Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The American. (Omaha, Nebraska) 1891-1899 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 9, 1894)
THE AMERICAN OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS Every School Must be a Nursery of Amerlc&n Citizenship. Tkf lmrrfcan Unimacr Mut be Tnutrbt frrrjwki'rt and tin" Anifrh-an fipirlt lUU Them Enrj w hi-it. Ths following remarkable leelurv, which wo rvpmhuts from The Sthfxtl JSulllin, wu deliveml by Clmrle K. Sklnnor, at Chautauqua, Jul 12, H la worthy of a careful jHrual by t-vvry American who Is lnU'rvUl In the welfare vt our public school yUin: We meet In thi flaw, devoted to law, hallowed to learning, comn-craU-'d to religion, confronted by theiulfihtlent problcma of our ae. The ascawlna tion of the prvuldunt of tho French re public; thousand! ujam thousand of Idle and discontented men In America, with no sympathy for American insti tutions, ready to destroy protK'rty, en darter life, defy authority, obstruct commorro, muck at prOHperlly, trample upon law and overthrow the govern ment; have tbww no moaning to uh? Wo cannot aa citizens, as patriot, an christians, overlook the imperative qucBtion of today. Wo cannot refuse to bo concerned for the welfare of the republic. Wo cannot neglect to coun sel together for the common good. Wo cannot cease to pray God to give u peace in our time, and merciful to (save the state. Tbo need of the education of the masses in our public schools, the efforts made to supply that need, the obstacles met, tho encouragements received, provo the fitness of the topic for tho land and tho hour in which we live. There is a growing conformity In all educational Interests. Whatever good thing is brought to light by tho activity and genius of edu cators in one place, has value in every other. All education is for the future the present Is tho opportunity, the work shop, and Inspiration must como alike from tho mistakes and the successes of the past. A friend, nearlng the English coast by stoamer in tho night, could see the danger signals, the daazling brilliancy of the lighthouses, the warning lights of reef and shoal, till the whole seemed a very galaxy of illumination. He stood transfixed drinking in the view, lie mentioned to the captain the beauty and wonder of tho scene. The captain seeing another reason for the lights thar mere beauty said: "Do you realize that each one of thoso lights marks the epot where many a soul has gone down to death through lgnoraneo of the dan gers there? Those lights are to warn me not to make tho same mistakes, and in my obedience to these warnings lies your safety." Is it strange, then, that the wrecks of tho centuries should become the most potent teacher? The skilful teacher, like the skilful marlner,know8, or should know what shoals to avoid, what reefs to shun, and by what rocks to steer. The educational whirlpools of the centuries are laid down oc the teacher's sailing chart, the signal fires hang out, the flash lights are adjusted, the billowy shallows and rugged shores and treacherous sand bars are traced and outlined. It must never be forgotten that foundations are now being laid on which tho structure of our homes and government, our social and national life, must be reared for the future. A broad, noble, generous, high-minded spirit must animate the workers of to day, or they can never build worthily lor the present, or for the centuries to come. The "manifest destiny," as Mr. Fiske terms It, of our language to become the mother language of the world, empha sizes the first great need of our public schools, that they may be mado thor oughly and altogether American. What is needed north, south, cast and west is the impress of American nationality upon our public schools. We are the American people. We live in America Our customs, habits, manner of lif principles, politics, ethics, morals, are or ought to be American. That does not mean a lowering of the standard Far from it. What our public school are to be, what they are to teach, what force they shall exert upon our own and other people, depends upon the spirit infused into them. What other than the American spirit can it be? It will never do to make ithem Puritan or Virginian, Texan or Californian, in their tendency and aim. Our national flag Scats over all our people. That flag is the emblem of our national supremacy. Our great com monwealth reaches from ocean ocean, from the glaciers of Alaska to the palms of Florida, embracing forty' five sovereign states. Those coming here from England, France, Germany Russia, Italy, Africa and Asia, to be part of this republic, must be Ameri can. They must be for us and with us as well as of us. They cease to owe al legiance to foreign powers, and take on the privileges, obligations, duties ud responsibilities of American citi zenB. Unless this is done the country is a conglomeration of accidental ele- .scents without symmetry, without font-, without beauty. Every InereaM! only ailJ to the disorder, and the out come tmmt be dU'nW'gratlon and chaoa. We want citizen, not subject, and if history, ancient and modern, U read aright, it must teaeh this truth, that it is a grander privilege to be an Ameri can now than to have been a lUiman two thousand years aco. Every place where cehool is taught must be a nurwry of American citizen ship. Our own language is to be every where taught. Our own political, social and moral ideas niunt ba Impressed uprni the lys and girls who are to be come the father and mothers, the vot ers and the makers of la in the years cIobO at hand. To do this is to ir in'teale the life of the nation in every home is to make the children feci that their country is worthy the best their hands can do, their brains devise, their heart desire. This does not Implv narrowm set, nor selfishness, not bigotry. It simply declares that America is for Americans, it asserts unequivocally tho Munroo doctrine as applied to the education of our children and youth. It sets aloft the truth that this country has a mission in theworld that it needs men and women trained after the Amer ican model, honest, falthful.courageous, pure, high-minded, noble, christian, scorning, and rejecting dishonesty, treachery, cowardice, demagogism, hypocrisy, impurity, baseness, mean ness, infU'ellty, as unworthy a man or woman, boy or girl, who belongs to the land In which wo live. Our public schools can never become what they ought to be until this domi nant American spirit rules them every where; until our languages, laws, cus toms, and obligations, our duties to our own country, ana to tne worm, are mado paramount in every school in tho land. If the experiment here tried of gov ernment of the peoplo, by the people, and for tho jwople, shall not perish from the earth, it will be because our public schools shall become the nur series of our highest and purest na tional life; because they shall conserve the best Interests of tho republic, not only for those whose homes are now and here, but for the unnumbered millions of English-speaking peoplo whose homes are to awaken the mind of the child. The true American spirit can never be properly cultivated In our public schools until the truth of the broaden ing and deepening the foundations of our oducational system be thoroughly believed and unhesitatingly carried in to practical effect. As Americans, as citizens, as patriots, no duty is more imperative upon us than to provide the great mass of pupils throughout the United States with earnest, competent, patriotic teachers, who shall infuse by precept and example a high, pure, and noble American spirit upon all entrusted to their teaching and Influence. Another great need ol our public schools is a right educational spirit; that inspiring love born In men and women to help others by imparting knowledge. Dr. Ilarrls defines educa tion as "the elevation of the Individual Into the life of the species." Every true teacher's work, therefore, is up lifting. It raises, or ought to raise the teacher upon a higher plane. It raises, or seeks to raise the pupil upon the plane the U acher occupies. It is need less to say that no one can do this who does not love teaching, does not love the work of giving Instruction to others. It is the same as the teacher giving himself or herself for the sake of the pupil. The maxim is accepted that "a poet is born, not made." There must be the poetic spirit. This is true to some extent of. teachers. There must be the teaching spirit. Certainly, so far as this love of teaching is concerned, it is born in the true teacher. It grows with the years. It is developed by tne teacher's own training for the work. It is strengthened by exercise in trying to teach. It comes to its full fruition when men and women realizing the no billty of their calling, give themselves to the grand aim of lifting up others and helping them to manhood and wo manhood. Those who find the teaching spirit lacking can best serve the teaching pro fession by leaving it. Ability to pass certain examinations before school authorities is one thing ability to im part knowledge to others is far differ ent. A person may be learned, may be able to prove his learning by undoubted evidence; but the teacher's duty is first to impart knowledge to others; second, to train others to think and to acquire knowledge for themselves. So it is often seen that men and women of great learning and unquestioned talents do not succeed as teachers simply because they do not know either how to tell what they have learned in the right way or how to help others to think for themselves and get what they need from study and books. It is no imputation upon any man's or woman's worth or learning to say they have no ability to teach. It is a reflection upon their honesty, if, knowing their inability to teach, they still continue In the profes sion. It is not the province of this address to point out how this essential quallfl cation c s teacher may bo secured is simply to emphasize the fact that our public schools have certain great needs, that one of these is tho educational spirit, and that a prime factor in the educational spirit demanded today is tho ability to teach; to help pupils find tho beet there i in them; to help lift them up to higher and nobler lives; to help t t.t in know in turn bow to do the mott Hfc()o for others. , IVulozzi at Stans (Ed. Cyc. th ed. Edn. vil. G77) shows teachers for all the centuries what love for pupils means. A number of children were left without parents, homo, food or shelter. I'esta lozzi gathered them all together and sought to reclaim them. Ho says: "I was from morning till evening al most alone in their midst. Everything which was done for their body or soul proceeded from ray baud. Every as sistance, every help in tiuie of need, every teaching which they received came immediately from me. My hand lay in their hand, my. eye rested on their eye. my tears flowed with theirs, and my laughter accompanied theirs. They were out of the world, they were out of Stanz. They wero with me and I was with them. Their soup was mine their drink was mine. I had nothing, I had no housekeeping, no friend, no servants around me. I had them alone. Wero they well, I stood In their midst; were they ill, 1 was at tneir siae. 1 was tho last who went to bed at night, the first who rose in the morning. Even in bed I prayed and taught with them until they were asleep. They wished it to bo so." When those who are teachers of our children and youth can lay claim tea tithe of -this self-sacrificing love for pupils whicn I'estalozzi showed for those poor waifs at Stanz, the millen nium will have come for our public schools. It Is through such love that tho characters of our heroes and mar tyrs are moulded with likeness of the Great Teacher "who went about doing good," and gave his life for tho world to teach men and women how God loves them. A lovo like Pcstalozzl's takes no account of beauty or goodness, riches or rank. It lays hold of the poorest, the lowest, the worst, as most needing sympathy and help, and clings to them till it can do no more. It gives infinite patience, gentkness and goodness to tho teacher, and makes voice, look and touch tell always and everywhere of tho tenuer affection ruling the life. Blessed the teachers possessing such a love thrlco blessed tho pupils who 11 vo In its atmosphere. Long years of oughest toll in the world can never efface such a teacher from memory, any moro than a mother's love can be blot ted from the heart of the son she cher ished. A love like that sees possibili ties of good in the most unpromising pupils; makes patient waiting for its developnientthe greatest privilege, its realization the highest reward Thauk God today for tho teachers, living a"d ead, who have taught us that such lovo for pupils is no empty dream, no 'baseless fabric of a vision," but one of tho sweetest and most blessed realties to cheer and ennoble the lives of men and women on earth, to unconsciously draw them upward to communion with Him who calls Himself our Father in Heaven, and of whom it is written God is love." Raise tho standard of those who teach and you must certainly lift up the ideals of those taught. Improve the quality of the teachers if you want finer pupils. Demand loftier teaching if you hope for higher learning. The fact that this call comes from every di rection shows a common necessity. What the country wants, what the 15,000,000 children In our public schools need, Is a corps of professionally trained teachers, competent, satisfied and happy, able to cause others to know, fitted to cause others to learn. Teach ing is a high and noble profession. It demands much of those embracing it. It wields immense power over its sub jects. It can never, therefore, be out side a citizen's duty, foreign to a pa triot's heart, or alien to a christian's obligations, to ask how the teachers of our public schools can be so trained as best to meet the responsibilities resting upon them. Says Oscar Cbrisman Forum Feb. 1894:) "The life, the growth, tho ideas, the very being of the child should be in quired into and studied. The child is the most important object upon earth for our consideration. His health, his nurture, his development, are far more worthy our regard than anything else. Yet less is known about the child, and attention given to hh care than any thing else. I'aidology must take up this very necessary work. Perhaps the greatest application of this knowledge of the child will be in the school room, because the school room is the work shop, the business house, tho office of the child, and hence more may be done for him there than anywhere else. "Independent of this special study of the child-nature there ought to be in the true teacher the earnest, constant endeavor to help the child to know the subjects taught; to train him not merely to learn lessons assigned, but to teach him to think; to help the child make what he learns his own. "In these two respects the love of study for the sake of knowledge; tho study of the child to learn how to teach a child a vast improvement can be ffiauo uy wue iiuacuers lu our primary, grammar, and high schools In the United States. "A pilot entrusted to bring an ocean steamer to her city dock has had many years of hard practice before, long miles beyond Sindy Hook, the captain resigns tbo ship to bis orders. Life and projierty are too precious to be given over into the hands of an un practised pilot. Yet bow constantly are our public schools committed to the care of teachers who spend their first months and years in a series of exjteri ments on the hearts and lives of our children before they can be said to have any practical knowledge of teaching. Who can toll how many a life has been spoiled as a result of these experiments In tho school room? It is no wonder that those mott conversant with this need of our public schools cry out with one accord: 'Give us professionally trained teachers, with a basis of broad scholarship; men and women who themselves have been thoroughly dis ciplined in the divine art of teaching and know how to inspire others to learn."' Inseparably connected with love of study, knowledge of child-nature, and practical methods of teaching, there must be in the complete equipment of the teacher's professional spirit that essential qualification most aptly called culture. Culture is that instinctive feeling of refinement and delicacy which leads every true teacher to treat each child courteously, kindly, in a genuine manly and womanly way. This is made up of two parts, morals and manners. It ought not to be necessary to say that school commissioners, school superintendents, school teachers, school officers, generally, should always be men and women of exceptional morals. They may not be communicants of churches, but it should be demanded that they be persons of unimpeachable morality, honesty and uprightness of life. What teachers are, impresses pupils always as truly as what teachers Bay and do. Children are intuitive readers of character. It is impossible to put a bad man or a bad woman in charge of a school without imparting to its Dupila life-long impressions of evil. Professors and teachers are some times guilty of lack of good manners in their school rooms toward their pupils, who would be heartily ashamed if charged with the same offense ins ciety. Society suffers far more from lack of good manners in the school room than in the drawing room. The long hours passed in contact with teachers by pupils in the earliest and most impressible years fill their mem ories with the manners, good, bad or indifferent, which subsequent training finds it difficult or impossible wholly to erase; the fine courtesy, gentle learn ing, kindly look, voice and manner of teachers are never lost on the tender tablets of a child's consciousness, as the coarse, heedless, careless ways of others are reproduced long years afterwards in pupils who are the unfortunate sub jects of such influences. The p'ace in which the teacher works may be obscure, the labor severe, the gains in money or in fame meagre, but no teacher who faithfully fills an appointed sphere will fail at last to see certain evidence of his work in the lives of good men and women whose characters he has moulded will fail to feel the satisfaction which comes of a duty conscientiously done will fail to hear the voice of Him who was the Teacher sent from God, saying in tones of infinite lovo and tenderness, "Well done, good and faithful servant. " The profession of a true teacher can never be an easy one. It demands much labor to properly prepare for It. It in sists upon hard work every day it is followed. It provides no pension when days of toil have ceased, and smooths no path down to the last resting place with promise of support from others. It gives no certainty that place and wages shall be received, and leaves the spectre of inactivity and want ever standing at the door. Such a profession as the teachers' should not only have adequate remun eration, it should also be secured in more tenure of position. It is bad enough that political wire-pulling, cau cuses of school board), direct gifts of phoney or influential friends secure places at first. It is far worse when competent teachers are dismissed through such means to make room for those unfitted to do the work required. It has been well said: "The public would cry out against the danger of having an ocean steamship line officered by untried men, but greater danger far to the republic lies in having untried teachers foisted upon our schools by political caoalling and chicanery." When in our country, faithful, honest, thoroughly trained teachers shall be adequately paid, and their positions made secure against political Intrigue and personal favoritism of school of ficersand boards of educations brighter day will dawn upon our public schools, Pupils will learn far more from teachers they respect and love, and in whom they cherish confidence after years of work together, than they pos- bibly can from those who stay only a little time with them; and are dis placed to make room for others, who are removed as quickly. Parents con fide far more in teachers whose term of service is extended, whom they have tested In various ways; and teachers find this confidence between parents and themselves of great assistance in the management and teaching of the "35nnirp j MANUAL arA Complete tPSE or the PRINCIPLES or THE AMERICAN PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION (CoPVKKiHTKD.) FOR AMEE 10 AN i PUBLISHING COMPANY. children. Teachers can also accomplish far more for themselves in study and thorough knowledge of subjects to be taught, far more for their pupils whom they learn to know and understand, and to whom they can more readily impart instruction than to pupils with whom they have only slight acquaintance. (Continued on l'a(?e I-'our.) Pamphlet. Extracts from United States Con gressional Record, containing address of Hon. W. S. Linton and discussion in congress upon sectarian appropriations of national money to Indian education, and the vote thereon; also remarks made respecting a requirement to teach the English language in New Mexico after admission to statehood, and two separate votes rejecting such a require ment. Address, Gen. Green Clay Smith, I'. O. Box 333, Washington, D. C. Price, postage paid, $2.50 per thousand, or 5 copies 10 cents. MAGNET ALICIA KILLER Not a Common Salve or Ointment, but a SPECIFIC Used for Rectal Diseases Only, A Uulrk Krllrf and Poitlr Core for Illlnd, Hlredlog or Itching Pile, or l"Ue , In Any form. READ Testimonial v $1.00 PER BOXv MACNET CHEMICAL CO. Wti Omaha, Mft, Visit of Jesus Christ TO 1'IUS roi'is, IX. One of VICTOR HUGO'S wittiest and most sarcastic poems, translated irom me French by GHASR ROYS, 631 F Street, WASHINGTON, D. O riirlKt, takes a look Into the Vatican: con verses with one of the pope's guards and a cardinal. single copy uc 10 copies 100 copies special prices tor larger quauimes. W. N. SMITH. OHIO, ILL. Brkboer or Thorough- nVCnDn nnWN XHFFP BUKU WAI villi WWIII1 Vllkbl Bron.e Turkeys. B. & W. Plymouth Rocks, Light Brahma and CHICKENS. 8. L. Wyandotte VniWrVCINOi Stock and Eggs for sale. Circulars free. 7-6-7m r iiimimti A CRAND DISCOVERY I VrAHTID -i U u mua ! T II oounlT ih w. km art mcmnt t reprwmit.ti lo nil OB "Hv Silver SOLID METAL, initt. Fork! u Soto. u am. offl food! rnaranioio: wemr umun i , meal with rwdy ni- TLTi "J" rf.m.rM ft,, n; Solid MttIOOOli. pM HU- i Free. Addrtti tr Uvr ion IKuiArr wona in uur -- ' Co., IXpt- 20 , . 1 nrilTP LADIKNORUKNTS AbLNl0t75AWEEK. t home, UKiitg or leltiua Wrey Platers or collecting ftrx-ri for us to plate. Wh do all Itini of tnjr at our works, ma dm ran arc ihe materials and outfits, ant tench the art. We Bell thfoa! v enmpl'-te outfit, ittRturlfne latin. i-l8.t"ntfs oil materials for polish! . rrfpar in, plaiiiijr ami finifhiu wry thing. Circular ati'i pri'-' f's, rar Jt '.. lMutInV Work, lMrt A, Columbia Ohio. SPEEDY and LASTING RESULTS f l 1 No IncODTenlmce. Simple, f ... ltlv ?," I wre. ABB0LOTI1T f HllT' m Inll. M fmm anw Inmrious f Ubttklice. m. nim w LAB3I ABSOKIHI IISVCU. v WiofilllRlNTFE a CURE at refund MOT moner. Prte as.00 per bottle. Send 4c. for treatise.'1 IEEMONI MiSBlCAX. COn Boston, f -. Secrets of Romish Priests Exposed, Price 40 Const. SUBSTITUTION I MARRIAGE. Prloe BO Cents. Bev. Joseph Slattery Is the author of both of the above books. They are lu titles indicate, and are printed In ust what the :ood, clean type and hound in n aper covers, sent by ei- nresa or mall. Address AMERICAN PUBLISHING CO., 1815 Howard Street, Omaha, Neb. nr. SMMa In St.. Kansas City. Mo or. Cor. Clark andtltandolub, Chicago, 111, 15 CENTS PA mm a OBJECTS SALE BY THE COMING AMERICAN CIVIL WAR. By B. A. HUNTINGTON. This Is anions the latest publication! and ranks among the best. It deals with the for eign exerted in political affairs of our coun try by the Koman Catholic Church. terf American should read It. Paper cover, 1'rioe BO Cents. Sent postpaid on receipt of price, by the AMERICAN PUBLISHING CO., 1615 Howard Street, Omaha, Neb, or, 807 Main St.. Kansas City, Mo, or, cor. Clark and tiandolph, Chicago, III, FDiriUnC Willing to make a first-class ln I nikliUO come with little trouble, should secure the agency for Our Magic Wall Papei Cleaner, and Our Magic Paint and Carpet Cleaner. They sell themselves. Friends only address for particulars, MAXWELL & 0O 263 Plum St.. Cincinnati, O. A. P, A. SONGSTER. Only One in Existence. -BY- REV. O. E. MURRAY, A. M. B. D. The best collection of Patriot ic M uslc em offered to the public for Patriotic gather ings, homes, schools and all who love our nation. Words and Music, IOO Pages, 102 Songs, Price 29 Cents, Postpaid. FOR SALE BY THE AMERICAN. MARIA MONK. Paper Cover 50 Cents. This little volume relates the terrible ex perience of a nun who was confined in the 'Black Nunnery" of Montreal It has prob ably the largest sale of any work of the kind ever published, and several Attempts to Suppress It have been made. The price In cloth li 1100, and in paper SO cents. For sale by AMERICAN PUBLISHING CO., 1615 Howard Street, Omaha, Neb mam bi.. ivansas uity. mo. Fifty Years Chureh of Rome. Br BEV. CHAS. CHINIQDY. This Is a standard work on Romanism and Its secret workings, writran bv one who ought to know. The story of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln by the paid tools of the Konian Catholic Church Is told in a clear and convincing manner. It also relates man tacts regarding the practices of priests and nuns In the convents and monasteries. It has 834 12mo. pages, and is 9ent postpaid oa receipt of 2 , by AMERICAN PUBLI8H- 1NU cu., ibis Howard Street, Omaha Neb, or, uor. uiarK ana Kandolpb. Chicago, 111. PATRIOTIC LITERATURE. Send Ten Cents in 8ilvtr For Samples. The Most Useful Ever Published Instructive and to the Point. ALLNEWf? ADDRESS: THE PATRIOTIC TRACT CO. Look Box 34, Station Ea CLEVELAND, OHIO. FOOTPRINTS OF THE JESUITS. R how. R. w. THOSFSOS, iii-ttecretarr of the Navy, Author of " Tlie Papacy and the Civil Power." A judicial study of the Origin, Principles and Progress of the "Society of Jesus," espe cially as It stands related to Civil Government. Octavo. Cloth. 609 pages, with Portrait of Author. Price, post-paid, 11.75. CRANSTON A t'lRTSj, Publisher. Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Loula, for INDIAN TERRITORf, THE CHEROKEE STRIP, iOKLAHOMA, FT.SMITH, LITTLE ROCK and HOTSPRINGS. ARK Ticket Cffiet, I. E. Cornet 13th and Farnim Bti for vauRUS rity Ull 1, ST. LOUIS points1 SOUTH and SOUTHEAST. Ticket Office, I.E. turner ISla tti Farm. Vj