SOCIAL FEATURES.

The teacher should be instructed that his social powers should be improved and cultivated, so that his influence for good may be felt in the home circle, as well as in the schoolroom. He should be taught persistency of purpose, not only in moulding the manners and morals of his pupils, but also that something may be done in this direction for the community, and that this course will tend to secure the co-operation and interest of the patrons and the hearty support of the school officers.

CRITICISMS.

The tendency of many "weak" teachers is to expose their incompetency at the very beginning, by a kind of carping criticism of their predecessors' imaginary failings,-not only this, but they immediately turn their attention to the textbooks in use and harshly censure their authors, the subject matter, the arrangement, etc. The superintendent has a difficult task here, still he should not hesitate to teach these pedantic egotists that it is but a step from the teacher's criticism of predecessor and textbooks to a more severe criticism by pupil and patron of the teacher himself. It will require no ordinary effort to suppress these self-conceited censors, but the superintendent should be equal to the emergency. There is not the slightest necessity in such cases for reserve on his part, neither should he seek for special pretexts; but on the contrary, the most emphatic and absolute frankness will materially assist him in relegating these self-styled "educators" to the plow-handle or corn-shock, or some other equally useful occupation in private life.

FOSSILS.

There are a few teachers of many years' experience in the schoolroom who are gradually growing into stereotyped methods and ruts. These now are rather“ keeping school" than teaching school. Each member of this class confines himself strictly to his own plans and ideas, as if his may be (Squeers like) the one only school in the world. Teachers' Institutes and school journals are held in great contempt. Perhaps, unless a "spelling bee" or "corn husking" chance to bring them together, he never meets his fellow teachers (of like habits) in the adjacent districts, and, when they accidentally do meet, it is only to exchange a surly salutation, and then they immediately retire to their respective burrows, where, under the seductive influence of a "corn-cob pipe siesta," they meditate and dream in peace and quietude upon the hermetical bachelorism of Mr. Pickwick.

Left to the cogitations of his own mind, he wraps himself up in his own ideas, beyond the sacred confines of which he never attempts to venture. Do his ideas chance to be right, so much the better for the school; do they not, so much the worse. Such as they are he intends they shall remain, and, therefore, guards them with zealous care.

No patron or pupil dares to molest him in the citadel of his self-opinion or ventures to inquire into the methods he has adopted, so he is left alone. in his own glory.

It is expected of the active Superintendent that he will entice this. fossil from his den and lead him out into the broad daylight of thought and action, and into the field of investigation-to cultivate in him a spirit. of social friendship and to introduce him to other members of his profession, and to excite between them a feeling of sympathy and common interest that should ever be found existing between co-laborers in the

same cause.

And now without adverting farther to other duties of equal, if not greater importance, to Superintendents and teachers, this paper may be closed with the remark, that the Superintendent is largely responsible for the success or failure of his schools, and for the relative fitness of the teachers selected for their management.

The zealous, devoted Superintendent, wherever he is, or under whatever circumstances he may labor, will go forward with that "persistency of purpose" (elsewhere mentioned) to build up a school system of power and thoroughness, arranging its steps in such order that its laws and principles may be easily seen and adopted, and that its ultimate purpose shall be to lead the minds of teachers and pupils, up to independent thought and investigation; and, beginning with the elements of knowledge, shall end with the acquired force of thinking, and thinking to definite and absolute results. Let him not be satisfied with anything short of a thorough, genuine, mental development, realizing that if he plant the seed in fertile soil, the harvest will never fail.

TEACHERS' INSTITUTES.

BY HON. D. C. TILLOTSON, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, TOPEKA, KANSAS.

I. The teacher has to do with the phase of civilization in which he labors. His work is limited by its requirements.

The present phase of civilization consists of three elements — the social, the political, and the religious. The social element finds expression in the family and civil society; the political element finds expression in the state; and the religious element finds expression in the various forms of worship. Each of these acts and reacts upon the others and itself, creating and eliminating or perpetuating wants and the means of supplying them.

Each family cannot produce the articles it consumes, and in the course of ages barter rises to the dignity of commerce. Each family cannot cure the ills it inherits and acquires and the grandam's simples make way for the science of medicine. The administration of justice has become such an elaborate machine that the profession of the law finds profit and honor at her bar. The complex conditions of living require much preparation to fit the individual for the duties and responsibilities of life. This preparation includes both secular and religious instruction. The family not being qualified to give this instruction, two classes of teachers are required the school teacher and the preacher. The duty of each is to supplement the efforts of the family,-in no sense to usurp its functions. If the family was capable of fitting its members for all the duties of life, the services of the school teacher and of the preacher could be dispensed with. Hence, instruction should be given in those subjects in which the family is least capable of giving instruction; and the lower the typical family, the nearer it comes to being absorbed into civil society, the greater the dependence upon those engaged in instruction. The student of history is deeply impressed with the position the family has held in different ages and countries. At present the supremacy and importance of the family is recognized among the Germanic races more fully than among any others. The integrity of the family is jealously guarded by all English speaking people, especially by those most deeply imbued with our household wisdom. This makes it the duty of all those engaged in instruction to emphasize the fact that the family is the most important

element of our civilization. The highest family type is that which most nearly fits its members for the duties of life, the lowest that which does the least to fit its members for the duties of life. The special function of the teaching profession is to develop and perpetuate the highest family type.

If my premises are correct, the person who undertakes the work of a teacher should be a student of home life. He should particularly observe the subjects of instruction in the family and the methods used. Rousseau and Froebel acquired renown and have done much good by studying the simple manners of the common people. This is the field white for the harvest.

II. Each profession requires of its members special preparation to accomplish a special work. This preparation should be made before entering the profession. In the United States, the remuneration is so small, and the tenure of office so uncertain, that the body of our teachers are of immature years and attempt to prepare themselves for the duties of their profession after beginning its work.

This creates a demand for the normal school and the teachers' institute, and the duty of the profession, that of supplementing home efforts, indicates what should be expected of them. The want of special training is in a measure supplied by the instruction in the common school, under competent teachers. Those who have received such instruction are not wholly unprepared for teaching.

The teachers' institute derives special value from the fact that it may reach every community in the country. Each state must be the judge of what is required to make up for previous training on the part of those engaged in teaching. The wants of one county or city will differ in some degree from every other county or city. Hence, exact uniformity in the organization and work of teachers' institutes is not only unnecessary, but undesirable.

By training I do not mean the acquirement of a stock of clever drill devices alone, but the acquisition of habits of thought which will enable the teacher to work along those lines of effort in harmony with the wants of the community, and of a creditable stock of "book learning."

III. The institute is the measure of the want of training, also the measure of the mental activity of the teachers of a given community. Its function is a dual one,- to accomplish certain things for the teachers themselves and to accomplish certain things for the community at large rather for each of the families forming the community. As to themselves we may observe,

1. The interchange of opinions among those engaged in any calling is always recognized as of great value. As one diamond is polished by another, so one mind is quickened by contact with another.

2. Every teacher should be well informed as to the principles of instruction and control. The institute gives an opportunity to extend our information. If judiciously managed it gives the opportunity "to weed out" patent methods and other excrescences that develop in the profession. How does the child acquire information? and how does it reach conclusions? He who pays attention to any subject will learn. How can we command the attention? He who repeats or intensifies the impression upon the mind made by attention will remember. How can we secure the repetition or intensify the impression? Those who learn and remember will reason as naturally as they breathe. How can we direct the mind in reasoning so it will accept the true and reject the false? Here is food for reflection for many days.

We have heard much of school government, but very little of the principles of control. In every community there are leaders both among children and adults, a leadership recognized and accepted. What constitutes the elements of leadership? One schoolgirl aspiring to be a teacher, demurely enters the schoolroom and reigns a queen. Another fails to command either the confidence or respect of her pupils. Why the success of the one and failure of the other? What better place than the institute to consider these questions?

3. The social advantages of the institute should not be neglected. Persons in the same calling with similar tastes and habits of thought can here enjoy a brief respite from the isolation of the schoolroom. It is an opportunity that comes but once a year and should receive the attention it deserves.

4. A large number of our teachers need instruction in academical branches. The institute, in many parts of the country must do something to supply this need. To even attempt a review of academical work requires at the least, several weeks' time. The institute which lasts but a day or two can do nothing in this direction.

5. The educational value of the institute upon the community in which it is held, should receive earnest consideration on the part of those in charge. In many communities we find a settled conviction that teachers are a class of impracticables, full of wild theories and opinionated to the last degree. And teachers sometimes reciprocate the feeling to their own injury. The institute can be made a field in which each can form a more just estimate of the other, in which parents may learn that no profession contains more of self denial, more desire to help their fellows, than that of the teacher, and in which the teacher may learn that parents have but one chief object in life, that of caring for their children. Each may differ from the other as to the best and most appropriate methods of expressing these characteristics; but the acquaintance would cause each to respect the other more.