On the teachers, then, is the chief responsibility, whether the young
women who go out from this institution are well qualified for their
profession or not. The study of technicalities is drudgery of the worst
sort to the mere pupil; but the scholar looks upon it as a preparation
for a wide and noble exercise of his intellectual powers--as a key to
unlock the mysteries of learning. It is the business of the teacher to
lighten the labors of to-day by bright visions of to-morrow.
There is a school in medicine, whose chief claim is, that it invites and
prepares Nature to act in the removal of disease.
We pass no judgment upon this claim; but he is, no doubt, the best
teacher who does little for his pupils, while he incites and encourages
them to do much for themselves. Extensive knowledge will enable the
teacher to do this.
He is a poor instructor of mathematics who sees only the dry details of
rules, tables and problems, and never ascends to the contemplation of
those supreme wonders of the universe which mathematical astronomy has
laid open. The grammar of a language is defined to be the art of reading
and writing that language with propriety. The study of its elements is
dry and uninteresting; and, while the teacher dwells with care upon the
merits of the text, he should also lift the veil from that which is
hidden, and lead his pupils to appreciate those riches of learning which
the knowledge of a language may confer upon the student.
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