PROF. T. R. Me AN ALLY SAYS
TEACHERS ARE THEIR OWN
MOST RELENTLESS CRITICS.
MANY FALL INTO ROUTINI
Young Folks Should Re I aught t»
Think and Act for Themselves In
stead of Merely Crammed Will
Multitude of Facts.
“Educational Unrest” was the sub
ject of an interesting address last Fri
day afternoon in the high school audi
torium before the Parent-Teachers
association by Professor T. II. Me
Anally, public school superintendent.
Professor MeAr.ally discussed tin
charge that the modern education i:
-resDonsibie for the iailuve in life o
many public school and college grad
uates. Not an inconsiderable part o
this condition he ascribed to lacultj
methods of instruction. He said:
“For the past few years the column;
of our magazine and newspapers luiv<
been full of criticisms of the Americai
public school system. Criticism o
public schools lias become a lad.
Most Relentless Critics.
“And strange to relate, the most re
lentless critics have been the teacher
themselves. It is claimed that higl
school graduates are inefficient am
that college students are frivolous
That much of this adverse criticism i:
well founded may be freely granted
The question then naturally arises
why does such condition exist? T<
this question there will be a.^ man;
different answers as there are indi
viduals to attempt a reply.
“In my humble opinion one reasoi
for this widespread waste of publi
school and college opportunity lies ii
the fact that those charged with tin
instruction ox boys and girls both ii
high school and colleges are, in a vas
majority of cases, scholars rather thai
teachers. We are unfortunately dom
inated by the idea of scholarship—
the acquisition of knowledge instea<
of clinging to the true theory of edu
cation which is the development o
power.
Entrusted to Scholars.
“We Americans have been curious!
content to trust the education of yout
to scholars. Teachers in the grades
instructors in the high school, and col
lege professors are chosen from thos
who know how to learn instead o
tl se who know how to teach. A nor
irml diploma, often based largely upo
academic work, the degree of bache
lor of science, master of arts, or doc
tor of philosophy, is considered proo
positive that its possessor is an a<i
mirable teacher. Even so high a
authority as Professor Andrew \\
Phillips, dean of the graduate sell or
of Yale university, once remarked, t
me in course of conversation that h
was not able to understand how i
could be possible for a man to know ;
thing and not to be able to teach tha
thing. Yet it is a common observatioi
that oftimes those who wore the poor
est students in high school and col
leges make the best teachers, and vie
versa. Indeed, many who have dis
tinguished themselves in their acad
emic work as honor pupils make mis
•erable failures when they attempt t<
teach.
“Now it doos not follow that al
mo'11' students make good teachers no
that all good students make poo
teachers. But it does follow tha
knowledge and ability to teach do no
necessarily go together. Of course ,
successful teacher must know his sub
ject.
Ignorance Cannot Teach.
“No matter how skillful as an in
structor one may be he cannot teacl
that which he himself does not know
It is, however, my contention that th
fact that one does comprehend a sub
ject in all its relations is not evoi
prima facia evidence that he can Leac!
that subject successfully. Most teach
ers are scholars so far as comprehend
ing the particular work in hand h
concerned but the reverse is by n<
means true—most sebo'ai’S aix ..
teachers.
“Teachers in general are intereste.
in gaining the approval of their stu
dents and usually make a conscien
tious effort to impart a certain amount
of more or less useful information.
But few teachers make any serious
effort to teach. W’e who are charged
with the training of young minds are
» not training them. We do not develop
the minds under us. We seldom pre
tend to do so. Instead of teaching the
students to do their own thinking and
! become self-relying men and women,
i we talk down to them from a great
i
► distance. This vice of scholarship is
■ found all through our educational sys
i ten’. The form is different but the
evil is the same.
Should Develop Minds.
“It is the false notion that what
'1 education is for is to make scholars
■ 1 instead of to develop minds, to cram
v minds with facts rather than to wake
‘ them up so they will gather facts for
| themselves. We talk glibly enough
about how the thing ought to be done
j but when we enter the class room and
' attempt to nut out theories into prac
tice. we throw nedasroirv to the wind
i and proceed to ram it in, cram it in,
earn it m, jam it. in—any way to get
it in, because there’s more to follow.
‘‘The highest aim of the teacher
should be to inspire interest. I have
always insisted that any subject, liow
i ever dry, may be made intensely in
teresting to the class. If it is not
made so the fault lies with the teach
er. What we ought to strive for is not
' scholarship but appreciation and
’ therefor power. An ounce of appre
1 edition in algebra, latin, physics, his
I tory, or English is worth many pounds
• | of learning. The letter kideth but the
?' spirit giveth life. Once bring a pupil
• to see the real beauty of a poem and
• watch how he will take to reading
’ poetry for himself. Once get him to
fee! and love the personality of an
■ author and watch, him plough through
: that author’s works. Once make him
1 realize something of the power and
-, beauty of words and he will soon be
1 him own critic. Scholars may impart
’ knowledge but only teachers can in
1 spire the youthful mind,
t-j ‘‘It has been my observation that
1 even the average norma! school teach
- er does little or no teaching. Ho aims
- to instruct his charges how they shall
*• proceed when they themselves go out
• to enter upon the active duties of the
> amateur pedagogue. In many cases
he employes the rote, cram, hit-or
miss, text-book method while at the
same time he wisely advises his pupils
-) that when they in turn become teach
ers they should not do as he has done
. but as he has taught them to do. He
r, fails utterly to grasp the important
f psychological principle that, teachers
. teach as they are taught and not as
t they are taught to teach. It is a pain
. iu! fact that sonic of the poorest
. teaching found throughout our whole
f educational system is being done in
. the normal schools. It necessarily fol
t lows that we have little true teaching
in our common schools and almost
] none above the primary grades where
, interest is necessarily made the eardi
. nal virtue. If the same effort were
r made to apply pedagogical methods
1 throughout the grades, the high
t schools, the college, and, indeed, the
! university, that is done in the kinder
- garten and primary departments, our
- educational system would be revolu
2 tionized, and our schools would become
- vital, living things.
Very Little Encouragement.
“Moreover, there is little encourage
* ment given to correct teaching. It is
even so that the true teacher who at
* tempts to apply common-sense, prac
"; tical methods in his school work, in
r! stead of being commended for his
laudable efforts, is often held up for
criticism and ridicule. The man with
1 an idea is always unpopular. He is a
reformer and as such must war
against the citadels of intrenched au
thority. He must bear his lance full
- fledged against those dragons of pre
1 cedent and regularity that everywhere
. confront him and ever endure the
2 venomous stings of the lesser reptiles
- of malice and envy that lurk in his
i pathway. Thus, unfortunately, it is;
i thus it has ever been and probably
- ever shall be.
“When Froebel discovered the sc
; frets of the mul’s growth, when he
i taught the guardians of childhood te
jud c.idi1 LC* Ji CiiU
gloom and grime of the school iov
tnd into the joyous, strengthening
sunshine of the kindergarten; when he
put a new interpretation upon the
words of the master; suffer little chil
dren to come unto me, when he was
thus smiting the rock from which the
refreshing waters of a new and true
education were to gush forth, making
the arid field of pedagogy to bud the
blossom into a glorious fruitage; when
he in his sublimely simple way was
conferring upon the world this price
j less blessing, he was hissed, hooted at
| and laughed to scorn by his learned
! but arrogant contemporaries. Yet
where is the man to sneer at Froebel
j now ?
Aggassiz Was Ridiculed.
“A few years ago Louis Aggassiz
led a few youthful disciples out to a
little fishing island off the Massachu
setts coast and there did the grandest
educational work the world has seen
since Aristotle taught in the groves of
Athens. Rut the carpet-naturalists
and text-book professors all over the
I land incapable of understanding either I
I Aggassiz or his work visited upon him
j their unstinted ridicule and contempt.
; I3UL wiicjil1 is tm; piugrcfasMve mhwu.
today that docs not employ Aggussizh
method of nature study?
“Many scholarly teachers and learn
ed professors exercise less judgment
in training the minds of the youth of
! our country than does a farmer in
i teaching a boy to plow. Would you
spend a year or so theorizing with a
hoy as to the process of plowing? Or
I would you set him to work under your
careful supervision and let him actual
ly learn that there are roots in the
ground by getting a few warning digs
in the ribs from the plow-handles? Do
you want your hoy to he a 'linguist?
Put him to reading the languages, not
to committing grammars under the di
rection of learned professors. Learn
to plow by plowing; learn to tran.-’ate
latin by translating latin; learn to
speak French by speaking French.;
learn to do a thing by doing that thing
—always under the careful direction
of the true guide, the skillful teacher.
Intellectual Awakening.
“The true teacher aims to acceler
ate the great intellectual awakening
' that is now stirring our country to ;t
spirit of efficiency hitherto unknown,
He would make of books, forms and
formulas a means not an end. lie
hopes to inspire the youth of our land
with that spirit of thoroughness and
love of investigation which leads to
the study of things, not shadows. He
would make of every youth an intelli
trptif. splf-snnnort.inir citizen who can
go out into the world and carve his
way in this great republic without
other capital than that of a trained
hand, a disciplined brain and an hon
i est name.
if we would correct the evils of our
educational system let us educate in
stead of instruct. Let us develop the
mind rather than fill it with facts. Let
us remember that true education is
the development of power, not the ac
quisition of knowledge; and may we
not forget that interest is the key
that unlocks the door to mental
growth. Then let every normal school
teacher be an example, an inspiration
to those under his charge. Let every
class be a normal class, and every re
citation a model recitation. Let every
teacher be not only a normal-trained
teacher but a normal teacher.
1
“Give us more pedagogy in the com
| mon schools; give us more normalism.
i Give us more Forebels and more Ag
| gassizes. (jive us not fewer scholars
but more teachers.
“When we come to employ teachers
; because they can *teaeh and not be
j cause they possess book learning;
j when we insist upon the application of
the same pedagogical principles
throughout the course that are so es
sential in the kindergarten and pri
mary departments; when we come in
practice to regard the mind not as an
organic unity but as a growing ac
tivity; when we practice what we
preach and work in harmony with
rather than in opposition to nature in
the development of the child mind—
then, and not until then, will our edu
cational system be placed on that high
plane where it rightly belongs.”
SMALLEST BIRD KNOWN.
The smallest known bird is a Cen
tral American humming bird that is
-vbout the size of a bluebottle fly.
10EZ PIPER
LAUDS IITIVES
INDIANS LACK KNOWLEDGE 01
DETAILS OF WAR, BUT SUP
PORT IT IN EVERY WAY.
GIVE MONEY AND LABOR
Splendid Organization of Fightinj.
Men for European Front Could B<
Recruited From Alaskan Aborigines
Declares Newspaper.
The Alaskan aborigine is one of tin
best and most patriotic citizen in ex
istence, as regards his sublime fait!
in “Nesike Papa,” the United State:
government, says the Valdez Miner.
With no knowledge of the purpos<
for which his money is to be spent
with no knowledge of the race of met
we are fighting; with no knowledge o
the geographical location of the pres
ent world conflict, he takes all fo:
granted and pungles up “Hihue chichi
min” with the best-blooded Americai
in the territory.
The Alaskan native from Tenakei
to Cape Barrow has shown the mos
loyal and intense patriotism in help
ing the government in its presen
crisis. They have helped knit, heh
meetings, and talked over the wa
question pro and con, and then walke<
forward in a body subscribing thei
last dollar with a magnificent devotioi
to a cause they know nothing of tha
is touching.
Capable of Learning.
The Alaska Indian is capable of ;
high state of civilization if the gov
ernment but recognized the racial dif
ference between them and the plain
Indians of the Fenimore Cooper type
and placed them in a position to lean
the ways of the white man. They ar
sturdy and independent, with a higl
degree of patience in whatever the;
undertake. An Alaskan Indian will
no tools hut th.ose used by his ances
tors generations back, will labor pa
tiently for months to produce an ar
tide a white man with civilized im
plements could make in five minutes
They are wonderful mimics, and poss
ess a rudimentary faculty for draw
ing and sketching articles that is mar
velous.
Can Draw Accurately.
Many an Aleut can sit down am
draw a portrait of a white man or ;
white man’s boat or dog or weapoi
that is a marvel of accuracy. The;
have an inordinate craving for sweet?
and a family will consume a case o
Condensed milk of the Gail Bordei
brand at a sitting. Candy is consum
ed by the pound and sugar by the sacl
at these family potlatches, and as Ions
as their money lasts they stuff to re
pletion on the white man’s dainties.
Their instinct is as keen as an ani
rnal’s. \yithin twenty-four hours afte
the arrival of a cannery steamer fron
the south with the crews and supplie
a swarm of bidarkes will be seen ap
preaching. The manner in which thes'
frail crafts are handled in a heavy se;
is remarkable. Upon landing the pad
dler will divest himself of his cama
linka and step out of the bidarka hole
Family and Dogs in Boat.
His wife will do the same. Childrei
of every size and degree of dirtines;
are drawn from beneath the decks o
their little skin boat, followed by ha I
a dozen dogs. A rude shelter is erect
ed and the nomatls are ready fo
trade. Mukluks, carved ivory, tusk:
and garments of native manufactun
are offered the cannery men, con
stantly descending in price as tin
market falls off, until everything i:
disposed of. Then the orgy of feasting
on sweets begins.
The natives of southwestern Alas
ka live in villages, with good house:
often nicely furnished. Each villagf
represents a tribe with a totem inter
locking with that of some adjacen
tribe from which they sprung. Eacl
village has its constituted authority
vested in a headman, who confers witl
others elected to make the tribal laws
Many of the villages run communistu
canneries, sawmills and stores, an<
display great business acUmen in their
management.
Headmen Are Intelligent.
The headmen are generally intelli
gent and competent to look after the
welfare of their people, and distribute
justice with a fairness and effective
ness that might well be copied by the
white race.
These villages are necessarily or
salt water, as their inhabitants depend
largely upon the annual supply of
fish for their food. Nearly all the In
dians own good gas boats and expert*
in taking care of their motors. The>
are natural mechanics and can dc
' work with primitive tools which can
1 not be surpassed by a white joiner 01
1 metal worker. Most of the natives of
southeastern Alaska dress and live
like the whites, and many of their
' accumulate considerable money b>
their fishing for the canneries,
i Some Make Large Profits.
Many cases have been known where
natives have cleared from two te
five thousand dollars fishing, and the>
are cheerful spenders.
They are anxious and willing te
learn and rapidly adopt white ways
upon contact with Caucasians. Manj
villages the past year have throwr
off old tribal customs and are elect
ing councils and mayors, and running
1 their civic affairs in a model way
Naturally temperate, the natives un
; til taught the use of whisky, used n<
■ intoxicants. With the arrival of th<
' white man and the accompanying in
: toxicants, the natives quickly acquir
* ed a craving for liquor and would g(
to any ends to get it.
Much Good Done.
The government in late years ha:
1 appointed an earnest, conscientiou:
-jbody of m*en to see that the use aru
| sale of intoxicants to natives is sup
pressed, and much good has been
, ! done.
. i A splendid organiation of fighting
men could be recruited among th<
, Alaskan natives. Their patriotic worl
in giving their time and money t<
1 the government without reservatioi
> land without question entitles them t<
1 more generous treatment. The Alas
Jka native has shown that he is behim
!the government heart and soul, am
the war has demonstrated that th<
i American patriot is of no particulai
race or color.
GERMAN LOSS IS
PLACED AT 300.00!
’I _
TEUTONS’ CASUALTIES IN RE
CENT DRIVE ARE ESTIMATED
'• BY AMERICAN OFFICER.
i
i WITH THE AMERICANS 1>
'IFRANCE, April 8.—An American of
• | freer who has returned to the Ameri
' can headquarters in France, fron
t I northern France, estimates that th<
- Germans lost 300,000 in killed wound
Ced and missing during the recent Ger
j man drive.
At some points the Germans an
said to have been literally mowei
down by machine gun fire.
GOOD GUESS.
11 Ilix—Say, what’s the rest of tha
’ j quotation beginning “Truth i:
mighty?” Dix—“Scarce,” I guess.—
Exchange.
LIBARIES OF ANTIQUITY.
In early antiquity libraies consiste*
• of archives, which were preserved ii
the most sacred tmeples.
♦B. C. NICHOLS
% JEWELER
t Wa
Vatch re
1 painng
X specialty.
Optical de
partment
under spe
. cial man
t
X agement.
m
lf2[UE(Uf5W5WBry
cJll 5j tl 5Tb cr-T^ T
Alaska Pool 1
ir
Room
Si CIGARS, TOBACCO AND
SOFT DRINKS. I
=3 GJc
ABOUT TWENTY-FIVE OUTFITS
ARE SLEDDING IN WINTER
SUPPLIES FOR SEASON.
MRS. ANNA BUBB IS BUSY.
Joseph Anderson Will Operate on
Falls Creek and M. A. Ellis Is Pre
paring for Summer’s Operations on
Thunder Creek.
McDOUGAL, March 30.—(Special
Correspondence)—The Cache Creek
Dredging company is almost through
with its ferighting. Some twenty-five
outfits are on the trail between Mc
Dougal and the Cache cr eek dredge
hauling in supplies and equipment for
; the coming season.
A. C. Woodward of the Ivahiltna
rival of his son from the creek. The
young man will take Mr. and Mrs.
■ Woodward to the hills.
Mrs. Anna I’ubb is the busiest wom
an in the Inlet. She is the owner of
i the Anna Bubb mine on Dollar creek,
■ which has the largest hydraulic plant
■ in the district. She operates the prop
• ertv with the help of her son, Casper
■
i Silling. Her ground is the richest
placer property in the district. The
deposit is similar to the white clay of
■ the Dawson country.
Joseph Anderson will operate on
1 Falls creek in partnership with Joseph
• Kromanaker who purchased a half in
t terest in the Falls creek claims from
George Ebenhart. M. A. Ellis of the
' Thunder Creek Mining company has
‘ Riley Hammersley in charge of the
coming season’s supplies which are
> now going into the property on Thun
> der.
JOHNSON AND SEVEN.
! President Johnson had seven let
I ; ters in his name. When he was four
1 teen, twice seven, he became a tail
' or’s apprentice, which he remained
for seven years. When he was twen
ty-one, three times seven, he gave up
tailoring. When he was twenty-eight,
four times seven, he became an alder
| man. At thirty-five, five times seven,
he entered the legislature. In 1842,
six times seven, he was a member of
' congress. At forty-nine, seven times
seven, he was a senator. On the 7th
of March, 1862, he was military gover
nor of Tennessee. At fifty-six, eight
' times seven, he became vice-president.
EQUIPMENT OF SAILOR.
To equip a British sailor takes near
ly eight times as many workmen as
■ are required to provide a soldier with
all he needs in the way of munitions.
*
Job Printing of Distinction at t he
Times office.
PROFESSIONAL CARDS
: i
1
1 C. H. SUNDMACHER
LAWYER
Notary Public.
Bolte Bldg. - Anchorage, Alaska
L. V. RAY
LAWYERS
Lathrop Bldg., Anchorage, Ala
I
|
ANTON JOHANSEN
Seldovia, Kachemak Bay.
GENERAL MERCHANDISE.
Everything for the Settler,
Fisherman, Prospector, Hunter
and Trapper.
RIGHT PRICES.
DR. A. W. LUEDERS
DISEASES OF
Men and Women.
626 4th Ave. - - Anchorage