Geneseo Central School - Jen O See Yearbook (Geneseo, NY)

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4' INTRODUCTQRY ADMINISTRATIQN ACTIVITIES STUDENTS FACULTY ADVERTISEMENTS CUNTENTS

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vital problems and characteristics of children, and CdD help him to come to gri s with the principles, techniques, an processes of effectual teaching and learning. Most of our late educational efforts have been directed into wrong channels. We have been obsessed with the idea that progress in education must be pri- marily concerned, in ultra-scientific fash- ion, with specialized skills, intricate procedures and methods, and a confusion of enumerated aims and objectives. During the ast several decades our colleges and schools for teachers have encountered acute problems in develop- ing curricula for the preparation of elementary school teachers. At first, the pendulum swung from a stilted subject- matter emphasis to a curriculum over- loaded with diluted methods and school management courses. Later, there was some modification so that child study and its relations to teaching was given more attention, and now many leaders in teacher education are advocating a four-year curriculum with an increased proportion of time given to general education or liberal-cultural courses. In the positive application of these so- called progressive theories that work out so beautifully on paper, we have nearly lost our vision in a forest of facts and figures, resulting in confusion. The stressing of professional elements to a certain degree is essential for teacher preparation. A reasonable amount of time in the curriculum for elementary school teach- ers should be devoted to professional and technical courses and under condi- tions which will enable the student to grow into the 'feel' and responsibility of teaching gradually and meaningfully. In New York the curriculum is so or- ganized that the professional and tech- nical courses are offered in sequences which extend throughout the four years Quotations from Dr. Lehm.-m's study. coordinated with courses in the academ- ic or liberal-cultural fields. It is the functionalized, coordinated Division Plan. This plan provides that the prospec- tive teacher has a thorough and vitalized preparation in the fields of English, Social Studies, Science, Health, and Physical Education, Fine and Practical Arts, and Music. Dr. Lehman has realized that the fundamental requirement for teaching lies within us. His dream is the dis- covery and stimulation of natural teach- ing ability through vitalized instruc- tion and curriculum-one cannot stand without the other. Teaching is an art- the greatest of all arts-because the material used is neither the painter's canvas nor the sculptor's marble-it is the human intellect. A prospective teacher must have not only the artistic, communicative talents that enable him to impart his knowl- edge to others, but he must have de- veloped within him the art of living gained through a thoughtful contem- plation and acquisition of the best ex- periences of the past, the feeling of his relation to society, that social con- sciousness that enables him to adjust with increasing efficiency to his chang- ing environment. Then and only then will he be ready to teach. In all courses the teachers college student should be stimulated to venture into new deeps of intellectual endeavor and to launch into wider realms of social living. We plead for courses, offered in our colleges for teachers as well as in liberal arts colleges and law schools, that are meaty, scholarly, and presented in accordance with the most effective principles of teaching so that the students will be stimulated increas- ingly to develop the higher mental processes as well as challenge them to assume and carry through intellectual and professional responsibilities.

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'i' ADMINISTRATION