i ijfiffi OF-CAl!FO% Cleveland Public Schools. AN ADDRESS THE SPIRIT OF THE TEACHER. GENERAL TEACHERS' MEETING, Saturday, March 11, 1893. ANDREW S. DRAPER. Superintendent of Instruction. PUBLISHED BY THE BOARD OF EDUCATION. Cleveland, Ohio. CORRESPONDENCE. BOARD OF EDUCATION. K X E C U T I V K I ) K 1> A RT M K N T. 190 Euclid Ave. CLEVELAND, OHIO, March 16, I89tf. HON. A. S. DRAPER : Superintendent of Instruction. MY DEAR SIR : The very timely and able address on " The Spirit of the Teacher," delivered by you at the General Teachers' Meeting, at the Central High School, onthe llth, inst., has elicited high commendation, and I have received numerous requests for its publication from supervisors, teachers and citizens interested in edu- cational work. I, therefore, respectfully and urgently request that you will furnish me with a copy for publication in phamphlet form for distribution to the teaching force and the friends of our public schools. Sincerely yours, H. Q. SARGENT, School Director. CLEVELAND PUBLIC SCHOOLS. OFFICE OF SUPERINTENDENT OF INSTRUCTION. CLEVELAND, OHIO. March 20. 1893. HON. H. Q. SARGENT : School Director. DEAR SIR : Your assurance that my address at the last General Teachers'Meeting was received with unusual favor is abundant compensation for its preparation and gives me great pleasure. The manuscript is herewith transmitted for the use you suggest. I am, with much respect. Very sincerely yours, A. S. DRAPER. Superintendent, Stack Annex 5 THE SPIRIT OF THE TEACHER. Governments are formed and maintained, for personal safety and public security. All well ordered governments are institutional as well as constitutional. They are consti- tutional in that they rest upon, and are bound together by, written laws and are concluded by the acts of the law makers and the determinations of courts and officers ; they are institutional in that the purity and culture, the strength and power, aims and purposes, of the national life are determined by the habits and customs, the circumstances and needs of the people ; by their manner of living and power of endur- ance ; by the plane upon which their thought moves, as well as by its strength and direction ; by the trend of their feelings ; by the opportunities which they seek and the advantages which they create ; by the ways in which and the purposes for which they associate together ; by the or- ganizations which they effect, the structures which they erect, the enterprises which they undertake, and the works which they accomplish. These features of the common life of the people give rise to the national institutions, and these make the national character. Constitutions are steel bands holding a people together from without ; institutions are furnaces which melt their lives together and produce chemical affinity in their sentiments and feelings. Constitutions give form and lend strength to the national organization ; insti- 8068006 tutions determine the quality and power of the national life. THE PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM, THE GREATEST OF AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS. In our confederated republic there is one institution which towers above all the rest. It? is the institution of in stitutions. It is unique and characteristic. While other nations are now beginning to imitate some of its features, there is no otherinstitution in the world with its purposes, its aspirations and its plan of organization. It was not created, it has grown. It has been developed out of our experiences and been formed and shaped by our necessities. It has a distinguishing aim in view. It is not local, but general. It has all the means of the people behind it, and the authority of the sovereign power of the nation permeates its whole being and may be manifest in its every act. Open to all, free from intolerance, declaring the universal brother- hood of man, providing an equipment for any livelihood, pointing ambition to the grandest accomplishments, the great free-school system of the country is, at once, the best exemplification and the best inspiration of American charac- ter. It is the cap-stone of our temple, and it holds the place of honor nearest the flag. THE SPIRIT OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM. It is my purpose today to speak of the spirit of the school system, the greatest of our institutions. By this I mean not the visible organization, not buildings, not devices, not books, not regulations, but the life which animates and breathes through all these things. We are accustomed to say that the teacher makes the school, and we say rightly. Then the spirit of the teacher makes the spirit of the school. We are wont to dwell upon the competency of the teacher and to multiply and emphasize the instrumentalities which enhance it. When we speak of the qualifications of the teacher, the practical mind goes to intellectual strength, to knowledge of affairs, and to scholarly attainments ; and the profes- sional mind thinks of these and also of psychological investigations and of pedagogical training and experience. You know that I am not indifferent to these things. No teacher can be proficient whose scholarship is not broader and deeper than the mere routine of her grade. One who has no understanding of the history of education, of the pro- cesses of mind growth, of the methods which experience has shown to produce desirable results, and whose mind is not strong enough to stand alone, move forward by its own motion and think out things on its own account, is only a plodder and no teacher at all. But even this is not all. My thought today is that there is another element in the essen- tial equipment of a good teacher. If more difficult to describe, if more troublesome to cultivate, it is even more indispensable to the happiness of the individual, to her in- fluence upon others, and to the effectiveness and fruitfulness of her work. I refer to the power which moves the machinery of life, the motives which inspire action, and the quality of the faith which characterizes works. The heart as well as the mind is involved in the vocation of the teacher. The emotional as well as intellectual elements of human nature necessarily play important parts in the work of training others. By the spirit I mean the emotional nature held and guided by reason ; the intellectual nature propelled and determined by the nobler emotions. It is not the physical nature. The body without the spirit is dead. It is the life-principle, the im- mortal part, the power-producing part, the energy, the vivacity, the ardor, the attachments, the courage, which determine what shall be undertaken, and then puts its hand to the accomplishment of that end with a power which makes achievement inevitable. Spirit sees opportunities ; it recognizes occasions ; it acts with spontaneity when the time comes. It manifests itself according to circumstances and necessities. Let me illustrate. In the winter of 1892, a train, for same trivial reason, came to an unusual stop near the village of Hastings on the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, at perhaps the most beautiful and historic part of the Hudson River valley. The unusual stoppage of the train created the occasion for the exercise of unusual care. The rules of the company were explicit. It became the imme- diate duty of the trainman who had charge of the rear platform to take his lantern and go back and warn any approaching train. Mere stick that he proved himself to be, if he had only followed his orders all would have been well. It was dark, but not stormy. There was no excuse. If he had possessed any of the spirit which the public has the right to expect in a trainman, he would have met the occasion and protected his train, orders or no orders. He had no spirit ; he disobeyed his orders ; the through express crashed into the rear of the standing train, a score of people were killed and as many more maimed and mangled for life. Late in the afternoon of the next day after this unfort- unate occurrence, I left Albany to come west, in the last car of the second section of the south-western limited express. The two trains, making more than forty miles an hour, were less than thirty minutes apart. The weather had become very cold, the wind was blowing a gale, and the .snow was so thick that one could not see the length of a car. When in the snow-belt between Utica and Syracuse the the engineer whistled so sharply and the air brakes were set so suddenly, and with such terriffic effect, that it was evi- dent there was serious occasion for an abrupt stop. As the train slowed up and stopped, the cries of a man were heard outside. Opening the rear door, the figure of a man with unlighted lamps, climbed up into the vestibule and fell upon the platform exhausted. His emotions were uncontrollable and he continually murmured " I stopped her; he saw me; I brought her down." Assisting him inside the car, we slowly gathered the facts. This was the rear trainman on the first section of our double train. His train had over- hauled a freight wreck and been obliged to stop. The circumstances were appalling, the danger was imminent, but the man who was responsible, proved equal to the emergency. He buttoned up his coat, took his lamps and ran up the track, into the darkness and the blinding storm. If he had obeyed his orders in a perfunctory way only, it would have been of no avail, H is lamps were blown out and he exhausted his last matches in vain efforts to relight them in the wind. Only unusual resources would now distinguish him from any tramp, in the mind of the engineer. But his spirit rose to the occasion. Removing his coat and taking that in one hand and his lightless lamps in the other, he ran on up the track. Soon our train came in sight. He followed the track; he got within the glare of the headlight; he frantically swung his lamps and his coat and hallooed with all his might to the monarch in the cab; he heard the whistle of the engine and heard the brakes take hold, got off the track as the train was close upon him, and, as it stopped, was helped into the last car. That was spirit. It had saved his train ; perhaps ours also. Contrast the acts cf these two men and see the value of spirit in the affairs of life. One of them could have averted a sickening disaster, by mere obedience to the plain require- ments of the service, and without any unusual exertion, and did it not. When the shock came, he was probably occupied in finding fault with some one because his train had stopped. He was not worthy the name of man. As Portia, in the Merchant of Venice, says of one of her rejected lovers, " God made him, and so, I suppose, we shall have to let him pass for a man." The other could not avert a like disaster by mere mechanical obedience to requirements, but only by thought, quick appreciation, instant action, by drawing upon his resources, by energy and nerve, which never thought of failing and never doubted the result. Ah ! under his rough dress there was the true heart and the buoyant nature of a man. "A mans a man for a that" Within the scope of his employment, within the line of his duty, he showed spirit of the very highest order. The difference in results was the difference in the spirit of the two men. It was death in one case ; it was life in the other. If the spirit of the employee is a vital element in the operations of that important institution, the railway system, so is the spirit of the teacher vital to that infinitely more important institution, the public school system of the country. It must be of a different kind, it must manifest itself in very different ways, but it must be no less effective in its consequences and accomplishments. It must be purer, finer, stronger, more spontaneous, more versatile, the ever present support of the school, and the never failing inspira- tion of the noblest aspirations of the human family, for whose promotion the school system exists. Let us see what characteristic qualities we are justified in looking for in the spirit of the teacher and in the spirit of the schools. CULTURE. First, we must expect to find the spirit of the teacher marked by cultivation and culture . The teacher has had some early educational advantages, surely. The foundations have been at least fairly well laid. There is something to build upon, The powers of the mind have, at least, been set in op- eration. Opportunities have been frequent and constant. The habit of enquiry and investigation must have been ac- quired. The surroundings must have been favorable; there must have been some results. Taste has been aroused and it has grown. Then, the work of teacher has been for others. She has endeavored to open the minds of her pupils and arouse their powers. She has become interested in them. She has witnessed the development of the human powers ; she has seen minds open and souls grow. This start in life, th s environment and this experience must have had a refining influence upon her own mind and her own soul. With all the tribulations and annoyances, if the true teacher has developed, the im- mortal part ot her nature will show purity, strength, breadth of information, variety of accomplishment, power of discrim- ination, delicacy of feeling and nobility of bearing, which will be recognized in all intellectual and cultivated centers. The gross and the coarse, common to all human nature, will be eliminatedgradually; the language, the manners, the style will change; the life will be keyed to the music of the human- ities; the soul will aspire to the heights of the sublime. KINDNESS. Kindness will have a large share in the spirit of the teacher. It is fortunate that it is so, for the need of it is great. The child is not an inanimate, unfeeling thing. He is a live, active, sensitive being. If he possesses the elements of future growth, he is a wilful, perverse, troublesome being. He may b^ lovable, he may be repellant. He may be de- fective in physical or mental organization : he may be unfortunate in home surroundings. Whatever the conditions, he is in the hand of the teacher to be developed and trained. He is not alone ; the same teacher has fifty other similar 10 charges. The parental feeling is absent. Yet the child is alto- gether subject to her. Within her sphere she is an autocrat. She may manage wisely, kindly and justly, and commonly she does. She may rule with rank injustice, and frequently she does. She may act with kindly purpose and yet injustice may result. She may be taxed to the limit of strength and endurance. She may be inexperienced. She may have wandered into a state of chronic severity and fretfulness. She may have dyspepsia and mistake it for principle. But no matter what the circumstances, her power is unlimited. The continuous exercise of power over inferior or younger minds is unmistakably dwarfing. The tendency to favoritism is natural; we all like pleasant people and nice children better than disagreeable people and repellant children. The teacher is in this regard at least not so very different from other people. Government in the school room is so absolute that the danger is apparent. A word, a mark, a look may be the effective instrument of injustice, and injustice inflicts a deeper wound upon the temperament of the child than we are accustomed to think. He has keener perception and deeper feeling than we suppose. Look back, recall exper- iences, and ponder. The child's troubles seem trivial to adults, but they are real to him ; his suffering is acute. Yet he has no appeal ; he is without redress ; if he has been the subject of mistakes or mistreatment it is thought to be* a mistake to tell him of it. And so we should reason that there might be injustice, while we know from experience, at least I do, that there is injustice in the schools. That there is no more, is owing to the large element of kindness which is developed in the spirit of the true teacher. Nourish and cultivate it; do not repress it. There is no dan- ger of too much of it. There is no posssibility of erring on the right side. There can be none too much justice meted out to childhood. Guard against injustice if you would 11 fortify your position; indulge in favoritism if you would im- pair and undermine it. But kindness means more than justice. Equal and exact justice is the right of every child in the schools and he knows it. We are not to stand upon a mere question of rights, however. We are not to prevent contact and association with pupils. 'I hey are entitled to a time when they may make explanations and prefer requests outside of the class hour and in a familiar and confidential way. Matters will go more smoothly if it is allowed. It means everything to the pupil ; it may mean much to the teacher. We are to help this child up to manhood and womanhood and good citizenship. Kindness will unlock his heart and uplift his soul. It will gain his allegiance and draw out the best that is in him. Let it be ever present. Let the stream never fail. Let it increase in volume and in power. It will make the school room attractive to you and to him, it will render your name a fragrant memory in his later years, and when life's lengthened shadows encompass you, it will light your pathway up to the Invisible and the Unknown. COURTESY. Kindness in the school means courtesy to the public. It is not alway easy to render it. You are brought in con- tact with all manner of people, the ignorant and rude as well as the cultured. You meet people most commonly upon a subject concerning which they are much interested and most sensitive, and about which you are very liable to mis- interpretation, for their own children are the informants. It is not necessary for me to say that the circumstances are frequently trying. However there is but one course to pursue. Patience must never fail. If the treatment of the child has been kindly, if the teacher's duty has been fully discharged, disagreeable interviews will not be numerous and when one occurs there will be no occasion to fear. In any event, and upon all occasions, the person who stands 12 as the representative of the public school system must treat every one with whom her work brings her in contact, and especially every parent of one of her pupils, with considerate attention and courtesy. It is not for her to assume an attitude of antagonism or of disagreeable superiority; she is neither to be indifferent nor to appear indifferent ; she is not to say things which will wound the parent concerning his child, when unnecessary, even though they are true. She is to smooth out troubles, she is to help the parent and the child, and she is to show that she is anxious to help them. She is to do it because it is the right thing to do, and because it is in her heart to do it. She is to do it with real and true diplomacy. Her spirit in this regard and ability in these directions will be a very excellent measure of her strength and fitness as a teacher. If she fails here she will weaken her position beyond recovery, and ought to. But a spirit which radiates kindness to the pupil and court- esy to the public will make her secure. TRUTH . If there is any one spirit which I would have uppermost in the work of these schools, it is the spirit of truth. " There is nothing so kingly as kindness, There is nothing so royal as truth." It is the foundation of character. The other virtues rest upon it. If the principle of truth is established, the other elements of an honorable career will be likely to follow along in their own good time. Therefore, the spirit of the teacher must be the spirit of truth ; the truth must be held up to the admiration of the school ; and all things must be done to give it an abiding place in the lives of all. There is no unpardonable sin in childhood, and there- fore falsehood is not an unpardonable sin with children. It is a very common one ; it is a very trying and reprehensible one. It should be made the sin of sins among children, and the power of the schools should be centered upon the 13 correction of the evil. If the public schools could bestow even the elements of an education upon every American child, and could make a sound regard for the truth an ele- ment in his character, American citizenship would be safe, and the Republic would stand as long as governments continue upon the earth. Act the truth. Do not pretend to know things you do not know. Do not insist upon things about which you are uncertain. Even a child does not expect a teacher to be the embodiment of all wisdom. If she claims it, he knows she is masquerading ; if she admits a doubt, he knows she is acting truly ; he sees that he and his teacher have some things in common ; she has a stronger hold upon him. I know a boy who handed up his written spelling lesson for correction. The teacher marked a word as incorrect, which he thought was spelled correctly. He gathered up his courage and told her he thought she had made a mis- take. She brushed him aside with an indignant remark, about doubting her ability to spell. In ten minutes he saw her engaged in profound communion with the dictionary. He gained confidence. She said nothing, but seemed de- jected. He put his paper in his pocket and went home, and consulted his dictionary. He had spelled the word correctly. She had lost his good opinion forever. It was a serious loss, but who shall say that she did not pay the proper penalty of her act. She had made a mistake. It was not serious at the outset. It was a comparatively small matter that she had an erroneous impression about the spelling of the word. But persistence after she knew better was acting an untruth. It was utterly inexcusable. It was im- politic too. Suppose she had given him only what was his due and said, "My boy, I was hasty and wrong about that; you were right ; I will have to be more careful next time." He would have been exultant, but that would not have humili- 14 ated her. She would have gained his respect and his friendship as well. In another case, a teacher in this city told Mary, a young Miss among her pupils, that Martha, her intimate girl friend, was headstrong and flighty and not doing well, and asked her to exert her influence over her and help her reclaim the wayward sister. The teacher told Martha the same things about Mary and exacted her help to recover the other sinner from destruction. Neither of the girls was in danger. The teacher did not think they were. She prob- ably meant well enough. She intended to profit each girl by getting her interested in helping the other. But she did not think far enough or as truly as she ought. The girls compared notes. They discovered that there was an ele- ment of deception about the matter and the result was not particularly helpful to the teacher. There is mathematical accuracy about the truth. It always fits together. There is no safe compromise ground. The danger signal is upon the border line. Truth or untruth may be acted as well as spoken. It is not necessary at all times to tell all that is true. But whatever is said and what- ever is done in the schools, is to be open and straightfor- ward, wholly within the bounds of truth. In nothing more than in this matter does the spirit of the teacher make the tone of the school. Put a premium upon the truth. Never doubt a child's word lightly or for insufficient reason. Expect and assume that he will tell the truth. Trust him and it will help him. Do not punish him by word or sign or deed, simply because he owns his faults. Forgive him for his shortcomings and reward him with your entire confidence if he will tell you the exact truth. Then the spirit of truth will flourish in your school and character will grow under your roof. 15 NATURALNESS. In the plan of the old education the school was a place of detention, the work was only routine and the teacher was the embodiment of force. Jn the plan of the new education the school is a work-shop; the teacher is a helper; all are to do original work together. The new plan is infinitely better than the old. Keep in line with it. The teacher will be a learner; the teacher must be a learner. Upon no other principle can the work proceed. The stream will dry up unless it be continually augmented. The power will give out unless it is constantly reinforced. Work with the school and all will go well. Be true; be yourself; be natural. Do not be over seri- ous. Let the children be children. Let nature in, human nature, and animal nature and vegetable nature. How it will bring interest to the work of the schools! How it will open the minds of the children, give them affection for animal life, and send them hunting in the fields and the woods for the products of nature! Talk in conversational tones and use expressions that are natural. Do things in ordinary ways. Let the spirit of the school copy the spirit of a well ordered home, where all interests are the same, where all the mem- bers have common rights, where the weak or the unfortunate are given the most help, where natural characteristics find ready expression, and all work pleasurably and happily together for the common good. CHEERFULNESS. One of the most unmistakable tendencies of school work is to warp the temperament of the teacher. A life which is devoted to teaching must be upon its guard. If not, it is quite liable to drift into a petulant and ascetic state, and then its power for usefulness is almost destroyed. If it avoids the danger, it will grow richer and stronger, happier and more potent for good, with the accumulating years. 16 Cheerfulness of spirit is the product of a kind heart and a wise head. It is an invaluable product. Let good cheer fill the room. It is as vital to the healthful development of child nature, as water and sunshine are to the healthful growth of plants. The school room where good cheer does not reign is a desolate place, and the children who occupy it are unfortunate objects of sympathy. Child-life is impres- sionable. It needs help. It responds quickly. Deny it the light and warmth and it will be stunted and dwarfed; it may be utterly ruined. Nourish it and it will be the noblest work of the Almighty. Like begets like. A solemn, funereal and complaining teacher develops peevish, fretful and disagree- able children. Fretfulness is ill-mannered; it is no less ill- mannered in a teacher than in any other person; it is even more so, for it reproduces itself; it makes ill-mannered child- ren. Cheerfulness is contagious also It extends, repro- duces and perpetuates itself. It will make the desert blossom as the rose. As children need it, so they love it. They drink it in, brighten up, look heavenward and begin to grow. It calls out the best that is in them. The better and nobler tendencies gain strength and exert their influence upon others . I f you have a sunny and buoyant temperament you cannot be too thankful for it. If you have it not. do not be discouraged, for it may be acquired. It is an acquisition even more imperative to your work than a knowledge of English or Mathematics. Strive for it. It will bring you happiness and give you power. STEADINESS. The character of the teacher must be steady. There must be self-control. The spirit must be courageous. It must understand the ground it occupies and maintain it. It must know the course it is to pursue and hold to it It need not be unduly elated, and certainly it must not be unduly cast down by the daily incidents of the school. It must remember that there have been other days and that there will be other days. It must not fret or worry over common- place matters. It must meet its responsibilities squarely, promptly. It must keep moving ahead. Even if a duty of unusual import falls upon the teacher she need not go into a decline over it. There is no occasion even then for speculating upon the unfathomable or reaching after the unattainable. She is to meet it without reflecting more than a week upon it, without discussing it until undue mystery and trouble seem to encompass it. She is to act deliberately, with the best sense she has and in the best way she can. No one expects more. In ninety-nine times of a hundred, it will be all right. In the hundredth time some one will help her make it all right. She must have her wits about her, and rise to meet any unusual occasion. She must be strong and steady enough to be counted upon ; she must have the reliability which is the foundation of confidence. All this is somewhat a matter of character, somewhat a matter of experience. It may be acquired. Strive for it. It is jewel. Do not be afraid. If the purposes are sound there is nothing to fear. Bear up bravely, cheerily, and keep going ahead. Never mind the possibility of mistakes. They are comparatively few and of small consequence if the head is clear and the heart all right. He who never makes mis- takes never accomplishes things. Push on steadily, hope- fully, doing things as they may come to your hand, thinking of things which ought to be done and you will gather strength and confidence, you will gain standing and influence, and you will steady the whole system and support the entire work. PATRIOTISM. The spirit of patriotism must pervade the schools. It has come into them with new strength and meaning in these recent months. It is to be encouraged by every proper in. strumentality. The instrumentality more potent than any other is the soul and spirit of the teacher. Mr. Emerson said it made not so much difference what one studies as whom he studies with Flags are of small moment except as they are suggestive and emblematical. You may display in these schools all the bullet-riddled battle flags which the gallant soldiers of the Union Armies carried so proudly up the great Avenue of the Capitol City on the famous review at the close of the rebellion, and the effect will be Jost unless the teacher knows American history, unless she can recall the cost and understands the value of our distinguishing American institutions, unless she sees at a glance what the ilag means, unless her spirit is attuned and her feet keep step to the music of the Union. But if she does know, and if she does see, and if she does feel, there will indeed be patriotism in the school, flag or no flag. Other nations understand this and act upon it. In Germany the teacher is, in law, an officer of the state, is sworn to support the government, obey its laws and promote its interests in all conceivable ways. The arrangement of the room, the books that are used, the songs that are sung, all the words spoken and all the things done, are made to give significance to the three colored flag- and contribute to the greatness of the Fatherland. In France no person can enter the service of the schools who is not a native French- man. Every precaution is observed to have the heart of the teacher pulsate in harmony with the heart of the state, and every means taken to bring the help of the teacher to the support of the state. The American public school, as I remarked at the beginning, has grown to be the greatest of American insti- tutions. It has come to have an autonomy and a purpose of its own. To understand and promote this purpose is a prime duty of every teacher in the schools, and before one can do this he must recall the history and study the growth of the public school system. We cannot rehearse the fascinating story this morning, but we may study it with profit at our leisure. In a word, we may say now, that the time was, and it is not so very long ago, when American schools were merely local, unre- 19 lated and elementary, when they were poorly sustained, when but little was taught, and that was not taught well. There were schools or not as settlements saw fit. The idea that education was a matter of private concern, that if schools were to be kept at all they must be supported by those who had children to send to them, universally prevailed. By gradual process this has all been changed. The state exercises its authority in the matter. It undertakes to see that a school is maintained within reach of evry home. So far as it thinks well it determines the character and regulates the work of the school. It relates all the schools together in a common system. It pledges all the property of the people to the education of the children of all the people. The poor have opportunities equal to the rich. The right to an education is the inheritance of every American child. There is plan and purpose behind all this. There has been occasion and necessity for this change in theory and in practice. The education of American children has ceased to be merely a matter of personal interest and come to be one of grave public concern, because it became evident that a great free state, with unlimited suffrage, must have the gen- eral intelligence and the substantial character of the peo- ple for its foundation stones. The public school system has come to be the main hope of the nation. It is the national stomach bound to digest all kinds of national food and make pure blood. It is to assimi- late all kinds of people and convert them into good citizens. In this American system of schools the predominant characteristics of our future American citizenship are being, and must continue to be developed. The responsibility is appalling, but we believe the Public School can meet it. There is ground for the belief. Look at the little folks in our first and second grades and see them again in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades, and then see those again whom we are able to keep through the High School course, and courage will gain confidence and hopes will become convictions. The spirit of the teacher must throb with the spirit of this work. She must enter into the purposes of the state. She must know the proud story of the national life; she must be familiar with its literature; she must be able to tell the achievements of its great men who have borne the bur- dens of its councils or offered their lives for its life; she must understand the plan and framework of the government; she must value our distinguishing institutions and sympa- thize with the true spirit and the aspirations of the American Republic, like which there is none other in the world; she must discern the danger points; she must make every child under her influence so proud of the American name that he will hold it in jealous keeping, and so loyal to the flag that if need be, he will carry it through the blaze and hail of battle. Thus, and thus only, can the theory upon which we are proceeding be justified and the citizenship of the country be made secure. REGARD FOR ASSOCIATES. Up to this time we have been speaking of the spirit of the individual teacher. In large cities where many hundreds of teachers are employed, influences will be at work, which are always incidental to the multiplication of numbers. There is a necessity for organization and co-operation to the end that there may be order, system, singleness of purpose and efficiency of action. In all organizations comprising many persons, individuality must give way to some extent. Personal preferences must yield; desires cannot all be accom- modated. Even apparent injustice may be unavoidable upon occasions. When some positions are more responsible and more remunerative than others, the necessity for selection and discrimination frequently arises and this may be prolific of disappointments and jealousies, and these may, in turn, paralize the work of the teacher and nullify the operations of the schools. The danger which arises from idle talk is imi- nent. Slight occurrences may be magnified beyond recog- nition. Stories start, no one knows where or how, and travel all through the system with marvelous rapidity. The interests of individuals, even reputations are toyed with as a ball or a doll might be. Great harm results. If these things are not guarded against, the consequences are worse than one would believe and worse than I can describe or care to. There are a thousand difficulties encompassing the position -21 of the teacher and the work of the schools in a great city which are not found in a small community. All this calls for added consideration and care on the part of the city teacher. It is imperative that her spirit be infused with other qualities if she would live in comfort and have satisfaction in her work. There must be a ready and cheerful compliance with regime, a prompt acquiescence in the limitations and the demands ot the service. She must keep within the lines of organization and be obedient to dis- cipline. These things are not irksome, unless they are made so. If they are, she ought to withdraw from the ser- vice for she is not adapted to it: there is no other way. She must remember that there is mutuality of obligations. She must know what she has the right to expect from others and what others have the right to expect from her. She must apply the golden rule. She must respect the in- terests of another as she would have others respect her in- terests. If she cannot speak well of another, it is ordi- narily better that she should speak not at all. She must be responsive and helpful. She is truly wise if she will not think so much upon her own rights and probabilities of ad- vancement as upon what she can do for self improvement, for the help of others, and for the common good. Those who do this will inevitably get on the most rapidly, for they must thus gain the respect of their associates and prove their capacity for higher trusts. THE RIGHT SPIRIT IMPERATIVE TO SUCCESS. This is a difficult subject to treat. The matter is one of which we think much, of which there is frequent occasion to speak in the Superintendent's office, but when one under- takes to put thoughts concerning it in form for a public address the words do not flow very readily and perhaps not very felicitously. There is also the liability of being misunderstood. You may infer that I am unmindful of facts, or unappreciative of what may be said in favor of the spirit of these teachers and this entire force. But your inference would not be justified. Our acquaintance has not been of long duration but it has been sufficiently long to enable me to see many things which are most commendable. I have seen the work in your school rooms and in general it is worthy of praise. I have seen you come across this broad city with promptness and enthusiasm many times at the end of a tiresome day's work, ,'ind often in the storm and the cold, to attend your grade met- tings and I have seen your manifest interest in the instruction and have been deeply impressed with it I have seen four hundred of you come each week, and voluntarily, to the Extension Course of lectures upon American Litera- ture, and pay for the privilege, and I have admired the spirit and purpose which prompted you to do it. I have seen your free use of the pedagogical reading room and I have been told by the Librarian of the Free Library that the leading books in the teachers' department (thirty to forty copies of each) are continually out and that the demand exceeds the supply three or four times over, and I have not been dull in understanding what it meant. I sawyour spirit in the prepara- tions for the observance of Columbus Day and again in the preparations for the Chicago Exhibit and I have seen it in other innumerable and no less suggestive ways, and it has gained my respect as well as my admiration. It is a pleas- ure to speak ot these things. If I were speaking to others, I should do so perhaps with greater detail and stronger em- phasis. But nevertheless I know, and you know, that there is more than one teacher in every building in this city who must meditate upon the subject of this address if she is to continue in this work, and that all of us, in all ranks and grades of the service, may do so with profit. A right spirit is imperative to a teacher. It will out- weigh many other considerations. It will make some amends for other short-comings. It is fully as important as mere intellectual acquirements : it is a part of professional training. But it stands out independent of either. Indeed, it is the anchor of safety, the guarantee of success. One who has failed in one place, but has the true spirit, may be trusted to try in another place, and she will profit by experience and get on. One who is to work with us must have sound relations with the workers and come into full sympathy with the work. It is worse than idle, it is wrong, to temporize about the matter. Time is too valuable and the interests are too great. This is a matter of grave import to all. The spirit of the teacher is an important element perhaps the most im- portant element to be considered in determining promotions. It has seemed to me that the best service I could render you to-day would be to open up the subject and tell you so. PREFERMENT UPON THE BASIS OF MERIT. There is another word which, perhaps under the cir- cumstances, you are entitled to hear me say. A teacher is not 5-0 entirely angelic that she can be expected to manifest the true spirit and do the best work if she is to be contin- ually harrassed She must possess a satisfied and contented mind. She must know that she is not going to be superceded and humiliated by the influences and machination of others. She needs psychological study but she needs justice none the less. She must be able to respect the organization of which she is a part. She must have confidence in its management. I will do what I can to give you confidence and security. No person shall be appointed upon this force who, after careful inquiry, is not believed to be a fit associate, intellect- ually qualified for, and otherwise adapted to the service. An academic course with professional training or specially successful experience will have to be shown in every case. Other things being equal we shall ,give preference to our own people. But we shall get the best teachers we can find wherever we may find them. Tenure of position shall be secure except for cause. Promotions shall be determined upon the basis of merit. Those who show the most culture, those \vho gain in strength and adaptation to the work, those who enter into it with most zest, those who do the most to bring credit to the service, those who are the most kindly, and courteous, and steady, and helpful, and patient, those who provoke the least friction, those who show that they can bear responsibility most safely will be advanced, as opportunity may occur, to the positions of highest trust and responsibility. Indifference shall go to the wall. Incompatibility of temperament will be sent to Buffalo, or to Cincinnati or to Coventry. I am not above advice or suggestion: I want information. But any attempt to exert an outside influence, 24 not in accord with this plan of operations, is not only an injustice to you, it is an impertinence to me. In a word, the highest efficiency of the service and that alone shall be the criterion. That is what the people have the right to demand; that will make good schools; that will gain public re- spect for the teachers; that will be exact justice to individuals. In addition to this you shall be protected from imposition and shall not be overtaxed if I can help it, and I think I can, and every thing shall be done which all the willing and capable ones can do, by co-operating together, to bring honor to the fair fame of the Cleveland Public Schools. CONCLUSION. These schools are the people's schools. They have established them, and they are spending much effort and vast sums of money to maintain them, in order that educa- tion may be universal, that the life of the city may be well ordered, and that the citizenship of the country may be safe. The difficulties and perplexities of the work grow with the passing years and the growth of the city, and the signs of the times point out the importance, nay the necessity, of this great undertaking as never before. Public sentiment casts great responsibility upon the schools, perhaps more than it ought; but never mind that now. The people are jealous of the fame and solicitous about the future of these schools. The fact that they are solicitous is the great fact. It is the bow of promise in the firmament above us. We stand as the representatives of the people. They have con- stituted us their trustees. They wish us well, and they are hopeful. We must not lose sight of the relationship; we must not forget the nature of the trust; we must not disap- point. We have no need to disappoint. We are intelli- gent and we are not without experience. We know what good school work is. and we know the conditions upon which it may be performed. There is no element of chance or uncertainty in the problem except the personal element. With the true spirit of the teacher and with concerted action we can justify the highest hopes and develop the most effect- ive city school system in America, and I am confident we will. S 25 ^ ^ * c ^~ Tn ]) ^ E ^NlOS-ANf.;^ ~r. f Vw*A ;"_ ~"2 \ ^L ?**