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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVIII. No. 970 



If this is true with the average class, how 

 much more is it so with those members who 

 are lazy or are naturally slow in their men- 

 tal operations? 



From the above it follows as a matter of 

 course that the good teacher should de- 

 serve the respect of his students and his 

 colleagues as a man, as a teacher and as an 

 engineer. I think it frequently happens 

 that the students know our failings and our 

 strong points better than we do ourselves, 

 or than they are known by our superiors. 

 Student criticism may sometimes be unjust 

 for want of full and complete information, 

 but it must be remembered that the young 

 human mind is likely to be as keen in its 

 perceptions as is the older mind of the man 

 who occupies the other end of the room. 



Another requisite in the good teacher is 

 unbounded enthusiasm for and intense loy- 

 alty to the work of the teacher and of the 

 engineer. We can tolerate the hireling in 

 the commercial office and the drafting 

 room, and the time-server may have to be 

 put up with out on the works and in the 

 mine, but the teacher, as a leader of young 

 men and as a man who should be looked 

 up to with some degree of that kind of re- 

 spect which may grow into veneration 

 should be so bubbling over with enthusiasm 

 that it will be contagious. 



That prince of cultured scientists. Dr. S. 

 Weir Mitchell, in giving at the semi-cen- 

 tennial celebration of the foundation of the 

 National Academy of Sciences some of his 

 recollections of the eminent men of science 

 whom he had known, told the story of Pro- 

 fessor Joseph Leidy's being asked "if he 

 never got tired of life. " " Tired ! " he said, 

 ' ' Not so long as there is an undescribed in- 

 testinal worm, or the riddle of a fossil bone 

 or a rhizopod new to me. ' ' So, the enthusi- 

 astic teacher is never tired, so long as there 

 is an intelligent boy to be trained or a 

 mind to be developed. The engineer sets 



in motion the wheels of thousands of ma- 

 chines ; the successful educator sets in mo- 

 tion the wheels of a thousand minds. Such 

 a man can always get the work out of his 

 students, even if they have to curtail the 

 time properly due to some other instructor 

 who is less inspiring. The enthusiastic 

 teacher never counts the cost to himself of 

 his labor for those whom he loves to call 

 "his boys." 



I am of the opinion that our engineering 

 colleges are less handicapped than are the 

 academic colleges by the services of men 

 who are teaching for a year or two either 

 while studying for the bar or for holy 

 orders, or to enable them to repay the debts 

 contracted for their college education by 

 the means which will permit the least effort 

 during the shortest time. As a rule, the 

 call to work in the bustle of the manufac- 

 turing and constructive world is preemi- 

 nent in the mind of the engineering gradu- 

 ate. He is ready for the fray, and to-day 

 he wants to get into it as never before, and 

 no waiting until cooler weather or until 

 after a summer vacation for him. "I am 

 going to work next Monday," is his battle 

 cry on commencement day. The courage 

 of youth is beautiful to behold, and his zeal 

 is a lesson to his teachers and to those who 

 are following him. 



Akin to enthusiasm for his work in the 

 good teacher is his inspirational value to 

 his students and his colleagues in the fac- 

 ulty. The former is the child of youth; 

 the latter is the product of age and genius. 

 When the teacher begins to lose his en- 

 thusiasm, he should begin to think that 

 possibly he may be getting old, or else lazy. 

 Not infrequently, however, the teacher who 

 is devoid of enthusiasm may be of great 

 inspirational value. He is the seer. He 

 may be even halting in his speech, but by 

 his ideas, his skill, or his manner of pre- 

 senting the subject he may impress the stu- 



