XVIII QUALITIES THAT MAKE THE TEACHER A GOOD GOVERNOR MATTHEW ARNOLD declares, "Conduct is three-fourths of life." Education is not to be regarded as a function of society through which knowledge alone is acquired. Teaching embraces both instruction and discipline. Discipline has as its end the training of pupils for the duties, obligations, and responsibilities of life. It follows that right conduct is secured only by the formation of right character in early life. The basic element in conduct is self-control and self-guidance. Until the youth has acquired the power of self-control and of self-guidance he must be controlled and guided by some agent acting for him. This agent usually is the teacher. The function of the teacher as disciplinarian ends as soon as this power of self-regulation is developed. Here the teacher needs to learn a great lesson,-trust the pupil, believe in him, as Jesus believed in mankind. We shall never make our pupils self-regulating by suspecting, doubting, watching, and spying upon them. It is generally The Law of admitted now that juvenile criminals are most speedily reformed by putting them upon their honor. The fact that somebody believes in a boy is the surest stimulus to his standing stanch and strong for the things that some one believes him capable of doing. When Jesus said to those he helped, "Go, sin no more," he placed confidence in them, gave them to understand that they could do the right, and that he was willing to accept their own life determinants after they had been properly taught. It is not easy to describe the quality I have in mind, but the thoughtful teacher will understand that truth, taught in a way that impresses the pupil with the fact that the teacher believes in the pupil's ability to live it out in his daily life, is most likely to find such a result is attained by the pupil. Jesus told the people what he knew they could do, and then left them to do it, under the constant conviction that he expected no other issue in conduct. Knowledge as To control the pupil in class in such a way as to lead him to live under self-guidance later on in life the teacher must possess certain well-defined qualifications. The first of these is clear knowledge. Of this quality in the teacher I have already written. The basis of cheerful obedience on the part of the pupil is confidence, and the clear knowledge displayed by the teacher is a potent means of securing this confidence. The teacher whose grasp of the subject-matter of instruction is clear always teaches with confidence. Note, on the other hand, with what subterfuge the unprepared teacher seeks to deceive the pupils. To be conscious of inadequate knowledge is to defeat the real purposes of instruction. I have known teachers whose halting, hesitating, qualifying ways of putting things made anything like successful effort impossible. What wins confidence is the clear, specific statement of fact; the direct, unostentatious reply to questions; the cool, deliberate manner that conveys more than language. So, too, fresh knowledge is of moment. One must go over the lesson thoughtfully just before it is to be taught. To have the lesson fresh in mind, its different parts clearly thought out, its applications drawn from current incidents, and its whole presentation full of that warmth and fervor that come only with fresh contact with truth,-this is to possess an element of control of far-reaching significance. Fresh Fresh knowledge is knowledge made over again in the soul by steady and frequent review of the same. It will not do to let knowledge lie unused for any length of time, and then expect to use it as teaching material. It will lack something, and that something is the very flavor which makes it of use as teaching material. In addition to scholarship as a basis of control, the teacher should possess skill, both in teaching and in managing a class. Knowing how to do things is always an element of power. The teacher who is unskilled, awk Skill as Control Ward, hesitating, uncertain, shifting, indifferent, will not control well. The admiration of a boy goes to the man who knows how to do things. The skilful player, the skilful skater, the skilful hunter, the skilful general, the skilful anything, appeals and controls. How may this skill be acquired? Only by intelligent and persistent practise. It cannot be had in a day. It cannot be had from books. It can be had only by a study of one's own ways of doing things, and the constant determination to do things better every time they are done. The third element that makes for control is love. Of this I have written in the preceding chapter. The essential quality of that love is its willingness to sacrifice, to suffer for the pupil. The young woman teacher who a few years ago in Dakota was obliged to close her school for the day when a blizzard swept the prairie, exemplified this quality of love. Realizing that it was equally impossible to remain in the schoolhouse, Love as Control or to turn the children out to perish alone in the storm, she resorted to heroic means to save their lives. Tearing her skirts into shreds, and binding with these shreds all the pupils into one group with herself in the lead, she led the little group out into the pitiless storm. Far into the night, under her courageous leadership, they fought their way in the blinding blizzard. Finally, almost exhausted and cruelly frozen, she led every one safely to a farm-house and to warmth and to shelter. Her loving devotion had enabled her to fight the demon of death and to win. Some years ago, in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, I met a young woman whose record as a teacher had won for her the commendation of her superintendent. She was a most interested member of a teachers' institute held in that parish. The next year, on my return, I missed her. Inquiry developed the fact that this young woman was dead. The cause of her death was told me by one who loved her. She taught a rural school, far back in the pine woods. Her schoolhouse had neither door nor windows. The children sat on cross-sections of trees set on end. The teacher had no chair, no stove, no protection from the inclement weather. One day in February a severe gulf-storm, damp and cold A Fine Example |