conflicts and in touch with the great throbbing life of the race. Excuses for Failure.-The unsuccessful teacher will have many excuses for his failure. "It was a hard school." "The school board did not support me." "The parents did not make their children mind." "The last teacher had let the pupils do as they pleased." These are sample excuses of the teachers who fail. And it is possible that one failure in twenty may be due to some cause outside of the school-room and the teacher. But it is doubtless true that in nearly all cases of failure the fault is in the teacher. With better scholarship, better method, more tact, greater force of character, and a proper conception of the teacher's work there would have been no failure. No Impossible Ideal.-In these chapters on the "making of a teacher" no impossible ideal has been presented. It has not been assumed that the task of making one's self a teacher is a short one or an easy one. Nor has it been implied that a young man or a young woman should master all wisdom, virtue, and knowledge before beginning the work of teaching. Progress in scholarship has been insisted upon, professional training has been emphasized, the necessity for studying children has been pointed out, growth in personality, common-sense, and character has been explained-all these things have been shown to be possible, not for the chosen few only, but for all teachers everywhere. No one can justly expect that all teachers, or any teacher, shall be endlessly patient, free from mistakes, always perfectly just, a miracle of good temper, unfailingly tactful, and unerring in knowledge. But people have a right to expect that all teachers shall have fairly accurate scholarship, some professional training, average mental ability, moral character, some aptness to teach, and that they shall covet earnestly the best gifts. These things the public should demand of the teacher. And through intelligent purpose and study, through steady effort and constant upward-striving, these things are possible of attainment by every teacher. Importance of the Teacher's Work.-There is no doubt that there are thousands of children in our schools to-day who, if they come into real living contact with an inspiring, sympathetic, capable teacher, will be a power to influence their fellow-men. But without such contact and inspiration their powers will lie dormant, the favorable time for learning will pass, their brains will become less plastic, and they will be doomed to live on a low intellectual plane, all the time conscious that life might have been so different. A business man of very meagre education, but worth a hundred thousand dollars, once said to me: "I would give every cent I am worth if I could go back and get a good education." The teacher must help the pupil to discover himself. Otherwise the pupil may repeat in his own life the tragedy described in Gray's "Elegy": "Some mute, inglorious Milton here may rest, SUGGESTED READINGS Oppenheim, "Mental Growth and Control," chaps. I and XII; Drummond, "The Alchemy of Influence"; Raymont, "The Principles of Education," chap. XVIII; Morgan, "Studies in Pedagogy," chap. XVIII; Seeley, "The Foundations of Education," chap. XXIII; Barnett, "Common Sense in Education and Teaching," chap. XII. PART II THE TEACHER AS ORGANIZER CHAPTER V NATURE AND IMPORTANCE OF SCHOOL ORGANIZATION The Five Phases of the Teacher's Work.-Organization, management, instruction, training, and discipline are the five main functions of the teacher. In a broad sense all of these processes are included under the term School Management or School Economy. In rural schools, all five of these functions are combined in one and the same teacher; and this is also true of small graded schools. In large graded schools, in which the law of the division of labor can be applied, a teacher may perform only one or two of these functions. One teacher may be set apart to give his entire time and attention to organization and management, while other teachers give their whole time to instruction. But in every case where a teacher has charge of a room, or grade, of thirty to fifty boys and girls, that teacher must unite within himself the offices of organizer, manager, instructor, trainer, and ruler. In the daily work of the school these functions blend and mingle, moving forward together; but for the purpose of clear discussion the lines of division between them must be observed. Organization Must Come First.-Organization must prepare the way for all the other work of the teacher and the school. Without it proper instruction, training, and discipline are impossible. The great law of school organization is the law of co-operation. The object of organization is to make this law effective. To organize a school is to bring all the classes represented in the school, all the educational forces of the community, into such relations of harmony, union, and efficiency that the aims of the school may be fully realized. Raymont says: "Organization signifies, in general, the arrangement of the parts of a complex whole with a view to its smooth and effective working." A school is organized when the pupils are properly classified and graded and all the work of the school is definitely arranged and programmed. The objects of organization are (1) to secure steady and productive work from each member of every class all the time; (2) to remove friction, prevent confusion, forestall disorder, and save time and energy; (3) to make universal education possible by enabling one teacher to instruct efficiently many pupils in one class; (4) to afford pupils the opportunity of forming right habits; (5) to secure the prompt despatch of the business of the school. A school is well organized and well managed when it is ready to do effective work, when the conditions for study and recitation are made as favorable as possible for every pupil, when the interest and hearty co-operation of the school board, the parents, and the taxpayers have been secured, when there is perfect sympathy between teacher and pupils, and when the arrangement of the work of the school tends to promote in the pupils diligent study, selfeffort, right ideals, and self-control. The Teacher's Share in Organizing the School.-A portion of the work included under school organization the teacher usually finds already accomplished. Much of this preparatory work has been done by the State, the school officers, and the taxpayers. Thus the teacher usually finds ready at hand school buildings, a course of study, a library, apparatus, text-books, rules and regulations. Of course all of these things are of no avail unless the teacher has the skill to combine them and use them to advantage in the daily work of instruction. The teacher's share in organization includes the classification and grading of pupils, making the programme, arranging signals, determining promotions, looking after the hygienic conditions and the seating, making minor rules and regulations as to regularity, tardiness, hall order, leaving the room, care of books and materials. Importance of the Teacher's Work as Organizer.-The success of the school depends very greatly upon the wisdom and thoroughness with which the teacher performs his part in the organization of the school. Defective organization results in tremendous educational waste and is one of the most common causes of failure in the management of schools. Baldwin says: "I have visited more than a thousand country schools and have not found one in twenty well organized. Many of the worst organized schools I have found in the hands of teachers claiming from five to forty years of experience. Most of these proved to be the selfsufficient, all-sufficient, inefficient kind that can learn nothing from others." Organization puts each pupil in his proper place, assigns to each class its proper work, secures to each subject its just share of time, and arranges the entire work of the school so as to maintain quiet and order and encourage right conduct. Organization Must be Planned.—The great educational value of good school organization is not appreciated by |