might offer. But these are not to be learned from books. They must be got at first hand to be useful. It may be noted that these things are not to be that these things are not to be learned so much for the facts presented as for the relations implied, though a true relation is as much a fact as any illustration of it can be. The law of gravitation is as much a fact as water r111111ing down hill is, and the continuity of phenomena is of vastly more import ance to the race to know than all the mental efforts of the race before the time of Newton. If once accepted it dominates everywhere. This is the condition of things that confronts us. The past has already been broken from, whether all are conscious of it or not. Its great ones are no longer our teachers and leaders in knowledge. The point of view of human affairs is not only changed, but there is demanded a change in the ideals of the race. Science has given us a new heaven and a new earth. The education of the past has proved not only inadequate, but wholly incompetent to train a mind so that it can assimilate or appreciate genuine know ledge. The names of those who have built up this new body, with few exveptions, can not be found on the registers of the great schools. Does it not appear to the disadvantage of the great schools that the discoveries which have so revoluHom-ed men's ways of thinking and do- Were nearly all made by men who had few of no opportunities for school To name but a few, think of Wat of Stephenson, of Dalton, of Faraday of Joule, of Huxley, of Spencer, of Franklin, of Henry, of Edison. There are int voltesponding names to stand be with them to attainments, and the record Hf the exceptions is mostly for stupidity school, while the opposition and general reception of new due to those educated in those schools, truth in any field have always been competent judges, but that they had no which shows that they were not only incriterion of truth, and therefore did not recognize it when it was plainly set before them. The end of this is at hand. The old will be transformed. Metamor phosis is easier than creation. The grub has already entered the chrysalis stage, and the process of transition may be ians know that something serious has heard by the attentive ear. The custodhappened, but they try to console themselves with the hope that the same old grub will appear with all its essential features unchanged, while the observer of processes knows that when it emerges, its former friends will not identify it, for it will be not only different in form but will be adapted to life in another sphere and to be nourished with a different kind of food, and as soon as the sunlit air has dried out its wings it will surely fly from the ground of its former protectors, unless they shall provide flowers in the place of leaves. HUMBOLDT COUNTY INSTITUTE. One hundred and twenty-five of Humboldt County's one hundred and thirtySept. 28th, for a four days' session. two teachers met in institute at Eureka, San Jose State Normal School, conducted Prof. George R. Kleeberger, of the the proceedings of the institute, and by his masterly and enthusiastic leadership. delighted all who had an opportunity to seconded by County Superintendent, J. hear him. In his efforts he was ably B. Brown. Following are a few thoughts gleaned Prol. Kleeberger-Determination be- rily may seem disagreeable, will become sources of pleasure and pride if once inspired by the determination to do them. -To develop enthusiasm it may at first be necessary to assume the quality. Hamlet cannot be well rendered except in Hamlet's garments.-Teachers cannot afford to do inferior work or even to be classed as mediocre, for competion is growing greater, and the teacher that stands still is bound to drop out.-That education is incomplete which does not give the pupil a desire for culture.— Every school that does not include science, music, and drawing is incomplete. Algebra and technical grammar should be left to the high school, but the common school include geometry. Elementary instruction in all the sciences should be given in our public schools.We must adapt our teaching to the dullest minds rather than to the brightest.— Teachers teach all the better when they are learning themselves. We have had too much tiresome and useless work in arithmetic. Too much of the written drill work stupefies rather than electrifies. Mental exercise brightens, while so much stilted formula leads to plodding and stupefaction. Secure original statement. We need thought work, but bright original thoughts are best. Repetion of set forms is unwise. All the essentials of the subject of geology are within the scope of geography properly taught. Let not the geography question be "where" alone, but "why," "how did it occur," and "what will be the effect. " All improvements are in the direction of accomplishing results by mind force instead of muscle force. Strength is not always power. Character is better than muscle as a managing force. Ideas come first, expression and ar rangement next, and technical correctness last. During the session a number of strong and valuable papers were read and discussed. Of the resolutions passed by the Institute, the following are of general interest: Resolved, That the State Board of Education of California be requested to leave out the answers to questions in the advanced arithmetic hereafter, as furnishing answers robs the pupil of his self reliance. Resolved, That we view with displeasure the acts of some Boards of Trustees in discriminating against married female teachers, and denounce the measure as unjust. A HANDSOME COMPLIMENT.-The article given below appeared in the Humboldt Times of Oct. 1, as an editorial. It has the appearance of having been written by a person not only cordial in heart, but appreciative in mind. "Professor Kleeberger's description of the Laurentian glacial action and the resultant land writings along the line of the great lakes, at the Institute last evening, was the most entertaining, the most inspiring, and withal the simplest and clearest presentation of the facts of natural science that we ever listened to. It is not exaggeration of the actual condition to say that every listener was so enchanted that not a syllable was lost, and when the speaker ended all grieved that he did not continue. And to us, whose childhood was spent among the lakes and land markings which the speaker so clearly interpreted as the record of pre-Adamite history, it seemed not only that the whole region, with its beauties and glacial defacements, were' in reality spread before us, but that the transformations, which it took geological ages to accomplish, were successfully re-enacted before our eyes. To us the whole discourse was the perfection of true eloquence. A simple yet grand presentation of facts related to one of the most sublime sciences considered by the mind of man. ORY DEPENDS. Study on the Ability of Children to retain Images, with and without attendant observation, Drill and Interest, 6. CHILDREN'S IMAGINATIONS. Study of Children's Mythological and Religious Idean. 7 THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESSES STUDIES. IN DIFFERENT INVOLVED tudy on Peculiarities of Children who are exceptionally good or bad Spellers. N THE SINNK OF RIGHT IN CHILDRON Study on Children's Lies. The teachers will assemble one week after each lecture is delivered and report observations and results of experiments which were outlined on the week previ tion in cutting and making clothes; and to induce habits of prudence they have opened school saving-banks. The Santa Barbara County Institute convened at Lompoc, Oct. 6th, for a three days' session, 95 teachers in attendance. The proceedings were alike interesting to the teachers and to the townspeople, who gave the teachers a royal welcome, this being the first institute held in Lompoc for several years. The features of the institute were the lectures by the faculty of the Santa Barbara High School and the extensive exhibit of school work. VALUE OF INSTITUTES. The great truth of Bacon's wise saying about the relative merits of reading, writing and conference, is annually exemplified by the Teachers' Institute. It is the sum of the qualities induced by those three habits that produce the best results, perhaps in a greater degree in the teachers profession than elsewhere, and the week's conference is only a short Fred Allen in an essay www.wowin speaking of the pub alternation from the ceaseless round of he schools of Paris writes as follows: In connection with the schools, they have established dining rooms called canteens They have created organizations for diswbating clothes and boots for providing waliome for those who are sick, and for eating care of children whose parents Ta at work; to assist education ther da e initiated holiday classes to stud art, natural science and mis to promote physical demet and bursaries also schoter reading which they go through in a year. Were there some way in which the teachers could confer more, one with another, or at least with their peers in intelligence, and could they be induced to write more concerning their work, we believe it would result in great good. BC the Tonians first introdaced the present system of writing from Prenos to the above date ..g to k prevailed. A mY er has established the &s the Alps at 1,155, of which to have a length of more than tout and three que les VOL. I. DECEMBER, 1891. SHOULD TEACHERS BE PENSIONED? No. 3. Discussion by Prominent Coast Educators of the Merits and Demerits of an Interesting Question. I. BY PROF. ELISHA BROOKS. Principal Cogswell Polytechnic School., S. F. S a measure of wise economy the state should pension its teachers. nurious, as to have saved a competence. At the best, his savings can be but little, and when the bank breaks or his ventures fail, as they sometimes do, strange' as it may seem, he is a helpless creature, and becomes a pensioner on his fellow. teachers. The best teacher is the one who gives no care to any provision for the future, but devotes all his thoughts and energies to his profession. The more thought he gives to money making, and the more successful he is in accumulating property, the more neglectful he is of his professional duties and the poorer teacher he becomes. By the nature of his calling the teacher is removed from the avenues of business where opportunities exist. This cannot be gainsaid. He has no facilities for studying the science of finance, or of learning where profitable investments. may be made. Indeed if he attempt this he is usually warned to attend to his business lest his position be endangered. If he is a good teacher his life is spent amongst books and in association with children, studying the development of the human intellect. By his necessary ignorance and inexperience in matters of business, he becomes an easy prey to schemers and adventurers, so that the chances of his losing his scanty savings-very scanty savings at best are very large. He is disqualified for business, and when his failing powers. and increasing infirmities compel his withdrawal from the profession, which usually happens many years before his Hence the pensioning of the few who life ends, he must face an old age of will live to enjoy the bounty will secure. penury and want, unless he has been so the devotion of the many who will never exceptionally fortunate, or perhaps pe- come into the inheritance. Therefore, The state is interested in securing the best teachers possible, and so treating them as to secure the best work from them. If the state undertakes to make provision for their helpless old age, they can, and generally will, give all their energies to the cause of education; but if they must guard their own doors from the wolf while serving the state, that much of thought and devotion is lost to the cause of education. 86 as an economical measure, it is wise to pension teachers. The objection is sometimes made that we might as well pension hod carriers. I say yes, if it can be shown that they are in the service of the state, and that the existence of the government depends upon the character of the service, and that the nature of this service disqualifies them for providing for their declining years, and that a pension will insure their doing their work more faithfully. All this we claim for the teacher. II. BY CHAS. H. ALLEN, Since the failure of Superintendent Like all such questions there is something to be said upon either side. Such a proposition should never emanate from, nor be pressed by the teachers them selves. As a teacher I can affirm without fear of contradiction, that we are, as a general thing, fairly well paid for our labor; that the work is not so severe as necessarily to impair health, or to unfit one for other duties. If we are reasonably thrifty, practicing the economy we should teach, we can, from year to year, lay by something for the rainy day." It is difficult to see upon what grounds we can claim that we should, after so many years of service be "retired on half pay." However, should an appreciative public, moved by its own sense of justice or gratitude, see fit to provide for such an emolument, I think we might, without a lessening of self-respect, accept it. But as a teacher, I object to being placed before the public as a mendicant, or a supplicant for public recognition, or public favor. We claim to be workers in a profession second to none in its usefulness and influence. Let us accept as our reward, in addition to the monthly stipend, upon which we must subsist, the consciousness of duty well done, and the grate ful remembrance of those whom we have helped to better lives, by our precepts and living example. III. BY MRS. MARY PRAG, The benefits accruing from pension ing the teachers of a state may be viewed from two general standpoints: first, of its benefit to the profession; second, as an act of justice towards the teacher. The pensioning of teachers will attract to the profession, talent of a far higher order than it attracts at present. The profession will be able to hold the fine minds it now possesses by offering an inducement sufficient to persuade them to make a life-work of it. Few intellectual people desire great wealth. All that most of them wish is a modest but assured competency. If this competency be assured them for life, many now entering other professions would apply themselves to that of teaching. The mind freed from the anxiety of providing for the future, would bend its best energies towards elevating the profession. So much for the new material. more than benefited. |