, and

OBJECT OP COMMON SCHOOLS. — THEIE IMPORTANCE.

accomplish a glorious work ; but, so long as more than nine-tenths of our whole population never gain access to their advantages, how important is it that these more accessible institutions, the free schools, be properly cared for ! How important is it that they be so sustained that they will send forth those healthful influences which shall be for the healing and preservation of the nations ! |

Good common schools should furnish to the young that thorough elementary instruction and training which will prepare them to engage honorably and successfully in any pursuit of hfe. They should form " well-disciphned minds, refined tastes, and correct habits, and endow the young with a knowledge of sciences, and the principles of things, and clothe them with the power of elegant and forcible expression, which shall be ' for glory and for beauty ' around all the possible occupations of future life, rather than to fit them for any special and private emergency of business."

If every instructor were thoroughly fitted for the duties of his high and honorable calling, and every parent were ready to render proper and cheerful assistance in all the operations of the school-room, the power and usefulness of common schools would equal the fondest expectations and wishes of the most ardent friends of knowledge and liberty.

Our common schools have enhsted the interest of the greatest and best of men. Daniel Webster, in speaking of them, said, "If I had as many sons as old Priam, I would send them all to the public schools." As a proof that the privileges of these schools, wisely improved, will qualify one for passing through life with the highest degree of success, honor and usefulness, I

COMMON SCHOOLS. 1^

THE EFFICIENCY OF COMMON SCHOOLS.

would respectfully refer to the example of the gentleman to whom this volume is dedicated, — a name alike an honor to his native town and country, and to the country of his adoption. By his persevering efforts, he has risen to a most exalted position of wealth, honor and influence, and by his noble acts of munificence he has become the admiration of multitudes on both hemispheres. In a recent letter to the inhabitants of his native town (Danvers, Mass.), he uttered the following noble and philanthropic sentiments : " The early associations of my life are clustered around our ancient town. It was, as many of you know, in a very humble house in the South Parish that I was born ; and from the common schools of that parish, such as they were in 1803 to 1807, I obtained the limited education my parents' means could afford ; but to the principles there inculcated, in childhood and early youth, I owe much of the foundation for such success as Heaven has been pleased to grant me during a long business life." -^ * * ^ * "The great increase of population and commerce of the United States, the development of the internal wealth of the country and enterprise of her people, have done much to effect a happy relation between Europe and America ; and I can scarcely see bounds to our possible future, if we preserve harmony among ourselves and good faith to the rest of the world, and if we plant the unrivalled New England institution of the common school liberally among the emigrants who are filling up the great valley of the Mississippi."

With the above excellent remarks were the following noble sentiment and generous accompaniment, — the sentiment worthy of being inscribed in letters of gold over 2

NOBLE SENTIMENT AND GENEROUS GIFT.

the doorway of every school-house in our land, and the accompaniment a most substantial proof of the sincerity of him who gave the sentiment :

"Education: A debt due from present to future generations.

"In acknowledgment of the payment of that debt by the generation which preceded me in my native town of DanverSj and to aid in its prompt future discharge, I give to the inhabitants of that town the sum of twenty THOUSAND DOLLARS for the promotion of knowledge and morality among them."

If the author of this volume shall be instrumental of inspiring teachers with a stronger love for and devotion to their work, or shall say anything that will aid, encourage or stimulate them in their arduous labors, — if he shall say aught that will tend to awaken parents to a proper understanding and performance of the duties they owe to public schools, — he will feel rewarded in the consciousness of having done something towards discharging his part of obligations so beautifully expressed, in the sentiment above, as constituting the common debt of all, — something towards imparting to our common-school system vigor and efficiency.

Chapter II. The Teacher

The influence and importance of the office of an instructor of youth cannot be easily over-estimated, and he who attempts to fill it should well consider the immense responsibilities which rest upon him. He should clearly comprehend the nature and magnitude of the duties he assumes, that he may correctly judge of his own fitness rightly to discharge them. This is the part of true wisdom, and no one should be so rash and inconsiderate as to undertake the performance of any important work without a well-grounded assurance of ability to prosecute it to a successful and satisfactory issue. Who would attempt the construction of a piece of machinery without a proper knowledge of the nature of the work to be performed, and a familiarity with the various processes necessary to its completion ? A trifling error might render valueless the work of months. Who would be so inconsiderate as to commence the erection of a dwellinghouse without a proper knowledge of the principles and rules of architecture and carpentry ? Ignorance would cause a waste of property, and a failure to secure the ends desired. WTiat sane man would assume the command of a ship freighted with valuable merchandise, and more valuable lives, without possessing a proper acquaintance with the principles of navigation and seamanship 7

THE MAGNITUDE OF THE TEACHER'S TVORK.

A slight error in calculation might prove the loss of thousands of dollars, and the destruction of human beings whose loss cannot be measured by dollars. What wise man would undertake the training of a young and spirited horse, without some knowledge of the task to be performed, and of the nature of the animal whose discipline he undertakes? A wrong course might tend to render worse than useless a beast that, rightly trained, would be of great service.

If, then, care, prudence, judgment and wisdom, are so essential to the successful prosecution of work whose nature is so ephemeral, how can we attach too much weight to high qualifications and skill in him who is to train and educate imperishable minds of the young 7 If the work of him who engages in the polishing and adornment of jewels and precious stones is considered important, how much more so is the work of him who is called to the polishing and ennobling of those priceless and deathless jewels which are so confidingly resigned to the influences of teachers ! Lord John Russell, in a speech before the British and Foreign School Society, thus spoke of the duties of the teacher : " Every step we take, every year that passes over our heads, only tends to show that, to teach well, to elevate the minds of children, to implant in them religious and moral principles, to send them from school in a fit state to take their part in the community, in whatever portion of the business of life may be intrusted to them, is one of the most important and difiicult tasks which any man can undertake."

The teacher is a laborer in a work of the utmost consequence and interest, so far as relates both to the present

THE TEACHER. Vj

THE SCHOOLMASTER IS ABROAD.

and future well-being of those with whom and for whom he devotes his time and talents ; and while a due appreciation, correct knowledge, and faithful discharge of appropriate duties, will lead to a most desirable degree of true exaltation, a wrong estimate, a want of clear understanding, or an unfaithful performance of them, will tend to the injury and depression of both teacher and pupils, to an extent proportionate to the degree of the deficiency. When we consider that there are, within our country, hundreds of thousands of youth of a school-going age whose future success, happiness and usefulness, depend in so great a degree upon the nature and extent of their school training and school influences, with what weighty power, for good or ill, does the consideration invest the tens of thousands of teachers to whose care and training they are intrusted !

The phrase "the schoolmaster is abroad" is on the tongue of all ; and yet how few know aught of its origin or appreciate its force ! A late writer in the National Era thus speaks :

" No orator of our times is more successful than Lord Brougham in embalming phrases full of meaning in the popular memory. The well-known talismanic sentiment, ^ the schoolmaster is abroad,^ is an instance. In a speech on the elevation of Wellington, a mere military chieftain, to the premiership, after the death of Canning, Lord Brougham said, ' Field- marshal the Duke of Wellington may take the army, he may take the navy, he may take the mitre. I make him a present of them all. Let him come on with his whole force, sword in hand, against the constitution, and the English people will not

only beat him back, but laugh at his assaults. In other 9*

THE teacher's INFLUENCE UNWITTINGLY ACKNOWLEDGED. !

times the country may have heard with dismay that ' the soldier was abroad.' It is not so now. Let the soldier be abroad, if he will ; he can do nothing in this age. There is another personage abroad, — a person less imposing ; in the eyes of some, perhaps, insignificant. The schoolmaste?^ is abroad ; and I trust to him, armed with his primer, against the soldier in full military array."

A writer in Blackwood's Magazine^ in the outpouring of his bitterness against liberal institutions, dating from Canada West, unwittingly gives the following testimony in favor of the influence of a class whom he affects to despise.

" But there is no circumstance, perhaps, that we could mention, that could convey a better idea of the relative regard for England and the United States of the class of people we have been describing (the democratic party in Canada) than the fact, well known to every person who has lived among them, that a 'Yankee schoolmaster^ without either education or intelligence, — with nothing on earth to recommend him save an inveterate propensity to vaporing and meddhng in the affairs, religious and pohtical, of every sect and class wherever he goes, — can, and ever has, exercised more influence among them, in a few months, than a whole neighborhood of English gentlemen could in years. And we speak neither from hearsay nor conjecture ; we speak from what we have seen and know, and what is susceptible of proof."

All who consider the subject must admit that the teacher is called to labor in a field of vast influence. This the teacher should understand, and, though he may at times feel almost crushed by the weight of his responsibilities, and be induced to exclaim, "Who is sufficient

COMMON SCHOOLS. |^

THE NATIJKE OF THE WOEK TO BE PERFORMED,

for these tilings?" yet let him persevere, trusting in Him from whom cometli all needed assistance, ever aiming at a nearer approximation to the mark of perfection, ever striving to remove defects and cultivate excellences. We regard him as a wise and judicious husbandman who carefully removes from his grounds all noxious weeds, and who so trains liis vines and trees that they will not become fruitless and useless cumberers of the soil they occupy. If Avorldly wisdom and sagacity prompt to so much attention and watchfulness for those objects which, hke the grass of the field, wither and die, with what intense interest and care should they labor and watch who are called to cultivate fields so closely filled with plants whose existence is commensurate with eternity ! Is it not a work of the greatest importance rightly to watch and till these fields, that they may be kept dressed in " living green," yet free from all hurtful weeds and untoward influences ; and that these deathless plants may receive such support and training as shall cause them to "blossom and bear fruit" to the honor and glory of the Divine Teacher ? If properly nurtured and trained, what ornaments and blessings will they become to the hill-sides and valleys of our beloved land ! If neglected or mal-trained, what curses will they prove to the gardens in which they grew, to the communities whose atmosphere they taint, and to those who should have led them to the light, but have rather left them to grope in darkness, and imbibe the pestiferous influences of ignorance and wickedness ! As cultivators in these priceless nurseries of God's planting, teachers occupy a foremost rank ; and woe will be pronounced against those who, by undervaluing their work, or misapplying their

WHAT A SCHOOLMASTER SHOULD BE.

time and talents, cause or allow deformities and imperfections to exist and perpetuate themselves.

The influence of a teacher, for the weal or woe of those confided to his care, is almost inconceivable. From his every act, word, and even look^ they will receive impressions, good or ill, which will remain as long as the susceptibility of the mind to retain impressions shall endure. How solemn the thought, and yet how true, that the teacher's influence will extend through all coming time ! With what force should this thought impress the minds of all who take upon themselves the duties and responsibilities of an instructor ! With what care, industry and zeal, should it incite them to strive for the cultivation of those quahties, and the acquisition of that knowledge, which will enable them to labor wisely and well !

Says one :* " It must not be supposed, for a moment, that every person who can pass the strictest examination is fit to manage a school. It takes a peculiar man to be just the right sort of a teacher. He is an article compounded of various ingredients, such as you cannot buy at the apothecary's. As to his intellectual quahfications, his mind should be a fountain^ and not a reservoir. His knowledge should gush up of itself^ and not have to be drmvn up as by a windlass. He should be a man oi ingenuity and tact^ of various resources and expedients, and not a helpless creature of custom, plodding on, day after day, in the same old path, like a horse in a barkmill. He should be fresh in his feelings and sympathies, and not a petrified post of Medusa ; his heart should be

* J. G. Hoyt.

COMMON SCHOOLS. 21

INTKGKITT AND CHRISTIAN FAITH.

young in all its pulsations, though his head may be as bald as Elisha's. Endued with a courage and resolution that know no defeat, he should, Hke Dickens' Kaven, ^ never say die.'

''He should be a man of the world, as well as a man of books ; familiar with human nature, not less than with Mitchell's Geography. He should be a scholar of some breadth^ as well as depth ; knowing something more than the mere routine of daily study, and not a man whose half-dozen thoughts rattle in his vacant head like shrunken kernels in a bean-pod. His mental storehouse should be filled with the fruits of various and extensive reading, so that he need not be compelled to draw his illustrations for the recitation-room from the tales of his grandfather, or from the treasures of last year's almanac.

" In addition to his intellectual furnishing, he should be a man of integrity, of moral rectitude, and purity of character, imbued with the spirit of truth and wisdom. And if, beside all this, the light of a Christian faith should irradiate his scientific and literary acquirements, it would serve to give them a brighter lustre, even as ' a lamp set in an alabaster vase brings out in bolder relief and clearer expression the beautiful figures which may be sculptured upon it.' Let the common-school teacher possess qualifications like these, and he can do much — perhaps more than any single individual — for the renovation of human society." "A teacher of small children," says the same writer, " should be a sort of locomotive patent-office, full of all manner of inventions. The young love novelty as much as they hate routine. To secure their interest, therefore, one must excite their

A COMMON EEBOR. — ANECDOTE OP DINTEB.

astonishment and admiration every hour of every day in the week with some new thing under the sun."

The feeling has been quite too common that any one could "keep school;" so that many schools have been kept^ while but few have been well taught ; they have been kept from true knowledge, and not in garnering up for future usefulness. Hence, mere striplings, or men of maturer age with no fixed views or plans, engage in "keeping school," though they never teach, because themselves untaught. They can neither discipline nor instruct, because they have never themselves been properly disciplined and instructed.

When Dinter was school -counsellor in Prussia, a military man of great influence urged him to recommend a disabled soldier, in whom he was interested, as a school-teacher. "I will do so," said Dinter, "if he can sustain the requisite examination." "0," said the colonel, " he does not know aught about school-teaching; but he is a good, moral, steady man, and I hope you will recommend him, to oblige me." "0 yes," said Dinter, "to obhge you, if you, in your turn, will do me a favor." "And what favor can I do you?" asked the colonel. " Why, get me appointed drum-major in your regiment," said Dinter. " It is true that I can neither beat a drum nor play a fife ; but I am a good, moral, steady man as ever lived."

It is not enough that a man is '-^ good and steady ^^"^ in order to become a teacher. It is essential that his whole life and character be so pure and correct that he shall constitute a pattern worthy of the closest imitation. How desirable that his " daily walk and conversation" form, as it were, a "living epistle," not only "known

THE TEACHER. 23

IMPORTANCE OF CORRECT EXAMPLES.

and read" of all children, but imparting unto them such instruction as will lead them in ways of virtue and useful industry ! How important that a teacher be entirely free from habits the formation of which in the young would be deprecated by every good and virtuous citizen ! Precept, when opposed by example, is often worse than powerless. If a teacher Avould effectually discountenance profanity, he must do so "by word and deed." If he would encourage frankness and love for truth and honesty, his every action must be free from guile and duplicity. If he would cultivate habits of civility and courtesy, his example must precede and succeed his counsels. If he would incite to that regard for order which has a "place for everything and everything in its place," he must not himself exhibit any deviation from these particulars. If he would secure proper attention to cleanliness in dress and personal appearance, he must himself, in these particulars, constitute a "bright example." If he would form a true regard for regularity and punctuality, his own practices must be in strict accordance with these qualities. In fine, his entire conduct, his conversation, his appearance, must bespeak and confirm the propriety and intrinsic worth of the precepts he would inculcate. Say not, candidate for the teacher's profession, that this is requiring too much. You should well consider the nature and magnitude of the duties to be assumed, and then strive earnestly and constantly for the faithful performance of those duties. Look onward and upward, remembering that "they who sow shall in due time reap, if they faint not." Be not unduly troubled by the perplexities that may beset your path. Trials and diflBculties, rightly regarded, will only tend to teacher's reward. — GERMAN PARABLE. '

I , . j

quicken and improve you. Do your duty faithfully, I ever seeking to promote the best good of your pupils, and a rich and glorious reward will one day be yours, — not a reward of silver and gold, but that richer, higher, nobler reward, which springs from the consciousness of having been an humble instrument of enlightening, expanding and elevating the minds of immortal beings, and thus enabling them to act " wisely and well " their parts on the stage of life.

* "To require perfection in a teacher, would be to demand more than has been attained by any other person, — more than can be accomplished in this world, — for, should we attain our present idea of perfection, a higher standard would be revealed to us, and we should be as far as ever from our mark. All that spaice, too vast for us to measure, between our minds and that of the Infinite, is given us, in which to improve. We cannot reach the end of our course, we cannot discern the limits to our capacity to improve. Every step in progress, every effort towards perfection, diminishes this intervening space. This is thus beautifully illustrated by the following German parable : ' A child was at play upon the open field. A star rose over the hill-top. The child gazed at it with pleased and longing eyes. "How beautiful it is ! " he exclaims. "It is just on the hill-top ; I will run and catch it, and have it for my own." With eager dehght he started in pursuit, and climbed the hill before him, — but, lo, the star was' not there ! It now seemed to rest on the mountain-top beyond. Nothing disheartened, the child pressed on. His course led him

* Rev. J. F. Moors.

THE TEACHER. 25

THE TEACHER SHOULD HAVE A HIGH STANDARD.

over fields of roses, and through hedges of thorns. At length he gained the mountain- top. But the star was not there. It was further than at first. It no longer rested upon the mountain ; it was climbing the distant heavens. The child had become a man. The object of his pursuit had not been gained. It had receded as he had advanced; but his course had been onward and upward.' "

So with the teacher. He should place his standard high, and, with his eye steadily upon it, he should ever be rising and approximating the ' ' mark of his high calling." All his well-directed efforts will tend to crown his labors with success, and secure for him the approval of the "Perfect Teacher," who will strengthen him for still greater and more ennobling efforts.

I have thus considered the teacher's vocation, and alluded to the indifference with which it is too often regarded, in the hope that a proper estimate may be formed in the minds of those who may adopt it ; and that they may feel, as they should do, that they are called to th^ performance of highly responsible and important duties.

I shall now proceed to speak of some of the essentials for a good and successful instructor, hoping thereby to be instrumental in awakening a stronger feeling and deeper interest in the great work of educating the young.

Chapter III. Thorough Knowledge And Aptness To Teach. "

These points are so evident that I hardly need urge their consideration ; and I would not do so, were it not that persons are constantly seeking, and many gaining, admission to the teacher's oflfice, who are sadly deficient in their qualifications, — even in the elementary branches. If a teacher would gain and preserve the confidence and respect of his pupils, he must be able, on every occasion, to furnish the clearest evidence that he possesses a full, distinct and discriminating knowledge of every subject on which it may be desirable to impart instruction. He should not only understand the subjects himself, but he should be able to make them clear and intelligible to the minds of his pupils; abounding in knowledge himself, he must also possess aptness in imparting that knowledge to others. The manifestation of the slightest ignorance, or a degree of hesitation indicative thereof, may at once cause a distrust or want of confidence, which will greatly impair, if not destroy, his usefulness or success. Hence, it is desirable that those who intend to become teachers should store their minds with an anaount of available knowledge which will not only be sufficient for conducting the regular text-book lessons of the school-room, but also for meeting and answering satisfactorily all the queries which may arise in the minds of their pupils, and

KNOWLEDGE AND APTNESS TO TEACU. 27

ACCURACY AND DISTINCTNESS. — ANECDOTE.

thus satisfying them that they are receiving supplies from a well-filled fountain. Their knowledge should be ready, clear and unequivocal. The possession of knowledge, without the abihty properly to impart the same, is as a ^' light under a bushel," whose rays are so circumscribed as to be of no value. The efficient and successful instructor must be as a '^ light on a hill," imparting cheerful intelligence and clear vision to all around.

ACCURACY AND DISTINCTNESS.

If pupils are early trained to execute whatever they undertake in a clear and distinct manner, it will be of great service to them through life ; while a careless and indistinct mode will affect them unfavorably and permanently. Hence a teacher should strive to impress upon the minds of his pupils the great importance of doing all their work accurately and plainly. How many people write letters and other documents so miserably and so illegibly that they cannot be deciphered except with the greatest difficulty. Frequently very singular and ludicrous errors result from a want of distinctness in writing. The following are examples of such cases :

An English gentleman once applied to the East India Company for an office for a friend of his in India, and succeeded in obtaining an appointment. The man who received the favor wrote to his friend, and signified his intention to send an equivalent for the kind assistance he had received. The gentleman who received the letter could make nothing of the word but elephant ; and, being pleased with the idea of receiving such a noble animal, he was at the expense of erecting a suitable

ANECDOTE. PATIENCE AND PERSEVERANCE.