WISCONSIN JOURNAL OF EDUCATION.

VOL. II.

AUGUST, 1857.

NO. 2.

TO THE TEACHERS OF THE UNITED STATES.

THE eminent success which has attended the establishment and operations of the several State Teachers' Associations in this country, is the source of mutual congratulations among all friends of Popular Education. To the direct agency and the diffused influence of these Associations, more, perhaps, than to any other cause, are due the manifest improvements of schools in all their relations, the rapid intellectual and social elevation of teachers as a class, and the vast development of public interest in all that concerns the education of the young.

That the State Associations have already accomplished great good, and that they are destined to exert a still broader and more beneficent influence, no wise observer will deny.

Believing that what has been done for States by State Associations, may be done for the whole country by a National Association, we, the undersigned, invite our fellow teachers throughout the United States to assemble in Philadelphia, on the 26th day of August next, for the purpose of organizing a NATIONAL TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION.

We cordially extend this invitation to all practical teachers in the North, the South, the East and the West, who are willing to unite in a general effort to promote the educational welfare of our country, by concentrating the wis dom and power of numerous minds, and by distributing among all the accumulated experiences of all; who are ready to devote their energies and contribute of their means to advance the dignity, respectability and usefulness of their calling; and who, in fine, believe that the time has come when the teachers of the nation should gather into one great Educational Brotherhood.

As the permanent success of any Association depends very much upon the auspices of attending its establishment, and the character of the organic laws VOL. II.

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it adopts, it is hoped that all parts of the Union will be largely represented

at the inauguration of the proposed enterprise.

T. W. VALENTINE, Pres't. of N. Y. State Teachers' Association.

IN the different professions, preparation of a scientific and thorough character is requisite to both standing and success.

The lawyer must pass years in severe study, making himself familiar not only with the law, but also with the ancient languages before he is consid ered as properly prepared for his business.

The physician must go through a thorough course in study, acquainting himself not only with the theory and practice of medicine, but also with kindred sciences before he can be permitted to reap the benefit of his profession. On the other hand, the teacher may at once enter on his responsible calling, with only a doubtful knowledge of the first principles of education, and with neither genius nor application sufficient to rightly teach even that little.

It is true, the lawyer and the physician are often called upon to perform duties that require the highest knowledge and skill, but compared with those that press upon the teacher they are, after all, though more imposing, much less important. They are required to look at the present advantage of the individual, while the teacher must look to the development and welfare of the community itself. They look inainly at temporal interests, while the teacher directs his efforts to the promotion of those interests which are to affect the soul throughout eternity.

And in the prosecution of his work, he is to toil as patiently and undergo as many trials as they, having always need of a steadfastness like that of the deep-rooted oak, and never faili g in the exercise of that most manly of virtues.

These facts warrant the position that no person should enter upon the call

ing of the teacher without carefully considering the duties and responsibilities that will devolve upon him, and, more than all, carefully examining the motives which actuate him in the selection. With the teacher the question, "What manner of spirit am I of?" or, "Why am I a teacher?" should neither be the last nor least soberly and severely put to his own heart; and it is one to which he should demand an honest and consistent reply. It is a question, too, that should be asked by every one officially or otherwise interested in the welfare of our youth, or the prosperity of our schools; and he who by a thoughtless reply or a studied evasion, escapes the issue, escapes it but to the dishonor of his profession. For to look no farther than to this one thought, who would trust the polishing of a diamond to the cominon laborer? Who would risk the life of a beloved friend to the impudent quack? Who would commit his liberty and life to the counsels and pleadings of a stupid advocate? Why, then, should the most precious interests of the young intellect and the yet innocent heart be confided to one who can neither give an intelligent nor consistent reason for his being a teacher?

Hence, then, the question is, "Why are you a teacher?" You, young woman, "why are you a teacher?" Is it because you consider teaching more honorable than domestic labor? Have you chosen teaching because, requiring your attention only six hours of the day, it gives you more time for mere social pleasure than you could otherwise obtain? Have you chosen it because you may use it to introduce yourself into higher walks of life than would otherwise be open to you? If either of these motives have determined you in the selection, you have mistaken your calling, and the sooner you withdraw from it the better, not only for you but for all those who are entrusted to your care. You are holding places of trust you are unworthy to occupy.

Young man, have you ever asked yourself this question, "Why am I a teacher?"

Is it because it is easier to teach than to battle with life "out of doors" amidst the snows of winter, or because, intending to follow some other business for life, this will enable you to fill up a few unoccupied months? Is it because you expect to make teaching only a stepping-stone to some more lucrative office? or is it because you expect by teaching to accumulate wealth?

If so, then, you, too, are condemned as unfit for your high calling, and your assumption of it is but a base usurpation of privilege.

But if any have chosen teaching with a high determination to make themselves worthy the confidence of their patrons, and the love of their pupils; if they have chosen it because they find it a constant source of pleasure, to see the young mind expanding and the young heart growing under their efforts; if they have chosen it with the sincere desire of truly serving their country and their God, in the training of the young, then may such be sure that they have found their work, and it will both honor them and be honored of them.

And there is a wealth of reward in reserve for such teachers. It is that

which springs from the consciousness of having labored to promote human happiness, and of having pursued this noblest object from the noblest motives.

Possessing this wealth, such may lay aside "the glass through which we now see darkly," and the bright vista of the future will be opened to their imaginations, through which will appear no appalling vision to "make them shudder and grow sick at heart," but rather one of surpassing beauty and attractiveness far more to be coveted than magisterial power or princely possession.

From the Ohio Journal of Education.

THOUGHTS ON ABSENTEEISM, AND THE POWERS WHICH TEACHERS POSSESS TO ENABLE THEM TO PREVENT IT.

EXPERIENCE has so frequently verified the assertion, "as is the Teacher so will be the school," that it may be regarded as an established scholastic axiom.

The Teacher is to the school as the galvanic battery to the apparatus in connection with it: be the mechanism ever so good or only just in working order, when the battery is weak it is hopeless to expect an active exhibition of the principles sought to be illustrated; while a powerful battery, even though in connection with imperfect apparatus, will often evolve highly valuable and interesting phenomena. So where a Teacher lacks energy; if placed in a good school, but a limited amount of good is produced; while if placed in a bad one, each only adds to the total failure of the other.

So much has been said about absenteeism that it is not contemplated in the present article to enlarge the catalogue of evils of which it is the prolific parent. Our late State Commissioner (1 An. Rep. p. 42,) thus ably and comprehensively sums them up, and more could not well be said. "Absenteeism is then one of the worst evils under which our schools labor. From a good school it takes away its best influence, and a poor one it renders worse than worthless. Like the worm at the root of a tender flower, it eats away all life from the system and leaves it but a dried and useless stalk."

It may not be without profit to examine whether Superintendents and Teachers laboring with them, do not possess such resources as, judiciously applied, would tend so far to eradicate the evil as to make it no longer a serious obstacle to the success of public education.

It would extend the present article too much, to examine in this connection whether the regulation adopted in many schools, "that pupils who are absent a definite time during a stated period shall be excluded from the privileges of the public schools," is a beneficial one. This might be dis

cussed with great advantage at our approaching meeting at Steubenville. Few Boards of Education appear to possess nerve enough to resolve that pupils shall come regularly or they shall not come at all, and leave to the parents the choice; and even if they do possess that nerve, it is certainly not yet a settled question that this exclusion is the best course to be taken. It is proposed at present to consider how far energetic Superintendents and Teachers can succeed in eradicating absenteeism by a judicious application of the powers usually delegated to them by Boards of Education.

In the first place, there are two kinds of absenteeism-that which arises from truancy, and that which arises from the parent's consent. The former is hardly included in the present article. Few Boards of Education, and, we presume few parents, will object to a Teacher's breaking up truancy in a summary manner.

It may fairly be presumed, also, that in the present enlightened state of public opinion in regard to education, there are no Boards of Education, having the guardianship and control over village schools, who will refuse to enact that every pupil having been absent from school shall, upon returning, present to the Teacher a written excuse for such absence, signed by the parent. This will speedily lead to the detection of truancy.

It will then become the Teacher's duty to hedge in absenteeism with so many barriers that the pupils shall not only find it unpleasant to be absent, but shall find it difficult to reinstate themselves after they shall have been away. This will make absenteeism unpopular with a large class of scholars, and that is a step towards making it unpopular in a community.

In the first place, let Teachers endeavor to educate the public mind to hostility to irregular attendance.

This may be done by occasional contributions to the local papers upon the subject. By a judicious selection and publication of prominent cases in which pupils have seriously compromised their scholastic standing by continued absence. Startling facts will not be wanting in any system of schools where the attendance is irregular; unfortunately they are too numerous and too palpable to even a superficial examiner. Exhibit judiciously, regularly attending pupils of eight, nine or ten years, rapidly overtaking and leaving behind irregularly attending scholars several years older. Publish such facts and statistics as would tend to encourage in their constancy those who send regularly; while those who are indifferent about the regular attendance of their children will feel such home truths so forced upon them as to make them uneasy under the infliction. Make absenteeism and the difficulties arising from the practice of it, the subject of conversation, citing instances where individuals have suffered from it. Keep a private memorandum of the worst cases, so that the memory may be refreshed, and when the parents of such cases are met, they may be addressed upon the subject. While this education of public opinion is going on, let Superintendents and Teachers enact and quietly carry out such a course of executive policy in their schools as will naturally and inevitably tend to make irregularity hateful and regularity desirable to the scholars. It is not necessary that