M. J. KENDALL, ESQ., M.A., ON THE TEACHER's VOCATION. 95 



Lt.-Col. Alves said : It gives me much pleasure to meet the Head 

 Master of one of our greatest Public Schools, who is also a member of 

 both the Head Masters' Conference and the Incorporated Association 

 of Head Masters. 



It is the wearer of the shoe, not the maker, who knows best where 

 it pinches ; and if I have never been a schoolmaster, I have been 

 a schoolboy ; and it is in this capacity that I desire to offer a few 

 remarks which I have put on paper, being less bad as a writer than 

 as a speaker. 



Eegarding the title of the paper, we may put teaching under two 

 heads, administrative and executive, just as there are " bishops 

 and curates." 



As to the vocation, I suppose that we may define the word as a 

 special natural aptitude and desire, a genius, and not merely an 

 itch, for teaching. Bat even genius, to be of much use, needs 

 training ; and it is comparatively rare. A talent, greater or smaller, 

 is much more common, and, still more than genius, it needs a training 

 to bring it to the surface. 



The foundation moral qualities are firmness, patience and sym- 

 pathy. On these are needed a knowledge of how best to present 

 to the mind of the learner by eye or ear what he is to learn. This 

 needs a knowledge of the general working of the human mind which., 

 in the young, is chiefly animal and imitative, not reflective. 



After this, the teacher must have a clear knowledge of what he is 

 going to teach, even though he may be only one lesson ahead oi 

 the pupil. A difficult mastery of the special subject by the teacher 

 will probably be an advantage, as he will thereby be more in 

 sympathy with the learner than he would be if he had acquired it 

 easily. 



It is to the knowledge of the way of presentation that I would 

 draw chief attention in my remarks. 



Parents were intended to be the primary teachers of their children ; 

 if wrongly taught themselves, they will, with rare exceptions, pass 

 on to their children wrong matter, or a wrong manner. 



In the opening clause of the paper is an allusion to Latin and 

 Greek, and to " that linguistic discipline which has for centuries 

 all but held a monopoly in our PubUc Schools ..." Now, as an 

 ex-schoolboy, may I say that I have been subjected to that " lin- 

 guistic discipline," which I most unhesitatingly call " linguistic 



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