Scholarship
Without a doubt, a most important requisite of the teacher is good scholarship—a thorough knowledge of the subjects to be taught. His knowledge must be not only thorough, but fresh. He, too, must be a broader student of the subjects he teaches than one who merely knows the text he is using. It is evident that a teacher can not teach more than he knows, and often the keen mind of a pupil leaves the realm of the text-book and legitimately inquires into the depths of knowledge. He may embarrass the unprepared teacher, or the teacher whose knowledge of the subject is no broader than the text. The teacher’s preparation must not be superficial, it must be like a fountain—ever fresh and flowing, connecting that which has been passed over and that which is to come. This is an essential element of successful instruction, but many can not see why it should influence discipline.
The teacher who is a deep and inexhaustible fountain of knowledge wins the confidence of his pupils, and whatever increases confidence decreases the necessity of imposed discipline and control, and it is true that whatever decreases the confidence of the pupils in the teacher increases the necessity for outer control. Confidence in the ability and preparation of the teacher is the basis of ready obedience. It is the element that begets a prompt and cheerful yielding of the pupil’s will to the will of the teacher.
The teacher should never cease to be a student. Though he thinks himself thoroughly educated, he should always go over the material which he intends to teach; to this, he should add a wide range of reading outside of the lesson proper, but bearing upon the lesson. In this way he will be able to give to his pupils more than is found in the lesson. The teacher who unceasingly pursues such tactics in the preparation of his work will arouse interest in his classes and interest will secure attention which in turn will produce diligence in study. It is a self-evident principle, that interest on the part of the teacher will produce interest on the part of the pupil and interest will promote application and progress. Many a teacher who has been otherwise weak in the ability to discipline properly, has easily controlled large classes by the interest he has manifested in his work, because he was accurate and full in his instruction.