Stratford Normal School - Classic Yearbook (Stratford, Ontario Canada)

Page 11 text:

STRATFORD, ONT. , Q 1 7 7 g'zonz the lizsctoz of J- 'zofsniorzuf gnzinirzy U65 .Liam Qsdtzgogic The teacher was all in a dither Developing num ber-form six With coppers and cubes for counters With domlnoes, 'nuts and sticks. Said Billy, the Superindifferent, They're just like my coat buttons here. Said the teacher, Yo11're right! Let's call it The coat-button mmzber., dear. And this is the law pedagogic, The root of leafage and limb, The teacher learns of the pupil As the pupil learns of him. Harry Amoss

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04 fjvliiiflgi wnz the Cfifiirziitez of fjcfucatiolz Education and agriculture have much in common. The prosperity of a farm depends in part upon the sufficiency of its barns and machinery but in yet larger part upon the efficiency of its husbandry. Likewise the success of a school is determined not only by the adequacy of its buildings and equipment but also by the character of its teacher and the nature of its instruction. As Minister of Education and Premier of Ontario it has been my privilege in recent months to introduce a measure whereby the Government assumes half the cost of education throughout the Province and so assure to every boy and girl within its jurisdiction better and more equal educational opportunity. Other measures have been taken which benefit the teacher in the way of salary, superannuation and professional organization. But, though many material advantages will thus accrue to the schools, the parents, the teachers and the pupils, these measures will have been made in vain unless the teachers in turn respond to improvements in their working and living conditions with increased zeal and wider understanding. A poor farmer despoils rich acres but a good husbandman brings the desert to bloom. I would, therefore, earnestly entreat your whole-hearted co-operation in the present endeavour to better educational conditions throughout the Province. Times of readjustment such as we are about to experience inevitably bring change. I would ask you to hold fast to tried loyalties and well established truths but to be ready with open minds to investigate new tendencies in educa- tion and to adopt for use in your schools such as prove worthy. Times of change are critical periods in the life of a people, making either for rapid progress or slow decay. From your record of achievement I am con- fident that the teachers of Ontario may safely be entrusted with the responsi- bility of seeing that the coming generation is well equipped in courage, upright'- ness and knowledge to carry the fortunes of this fair land to a splendid destiny. GEORGE A. DREW Toronto, March 19th, 1945. Minister of Education

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it .5. gg: S7-Dzirzciflaf '1 cfmsiiags Finally, Ladies and Gentlemen- To be a teacher is a simple matter-absurdly simple. You must walk so that the path of your feet and the direction in which you point are not sadly divergent. You must learn of the drives that determine human behaviour, and avoid the mistake of imagining that action is determined solely by knowledge. You must acquire the ability to analyze subject matter, to arrange topics in order of the most effective presentation, and to select the right pedals in accord- ing emphases. You must develop skill in administration. You must cultivate an unassailable sense of fairness and an unfailing sense of humour. You must display sound judgment and good taste in all references to your pupils, in the dropping of a word of praise, in the giving of an effectual rebuke which cannot rankle, and in the allotment of punishment which is salutary without being unnecessarily humiliating. You must gain insight into human nature so that you have more than ordinary success, in distinguishing between sincerity and insincerity, and between enthusiasms which are spurious and those which are genuine and persistent or short-livedg in penetrating the diffidence or reserve that may enshroud ability or incompetencyg and in detecting sensitiveness and treating it tactfully and hclpfully. You must be shrewd enough to regard as an indication of poise, reliability and judgment what is only that vacuous, vegetative complacency which has attained its highest development in the Hubbard squash. You should have dignity, not the dignity of the flowing robe, but the dignity that is skin-tight. You should wear the mien of authority unauthoritatively, but not obtrusivc- ly so. You should be courteous, not merely because courtesy is a shield and buckler against discourtesy, but because of kindness to others and respect for yourself. To be a teacher is an absurdly simple matter. Plunge in, and God be with you. ll flat.,