348 



THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF 

 EDUCATION. VI. 



DUTIES AND QUALIFICATIONS OP TEACHERS CONCLUSION. 



WE have now arrived at the last of our short series of papers 

 on the Theory and Practice of Education ; it will be proper, 

 therefore, to review the ground which we have passed over in 

 our previous articles, and to conclude by offering a few practical 

 remarks on the duties and necessary qualifications of the agents 

 by whom the great work of education is carried on. In taking this 

 course, our especial object will be to assist young teachers in day 

 and evening schools, and the teachers of Sunday-school classes. 



We commenced our first paper by remarking that one of tho 

 best tests of the real possession of knowledge is the ability to 

 teach it, and we now earnestly advise our young friends to apply 

 this test on every possible occasion. Self -improvement societies 

 and evening lectures and classes give them an excellent oppor- 

 tunity of doing this ; and if they are unable to join some one or 

 more of these, there still remain many ways by which they can 

 in this manner at once fix their acquirements in their own 

 minds, and become the means of benefiting others. The im- 

 portant fact, that whether we desire it or no, our education is 

 going on from the first days of our existence in this world to 

 the last, was strongly insisted on ; and the paper closed by 

 pointing out the necessity of acquiring good habits and useful 

 knowledge, lest evil influences should gain the mastery, and 

 debase and ultimately ruin both soul and body. 



The second paper gave a rapid analysis of the powers and 

 faculties of the mind. We were led to take this course by the 

 strong conviction that education, to be sound and effectual, 

 must be so given as to cultivate and train tho various parbs 

 which make up tho mental and spiritual constitution of man. 

 This idea is by no means a new one, but it has hitherto failed 

 to reach the consciousness and guide the practice of the great 

 majority of those who direct and influence the education of thj 

 people. Both writers and teachers fail to perceive its importance ; 

 thus their action for the most part is empirical, founded on 

 experiments and losing sight of principles. A medical prac- 

 titioner who is ignorant of the anatomy of the Imtnan body, 

 and who judges of diseases and their cure without a competent 

 knowledge of the various structures and tissues of the human 

 framework, and of the various symptoms by which their healthy 

 or diseased condition is indicated, is styled a quack; but we 

 are still without a term by which to designate those who aspire 

 to conduct the far more important work of educating the mind, 

 while they are destitute of any definite and clear knowledge of 

 its various faculties and functions. 



Our third paper was fully occupied in presenting an outline 

 of the principal subjects of human knowledge, and in defining 

 the objects which should be borne in mind, both in the selection 

 of subjects and in the methods employed in imparting them. 

 We sought to appraise the relative value of the various studies 

 to which attention was directed, and to give some slight indi- 

 cation of the order in which they should be taught. In the 

 course of these remarks, we took occasion to notice the almost 

 exhaustive series of lessons which fill the pages of the POPULAR 

 EDUCATOR; we know of no other collection so worthy the notice 

 and earnest study of young persons who desire to occupy their 

 leisure time in furnishing their minds with interesting and 

 useful material, and in acquiring information which can scarcely 

 fail to be both pleasant and profitable. The principle which, 

 in our opinion, should guide the student in his selection of 

 studies, and the teacher in the formation of his programme is, 

 irst to lay a wide and stable foundation by selecting one or 

 more subjects from each of the four great departments of know- 

 ledge Language, Mathematics, Science and Art; and when 

 these are well worked into the mental being, to select some one 

 subject on which to expend the chief portion of their labour and 

 time, so that they may attain to special excellence in' this 

 chosen department. 



The history of education engaged our attention in the fourth 

 paper, and short sketches of a few of the leading educators 

 vere given ; and our last article was entirely taken up by as 

 complete an elucidation of the principal methods of instruction 

 now in use as our limits allowed. We propose to devote the 

 remainder of this, our concluding paper, to the consideration 

 of various matters in connection with the teacher. 



The teacher is undoubtedly the keystone of success in every 



system of education- tho pivot on which all real improvement, 

 turns. The legislature may decree that schools shall be built 

 in every locality in the kingdom, and may persuade or compel all 

 children of school-age to enter them ; systems the most perfect 

 may be formed, and methods of greatest power may be elabo- 

 rated ; but unless the teacher is well prepared for his work, and 

 puts his whole heart and soul into it, every effort will bo in 

 vain, and we shall still be confronted by an uneducated people ; 

 day-schools will fail to produce the results for which we are now 

 so earnestly striving, and Sunday-schools will be an eyesore and 

 a blot instead of a blessing. Every possible effort should, there- 

 fore, be put forth to train our teachers for their laborious task, 

 and to excite and encourage them to the skilful and conscien- 

 tious discharge of their duty. 



Knowledge is the first and primary requisite of those who 

 take upon themselves the high office of instructing others, and 

 those who enlist in the ranks of amateur or professional 

 teachers, whether in Sunday or day schools, should omit no 

 opportunity of adding to their stock. The various branches of 

 learning are so intimately connected, and bear so closely upon 

 each other, that it is almost impossible to teach one subject 

 well without a fair amount of information on many others. 

 Even in an ordinary reading lesson, whether on a secular sub- 

 ject or one taken from Holy Scripture, it often surprises even 

 tho teacher himself to find how much of the knowledge which 

 he possesses on other matters is needed to elucidate the lesson 

 before him. And the better the teacher, the more certain is 

 this to be the case. A large and varied fund of knowledge is, 

 therefore, an indispensable qualification for the teacher's office. 



But not only does a teacher require a large amount of varied 

 information ; he must also learn to reproduce it in a systematic 

 and orderly manner. For the purpose of acquiring this habit, 

 tho young teacher should analyse every subject which he has to 

 teach into the sereral parts of which it is composed, and then 

 exercise his power of synthesis by putting these parts together 

 again in the exact order in which he intends to teach them. 

 He should do this without reference to books, so that he may 

 render his mind familiar with these processes. A similar course 

 should be adopted with every separate lesson before it is pre- 

 sented to his pupils. Proceeding in this way, and arranging 

 every idea in a natural and orderly manner, so that each one 

 may lead without abruptness into that which follows it, his 

 teaching will daily become more useful and pleasant, and tho 

 laborious application which such a course necessitates will find 

 its duo reward in tho rapid improvement and increasing attach- 

 ment of his pupils. 



The ability to teach a large number of scholars at the same 

 time is another most important requirement in a teacher. This 

 is called " collective teaching," as distinguished from the in- 

 struction of individual pupils. This power of dealing with 

 numbers while imparting instruction is by no means insisted 

 upon with sufficient earnestness by writers on the teacher's 

 work. It is a most important question to every instructor in a 

 school, in what manner he shall arrange and classify numbers, 

 differing in both knowledge and mental power, so as to lead 

 them on together, without material loss of time to any. When 

 a teacher has acquired this power, his capacity for usefulness 

 is multiplied many times ; and experience shows that by thus 

 learning to act on numbers at once, the work of both teacher 

 and scholars becomes more pleasant and delightful. Tho 

 drudgery of mental drill seems to drop out of sight, while 

 students and tutor travel on together in sweet companionship 

 along the same road to the same end. 



The power to maintain order, and ability to teach, are the 

 prime requisites to success in collective instruction, and the 

 former depends very much on the latter. A few hints on the 

 means of obtaining and securing these will not, therefore, be 

 out of place. 



1. The first and most important point is, that the teacher 

 should be well prepared, that his mind should be full of his 

 subject, so that there may be no room for hesitation in hia 

 manner. Should he show, by frequent stoppages, by self- 

 contradiction, and by a doubtful, f;oble, hesitating mode of 

 utterance, that he has failed to make himself master of what 

 he professes to teach, and has lost all confidence in himself, 

 he will stand self -convicted of charlatanism ; respect for him 

 will pass away from tho minds of his hearers, and order and 

 discipline will give plae? to confusion and riot. 



