Plymouth State University - Conning Tower Yearbook (Plymouth, NH)

Page 6 text:

He who would teach must first know. No competent educator of teachers would dispute that statement. The question which all must face and decide is: know what to teach what? The fact that the members of our student body arc presented in this yearbook as attached to different curricula signifies the belief of the majority of our faculty that, contrary to some opinions being widely publicized today, there is no one set of subjects or experiences to be offered during the four years of college which will adequately prepare every one to teach every thing to every body. If this belief be substantiated by the majority opinion of most thoughtful citizens what must the competent scholar know in order to teach? First, there seems to be agreement that he needs to know himself and his relationship to his fellow-men, his universe, and his motivating power. He needs freedom — from ignorance, from prejudice, from intolerance, from fear of not being able to make and execute wise decisions. This liberating knowledge and philosophy is basic to those who would lead others to seek the truth. While a full knowledge of his self will contribute to a knowledge of others, he must have intense, specialized knowledge of the kinds of students he is to teach, otherwise teaching need not be done by professionals but can be done as adequately by those without this specialized knowledge. Since our supply of things to be known increases in geometric progression with each succeeding generation, no man can be all-wise. There must of necessity be a choosing of a field or fields in which he will acquire a special competence. This implies a voluntary decision to know less about some things in order to know more about others. The competent scholar who would teach is thus forced to choose an area of specialization for major time and effort and the sacrifice of breadth for depth is something forced upon us by the 3ge in which we live. The competent scholar who would teach must therefore have a limited breadth of liberalizing study, a continuing depth of information about his chosen specialty, and a professional’s knowledge of schools and pupils at the level and in the area he wishes to serve. Lack of competent scholarship in any of these areas will result in incompetence for teaching. Harold E. Hyde 4

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DEDICATION One of the finest things that can be said of any man is that he exemplifies a philosophy recognized to be beneficial to mankind. Assuredly, Mr. Robert L. Boyd is seen by everyone at Plymouth Teachers College as a man possessing those rare attributes of kindness, devotion, and scholarship. His kindness is evident in his softness of speech and the firm but gentle persuasion he uses on students. His devotion is to the profession of teaching and it is here that students see a man not only teaching but living a set of principles. His scholarship manifests itself in the control he has over his subject matter and his constant effort to add to his already vast accumulation of knowledge. All of these attributes combined might be called a “Philosophy of Education” and as such they can serve as guiding principles for generations of teachers to come. The accumulation of individual decisions that resulted in this dedication emanated from the universal recognition that Mr. Boyd alone has personified the ideals that seem, for the most part, to remain within the pages of textbooks. 3

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The little White Building on the Corner. FACULTY AND ADMINISTRATION 5