In addition to the reading of good books the teacher should read several good papers and magazines. Here the greatest caution is necessary. This is an age of every kind of journalism, much of it really dangerous, and frequently the most appealing paper or magazine may prove to be the most harmful. It is a safe rule to read those papers and magazines that have been proven worthy by time and use. One good daily is sufficient; in its pages the teacher can scan the activities of the world. This need not take much time. A few minutes each day will be ample. A teacher should avoid sensational murder “writeups,” robberies and articles designed to create curiosity rather than to give facts and information. However, the tried and conservative daily avoids glaring headlines, announcing atrocities of every kind.
What the teacher should know, is what the world is doing in commerce, industry, science, invention, legislation, discovery, religion, arts, manufacturing and those great events which shape history. The teacher who reads papers and magazines for the above purpose will be abreast of the times. He should read one good teacher’s paper. There should be no trouble experienced in finding one as there are numerous excellent magazines published. Yet, care must be exercised, for many teacher’s papers and magazines are nothing less than trash. The editors, like so many business men, hope to reap a harvest of money instead of following the motive of service to their fellow men. A good magazine can not be omitted from the teacher’s reading. While it is true, that much which appears is written only for the remuneration; that is, each issue must be filled and almost anything will do, and many of the stories appeal only to a class of people who will read only the very poorest of literature; still, the teacher need not despair in his choice. He must read that journal the reputation of which has been established and the pages of which are edited by live men and women who are discussing live issues.
In concluding the discussion on the teacher’s preparation, it is obvious from what has been said, that the teacher must always remain a student. He must read to learn; he must investigate to know; he must delve into Nature to learn, and it is not at all absurd for him to study again those books which he faithfully studied during his Normal School training.
The Teacher’s Morals
It seems almost unnecessary to say that a teacher should be moral. It is an important requisite. Although the teacher’s choice of his profession, his ability to teach and his preparation have been discussed first, the reader may consider the teacher’s morality the first requisite. The author can not conceive of a successful teacher, who would possess every essential quality except the quality of being moral. It is a foregone conclusion that a teacher is supposed to be a moral person. While this is true, sad to say there yet remain many teachers whose notions of a moral code are crude. They violate some of the smallest details of the moral code and thereby undermine their success, to say nothing about lessening the service they are attempting to render to mankind. It is not too radical to say that a teacher, above all other professional people must be moral. His idea of a moral code must not be vague; it must not contain conflicting ideas. He, above all, must have definite notions concerning morals. It is true that the term is too generally misused. Many teachers attempt to teach morals in such a way that the pupils have altogether a wrong idea of ethics and consequently, in their daily lives are doing many things that are immoral, still believing that they are shunning that which is not right.
It is the purpose of the following discussion to set the teacher right on what the term “moral” in its strictest sense includes; and what constitutes a breach of morality will be clearly set forth. For many years educators have been examining the moral requisites in a teacher, and there can be no doubt as to the correctness of these ideas. No attempt will be made to generalize, but specific and concrete ideas will be presented. In other words, what is immoral will be discussed in such plain terms that the teacher can easily frame for himself a workable moral code.
Meaning of Moral
At the outset, it will be well to explain the term, moral. Specifically, to be moral is to act in accordance with the laws of right. At once, the conflicting question arises: May not what one considers right another consider wrong? But, this is not a difficult question. It is not what one person or another may think about it; it is what the results will be. The past points unmistakably to the results of all that has been done. In the dictionary of the past can be found the record of the results of every action. Have the results been beneficial and serviceable to mankind, then the action was moral; if the opposite, then the action was immoral. Without further explanation, those actions that injure the individual or society will be regarded as immoral.
It is granted that a teacher should not become intoxicated, or fight, gamble, visit places of doubtful character, associate with persons whose characters are questionable, violate the law in any way, break the Sabbath, swear, or blaspheme, cheat, lie or be guilty of lewd conduct. These are immoral acts. There is no question as to their nature. They are wrong. Still the author has met teachers who committed some of the above wrongs. At a certain board meeting a young man was asked to present his resignation, because he was proven guilty of a grossly immoral act. It is hard to understand why any teacher should even be guilty of minor wrongs, much less, any of the larger offenses against the moral code. It is to be hoped that this book will seldom fall into the hands of any teacher who is so base as to be guilty of a wilful wrong.
It is true that many questionable actions in which men and women indulge themselves, are by them, not always considered wrong. While this may be the case, it becomes necessary to inquire what influence such actions may have or what the results may be. If evil alone can be traced back to such actions, or results that are damaging, then such actions must be conceded to be wrong, and therefore immoral by anyone, however ardent an advocate of the questioned actions he may be.