Oxford High School - Ravelins Yearbook (Oxford, MA)

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THE RAVELIN'S, 1936 TEACHING AS A PROFESSION By Dorothy Brown. Can you explain the reason why the ideal teacher can not be just a common ordinary person? Most people think that if a person has brains, possesses a good character, and a pleasing personality, he can be a success as fl teacher, but this idea is incorrect. Teachers are born, not made. Just anybody cannot become a famous author, and why could just anyone become a success as a teacher? The life of a teacher is not always as happy a one as some people think it is. In quoting Dr. Her- bert Palmer, he says that in teaching: Success is rare, the hours are long and fixed, there is repetition and monotony every day and the teacher spends his time among people who are inferior to him. The pecuni- ary gains are not considerable. There are few prizes, and neither in school nor in college will a teacher's ordinary income carry him much above want. On the whole, teaching as a trade is a poor and disappointing business. And yet, Dr. Palmer, who wrote this para- graph, said later on: Harvard College pays me for doing what I would gladly pay it for allow- ing me to do. Without education our nation cannot advance. Without good teachers, the coming genera- tion will fail as a nation. In the face of the great need of good teachers, some people say, Oh, I could be a success as a teacher because I just love working with children. This is not enough. What are the qualities that make a good teacher? One person has stated that, when out of the class room, the most efficient teacher is a fifty- fifty cross between a book-worm and a politi- cian. Teachers should remember that they are dealing with human beings, that the child should be taught to help himself, and that they fthe teacherj must be considerate and firm, but fair. The teacher should be open-minded and analyze the good and bad points in the opinions of the pupils. The instructor should always be interested in the subject matter so that a similar feeling in the children's minds will be drawn out. Every class period should be held in a definite manner and a particular goal should be arrived at. Each lesson of the day should be related to the lesson of the for- mer day in order that, in the minds of the chil- dren, each fact may be associated with some other relating fact. New ideas taught to the children should be associated or likened to some experience that they have had. The teacher should be the guide and the adviser. Every class period should create some prob- lem situation that the children can think about. Each question that is asked should be clear, thought-provoking, and asked with the child's view point in mind. The voice of the good teacher is well modulated and not expression- less. Teaching offers numberless advantages. It offers interesting personal contacts, contact with the youth of our country-the coming cit- izens who will rule our nation in the next gen- eration, contacts with other teachers, educated people whose culture and friendship are valu- able. Teaching offers opportunity for contin- ued study. Business men consult books, but the teacher must familiarize herself with the history of the ages as well as current events, or the pupils will despise her for their ig- gorance. The science and art of teaching chil- dren successfully challenges the power of the most intelligent. Teaching also offers an op- portunity for experimentation. As the science of education is very young, the possibilities for its advancement are unlimited. Few teachers ever become famous, but every teacher has an opportunity for training the leaders of our na- tion. Many a mother hopes that her son can become the President of the United States, but the teacher deals with many boys and her chances of training a leader are greater than those of the mother. The principal rewards of teaching are not financial but consist chiefly in the satisfactions which come from services ren- dered to the future generation. Teaching has been hampered a great deal by the remarks made about it by various maga- zine writers. Once it was stated in the Atlan- tic Monthly that only prospective failures go into academic work. This statement has never

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THE RAVELIN'S, 1936 PROGRAM Processional March Invocation REV. JOHN J. LOFTUS Welcome and Essay Teaching as a Profession DOROTHY LOUISE BROWN Song-On Mountain Heights Ritter Essay Our Newspapers KATHERINE AUGUSTA CHAPMAN Song-Nightfall in Granada Bueno Essay Oddities of the Law EUGENE CHARLES SCHOFIELD Vocal Solo-The End of a Perfect Day Bond RITA MADELINE LYMAN Essay The Development of Jazz MATTHEW LINZEE SANDS Awarding of Prizes FRANK SANNELLA, Principal Awarding of Diplomas DR. ERNEST F. LeCLAIRE Chairman of the School Committee Song-A Dream Boat Passes By Lemare Recessional March

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THE RAVELIN'S, 1936 19 been, nor ever will be, true, yet it represents the opinion of several circles. Teaching is one of the oldest and most important professions, but it has not always been looked upon as an attractive one. Even in the early days of our own country teachers were often slaves or common servants. It is also believed that teachers are usually impractical idealists, who can't meet the complex problems of real life in an effective manner. This has been illustrated by the statement, Those who can, dog those who can't, teach. Teaching is not only a business of vital im- portance, but it is a growing enterprise. In 1900 there were only sixteen million children in the schools of our nation and today we have nearly twenty-eight million. Enrollment in public schools has doubled and college and uni- versity growth has been more than fifty per cent in the last ten years. Don't enter the profession of teaching un- less you are sure you can fulfill its require- ments. No one should enter it who does not feel called to it by the spirit of divine guid- ance. It is a profession too holyg its sanctions are too nearly divine and its objectives are too spiritual in their nature to have its precincts entered by the unworthy, the unprepared, or the uninspired. But to those who are quali- fied by nature for its exacting requirements and who prepare themselves fully for its vari- our services it offers reasonable financial re- ward and a life of lasting satisfaction. OUR NEWSPAPERS By Katherine Chapman. Why do we need newspapers? The reason is that people like to know what is going on in their home towns and in the world. By listen- ing to people gossiping on a street corner we find that this desire to know other people's business is a very common human character- istic. Ever since the world began people have been anxious to get news. It was first carried by the freemen of Rome who sold the news in the form of letters. These news-letters at first told only of political events but later they also contained news about court trials and prom- inent citizens. In Julius Caesar's time all the news of the city was posted on a board where the public could read it. Later it was collected by jour- nalists and given in soap box orations, after which a collection was taken. In England in the 17th century news-gather- ers wrote ballads about current events and sang them in the streets. Newspaper history in this country began in 1690 when Harris published the paper called Public Occurrences. It was condemned be- cause of its criticism of the government. Ben- jamin Franklin, who bought the Pennsylvania Gazette in 1720 from Keimer, was famous as a newspaper man. Franklin printed the first almanac in 1732, which, although it was not really a newspaper, contained facts about the weather and wise sayings-the same material we find in our newspapers today. The first paper was printed to supply news and not to entertain, or to criticize government. Its second and only other purpose was to ad- vertise. Our newspapers today have doubled their original functions. Their function now is four- fold: fiirst, to give the newsg second, to explain and comment on current eventsg third, to print entertaining and instructive material, and fourth, to sell advertising space. The first two functions are necessary. ele- ments in keeping the people well-informed and intelligent in regard to our government. The press and the government react on each other. The government uses the press to reach its citizens and the press uses the government to secure political news. The people's views and votes are inHuenced by the paper which makes the press very important to the government. The newspaper influences the government in more ways than by getting people's votes. Tab-