The Country Boy's Creed Delivered at Morgan County Institute, Martinsville, Indiana, September 5th, by Fred Gladden, General Assistant in State Department. Fellow Teachers :: I am glad of the opportunity to be with you on this occasion. The County Institute is a time of taking stock of our mental accounts and an invoice on our enthusiasm and energy for the work which lies before us. The County Institute is, to my mind, very similar to a bank or savings and trust company. We may not withdraw more than we deposit. If we, as teachers, bring nothing to the County Institute save a passive attitude or worse yet, stolid indifference toward the work there, we will be none the better by having attended its sessions. If, on the other hand, we come in the right attitude, the right spirit—and it is indeed the spirit that maketh alive—we will go away at the end of the week enriched in mind and bettered in every way by the County Institute. Fellow teachers, we are passing through what is perhaps the most critical period in the history of our nation. The cross of war lies heavily upon us. The cross of war sometimes lies in the pathway of a nation's duty, and cannot be evaded without turning aside from right. We are at war because we believe in freedom, in righteousness and in humanity. We are at war because we, as a nation, have the same honor to preserve, protect and defend as we have as individuals. We are at war because the haughty insolence of autocracy has outraged, insulted and besmirched the honor of our country. War has come to us, under God's providence, neither to enrich us nor to impoverish us, but to test us and to bring out the best or worst that is in our hearts. War is never a blessing nor is it a curse in itself. But it is always a sacrifice. It is always the heaviest cross that a nation is ever called upon to bear. The lover of peace does not betray or forsake his love when he accepts the sole condition on which it can be made secure. There are some things in the world which we can only have when we are willing to make the greatest sacrifice of all. There are some services which can be rendered only through pain and suffering and sacrifice. We are, therefore, face to face with the greatest opportunity which has ever come to us as teachers. We must discharge faithfully and fully the double obligation which we owe to childhood and to the nation. The September days bring us the time this year to return to service as our soldiers go to war. It is our duty to labor, to consecrate ourselves more completely to our school work this year than ever before. With our nation going through a great travail, it is our duty to make our school work more efficient and more vital to the lives of the children than ever before. We must approach our work the coming year with a full appreciation of the seriousness of our business and the magnitude of our task. As health is the greatest asset of any nation, it is one of our tasks to conserve this in the individual. I would, therefore, ask that you, as teachers the coming year, devote especial attention to the matter of sanitation in the school. The matters of ventilation and heating should be especially watched by the teacher. A great proportion of the children attend school m the country and with ordinary care the perils of contagious diseases are not nearly so great as in the city. Life in the country is free and more natural and it should follow that health should be a thing more easily conserved there than in the city. I suggest that teachers in rural schools have their pupils memorize "The Country Boys' Creed." The Country Boys' Creed. "I believe that the country which God made is more beautiful than the city which man made, that life out-of-doors and in touch with the earth is the natural life of man. I believe that work is work wherever we find it, but that work with Nature is more inspiring than work with the most intricate machinery. I believe that the dignity of labor depends not on what you do, but how you do it; that opportunity comes to a boy on the farm as often as to a boy in the city; that life is larger and freer and happier on the farm than in town, that my success depends not upon my location, but upon myself-not upon my dreams, but upon what I actually do, not upon luck, but pluck. I believe in working when you work and in playing when you play and in giving and demanding a square deal in every act of life." Above all things else, see that the children have their playtime. It is a God given right of childhood and must not be denied them. I think that every teacher ought to make all recesses and intermission just about as long as the Trustee and public opinion will stand for. I think the saddest thing in all the world is a child that never had a playtime. The playtime means so much to the child. It conserves his health and for that reason his happiness. Make the recess periods long and save the child's health. The Department desires that teachers follow the course of study in so far as applicable and practicable. But it is not like the law of the Medes and Persians, something which is inflexible and arbitrary. Secure the closest cooperation possible with your patrons. Without this cordial relationship between teacher and patrons, there cannot be a maximum of efficiency attained. It is only too true that the success of a school is often measured by the sympathy of its supporters. In the school room the matter of punishments for disobedience often arises. Here is where there is need for good judgment and great caution on the part of the teacher. In the main, corporal punishment should be avoided but there are always children, just as there are nations, to whom physical force makes a stronger appeal than reason. There may be a German or two in your school. One thing that a teacher can and should avoid altogether is sarcasm. It is a two-edged sword. It can serve no good purpose and often causes wounds which can never be healed. Teachers sometimes say sarcastic things when children answer questions incorrectly. To such teachers I would commend this answer to a question which was found in several teachers' manuscripts in the Manuscript Department this summer. "Astigmatism is an infectious disease and can be controlled by vaccination," or this, "I do not know who wrote Daffodils' and no one near me seems to know." Verily the child may be fully as fallible as the teacher and sarcasm will not avail. After all the school exists for the child and not the child for the school. It is therefore the duty of the 20,000 teachers who are to instruct the 600,000 school children to set before them correct ideas. It is for all of us to make the very most of the opportunities which shall be ours for the coming year. We must gird ourselves with a stronger faith than ever before for our task. We must bind the children to us by the ties of a closer brotherhood. These children are in a great training camp and we are their instructors. We must teach them not only text books, but eternal truths. We must train them so well that when our work shall cease, we may lay in heir hands a commission for definite service. The three cardinal virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity are necessary in their lives, but equally important at this time are the virtues of loyalty, patriotism and service. These little children, these little rays of sunshine and hope-verily the "Frget-me-nots of the Angels," are in our care. We must teach them their books, but more important than these, the lessons of sacrifice and service. We must train them so that they, as well as the soldiers, may serve their country in its time of need and in its hour of peril. Fellow teachers, there is not one among us who can dip into the future and know what that future has in store for these little children. They are the citizens of the coming morrow. In closing may I quote a few lines about these same children from an Indiana Author? "Those who toil bravely are strongest; The humble and poor become great; And so from these brown-handed children Shall grow mighty rulers of state. The pen of the author and statesman- The sword, and the chisel, and palette THE TOWNSHIP INSTITUTE THIRD MONTH The Meaning of Education S. P. Hutton, Marion Normal Institute. CHAPTER V. 1. The quantitative ideal of education is an ideal held by many people of several centuries ago. Some few seem to hold similar ideals today. According to this ideal, education is a measurable quantity. Human learning is "a substantial and measurable quantity to be acquired and possessed." It held that all knowledge could be summed up, brought together in, say one book, and learned as facts. For example, according to this ideal one's education is to be measured by the number of languages studied, or the number of sciences, etc. The falacy of this ideal is evident when we consider that some of the greatest scholars are almost wholly ignorant in many fields of knowledge. The fields of knowledge are too vast and too numerous to be even attempted by one mind. Learning, memorizing, facts from these fields is not learning, not education, though often mistaken for it. It 2. The mother tongue should be the basis of all education. should hold first place. Giving the mother tongue this prominent place in education is a recent, a new idea. Only thirty or forty years ago most of our leading colleges and universities offered almost no courses in English. At this time most of the college courses in English were not, in any sense, equal to a present day high school course. 3. "As second evidence of an education I name those refined and gentle manners which are the expression of fixed habits of thought and action." "Manners are behavior and good breeding." The trouble with too many of us is, our manners for special occasions are like our Sunday clothes, put on for special occasions only. The really cultured man is he whose manners are on all occasions and at all times, cultured and refined. That is, habitual. In this respect it is easy to distinguish the sham, the veneered manners of the rough and uncultured from the really habitually refined. "Manners have a moral significance, and find their basis in that true and deeper self-respect which is built upon respect for others." Nothing so clearly distinguishes the educated from the uneducated as manners. More, too many of us are really ignorant as to just what good manners are. 4. Reflection, as used by the author, means to think. It means to ask ourselves questions, trace "events back to causes and forward to purposes.' It means to relate facts, causes, results, purposes, etc. Facts are gathered by observation and these facts are compared, hence reflected upon, to arrive at other facts or results. Instinct is an inborn tendency to act in a certain way under certain conditions. There is no thought or mind control, hence no reflection in instinct. The way to learn to run, is to practice running. The way to learn to think, to reflect, is to practice it, form a habit of reflection. Read, study, observe, gather facts and think (reflect) on these facts. Trace causes, results, arrive at new conclusions and purposes from a study of facts. Form the habit like other habits are formed. "The question how, whose answer is science, and the question why, whose answer is philosophy, are the beginning of reflection." The mind must be free from all tradition, free from custom and local beliefs to make headway in reflection. 5. The mind grows by doing something. It grows by thinking. The arm is strengthened, developed by use. It grows oy use. The mind is very similar-it grows by use, by thinking, not by being filled with facts. Facts give us information, thinking gives us education, or mental growth. "He who never changes his opinions is dead." To grow one must constantly change one's opinions. All opinions must be held tentatively, that is, held and accepted only till better ones may be found. This is the essence, the basis of all progress. When we cease to change our opinions we cease to progress. The author cites Gladstone, who was leader of the Tories in 1838, and changed to leader of the antiTories later on in life. Unless we are able, likewise, to change our iews, heroically, politically, religiously, etc., we are dead. We cease to grow. Hence, the evidence of growth. If the author is correct, and he undoubtedly is, then most of us are dead. The teacher might think on these things with much profit to themselves. The children who are being taught might profit by these reflections on the part of the teacher. 6. Efficiency means the power to do. The ability to do a thing the best and most economic way. "No reception without reaction, no impression without correlative expression. This means we do not know a thing until we have expressed it. To know a thing we must tell it, or do it, and this is the psychological basis of efficiency. The moral asis is, we must do, morals in order to be moral. No amount of preaching to people or children will make them good or moral, they must be induced to do some good or moral act. If preachto people would or could make them moral the preacher would have had us all saved years ago. To become morally efficient we must get a moral idea then carry that idea out into a moral act of some kind. This is the moral basis of efficiency. The social basis is the same as the moral-carry our social ideas out into social action or acts. 66 7. The five characteristics of an educated man are correctness and precision in the use of the mother tongue; refined and gentle manner which are the expression of fixed habits of thought and action; ! |