THE CALL FOR TEACHERS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 59, 4 December 1918, Page 7

THE CALL FOR TEACHERS

' ' ■ ■ <hr-r~ -.. .' ' A GREAT'NATIONAL NEED. ■ "If Avo. ure'to-secure..through the medium of the teacher tho highest and best form of education for our children, our teachers, must : not; only, know more but niusl know better than. the teachers of the past." says .the Minister of IMuca- , lion in his annuul report to Parliament."lliey n. ust have not only- wider knowledge, but ulsd; that.breadth and depth of judgment, that enthusiasm for learning which broad nnd contin'uoud study alone can give. They must be trained to understand not .nicely how. to teach .subjects, but to. appreciate, the significance of the work in wjiich they are engaged, and to bring to bear .upon it powers of judgment, analysis, reflection, nnd ■investigation which only a well-trained mind can exercise. Again, let it be : fiiiid Hint, though tho i|imlificatioris of our present,teachers m; better,than ive liuve deserved to secure with the recompense wo have offered, it is still true that only a mo'lerate proportidi of those'engaged in tho work of teaching have, in any adequate sense, been trained to tho extent, refined to. "Tho responsibilities of teachers in the luture will be more exacting, their ..duties will be wider, the subjects taught vill.be broader in their effect* tho methods will be more, scientific, ami the whole conception of tenchiug will be higher than ever it has been before. We must tliereforo- not only insist that the best ' intelligence iii the community ehall be made effective by the most complete anil •• suitable form of training, but we must see to it immediately that wo take steps ; to moke this postibl'*. The advance, reierred to cannot be inadeiii a day. Even if we began to-morrow with all the necessary .financial,, institutional, educational, 1 anil other resources requisite for securing and training the type of teacher above described, it would take five or six . years to enable the new order of things to show its effects in our schools. Since, therefore, this minimum period i.s. required under the best nnd most favourable condition;, tho urgency for immediate action and the folly of any hesita- , lion or delay should surely be apparent. "■Tn America, where , lo'cal'mting and local control"have operated'go largely in . (he administration of education, the . gravest, concern has bce.ii shown regarding the position of things in that counirr with respect to the training of teachers. A commission recently appointed ■ says: "flio United States has'had'almost ■ no national teacher-training plan or sys- ■ tern of education at -.11. At auy rate, the inequalities in her schools constitute their most striking characteristic, and I his i<? most pronouneed in the training of teachers.' The commission therefore states that 'There is urgent need for one hundred thousand additional trained teachers, and that salaries should at once be raised 50 per cent., and in the near 1 future 100 per cent. Mere boys and girls intent nnon spending two oi , three 1 years in teaching because'it .'e a respectable calling cannot , 'measure up tho rqquirempnts of the present situation.'"