Salem State University - Clipper Yearbook

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1923 THE LOG 1923 I V A fi Eorro , Llp J 3 3 lice i s E l il The time is now at hand when Salem Normal School once more and for the 69th time sends forth another graduating class. With diploma in hand each member bravely comes forward to conquer the world through service. Today Salem Normal School bids farewell to the members of the Class of 1923, tomorrow the Commonwealth welcomes them as the New Teachers enlisted in her service. No title such as doctor, professor or reverend does the graduate of a normal receive-to the world at large she is unknown. However, to that little part of the world whom she is to serve, she is known as the NEW TEACHER and great is the wonder concerning what manner of person she will prove to be. The Graduate, standing on the threshold of the world, wonders, too, What manner of teacher will I be? In what spirit, for what aims am I becoming the NEW TEACHER? Let her aims attain the glory of ideals, her purpose, to be true to them, and though the goal is ideal, let practical application of what she has learned be the road to the achievement of it. The profession of teaching is one of life's most responsible vocations. Each year the teacher has intrusted to her care from twenty to forty young lives and it is her duty to guide and direct them through her teaching and example. Her work is not a business of an eight hour day with no other aim than self advancement and no other goal than the weekly pay envelope. Greater than these are the things she must strive for. She is a Shepherdessg the children are her Flock. Just as the Good Shepherd was the Teacher of Mankind so too the New Teacher of our present day has the same responsibility. She cannot think only of self, forgetting the children's need, for their development is her care. The mission of the teacher is to prepare the children of the land for complete living, to teach them so that they may be able to make a friend of life. To do this she must not only teach them how to work but must also teach them how to play and how to enjoy the results ol' the work they have accomplished. She herself must know how to work and how to play because one cannot teach one thing and live another. Une of' the duties of the teacher is to make the school attractive. The man who dislikes his work cannot become very successful in it--the boy who hates school will not do good work. To make school attractive to the child does not mean that work must be sacriliced to pleasure, but does mean making the work itself attractive by giving it a worth while purpose. This means, not making the children work because they must do as the teacher says, but rather giving them a reason for wanting to do the work and enjoying it. The teacher who holds the intel'1'St ol' her Class is the lr

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92233 'I'III'f 1.011 I I '4Qu..-A Dcnicutinn TO miss mary Zilicc Ctdiurrcn WHO HAS WORKED so FAITHFULLY IN THE INTERESTS OF THE STUDENTS OF THE SALEM NORMAL SCHOOL WE THE CLASS OF 1925 DEDICATE THIS BOOK

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1923 THE LOG 19223 one who will provide a reason, acceptable to the child mind, for doing the necessary work. These are some oi' the aims of' teaching out of' which the New Teacher may weave her ideals. Although school-teaching carries many responsibilities and at times demands self'-sacrifice to some degree, it is not a burden to be dreaded. It is rather the work which enables us to to give most 'freely of' the abilities we possess for the common good, and of' what worth are our abilities if we lock them up in a vault of selfishness and never bring them out to the sunshine of service '? Happiness is the hardest thing in the world to find when we seek it for ourselves alone, because our heart is closed to the wo1'ld in its selfishness, and happiness cannot enter in. Only when we open our hearts to others in service and forget to seek our own ends does happiness come creeping in at the opening and we find it there. What we get out of our work is only the result of what we put into it. Success in teaching depends on the teacher. She who performs the daily task doing as little as possible, spending the time, which might be used for the thorough performance of duties, in thinking of ways to get through as easily as possible, cannot expect a rich reward either materially or in that elusive quality-peace of mind-which follows the completion of work well done. The world isn't seeking the return of the teacher whose only thought was work and whose life held no pleasures, but the world will always recognise that the teacher worth while is the one who can put her soul into her work in the time appointed and whose thoughts are not on the dismissal bell during the day, the one who can play when it is time for play, but who can work and be happy i11 the doing when the time for play is over. Most likely there are but very few of us who can live up to all the ideals of what the teacher should be, but the ideals should not be cast aside simply because they can- not be attained in their full perfection. They give us something to shape our lives by, something to work for, and encourage us to give our best efforts to the work we have chosen. Being human, each one of us longs for Success and Happiness. The nearer we approach the ideals of teaching the nearer we come to our desire, for Happiness comes through service and Success with the achievements that service has wrought. X Rf, ST