Do most teachers realize to what extent they have
influence?
Is it comfortable to think that one is an example? If not, why
not? Is it only teachers who need to feel that they are examples?
Is it fair to demand a higher standard of the teacher and
preacher?
Give from your own experience instances in which you have
absorbed an ideal which has persisted. Is there danger of adopting
an ideal that, while it is worthy as far as it goes, is merely
incidental and not worth while? (Such are an accurate memory of
unimportant details, certain finesse in manners and
speech, punctiliousness in engagements, exhaustiveness in shopping
before making purchases, perfection in penmanship and other arts at
the expense of speed: suggest others.)
How can the contemplation of a rainbow educate? What education
should result from a view of Niagara Falls?
What qualities would a teacher have to possess that her
influence aside from her teaching might be of more value than the
teaching itself?
That one may have influence is it enough for one to be good, or
is it what one does that counts? Suggest lines of action for a
teacher that would increase her influence for good.
Explain how a fine unconscious influence exerted by a teacher
helps to keep pupils in school.
In Hawthorne’s story of the Great Stone Face what
qualities were attained by those whom Ernest expected to grow into
the likeness?
Why did Ernest’s face come to resemble that of the great
stone face?
In what ways is good fiction of value to teachers?
Cite something that you have gained from the unconscious
influence of another.
What attainments or qualities have you yet to acquire in order
to stand out as “distinctive and regnant” to a good
many pupils?
A bacteriologist makes a “culture” of a drop of
blood, multiplying many times the bacteria in it, to determine
whether serious disease germs are prevalent. If the influence of a
person could be observed in a large way, would that be conclusive
as to the person’s character, just as the result of the
culture proves the condition of the blood? May there not be an
obscure element in the teacher’s character that is having a
deleterious effect? Or is it only the outstanding
features of his conduct that affect the pupils?
Why is it more important to acquire ideals than to acquire
knowledge?
Describe the attitude of the teacher toward the pupils in the
“vitalized” school.
Show how the teacher should have in view the future of the
pupils.
Is it a compliment to be easily recognized as a teacher? Why or
why not?
Just what is meant by “narrowness” in a teacher?
What is meant by “bigness”? What is their effect if the
teacher is taken as an ideal?
Can one instill high ideals in others without frequently
absorbing inspiration himself? What are suitable sources?