Teachers were philosophers, pupils were
followers and disciples, while learning was devoted to the support of
speculations and theories.
But, while we have no such teachers as those of Athens, and need no such
schools as they founded, we have teachers and schools whose character
and genius correspond to the age in which we live. Teaching is a
profession; not merely an ignoble pursuit, nor a toy of scholastic
ambition, but a profession enjoying the public confidence, requiring
great talents, demanding great industry, and securing, permit me to say,
great rewards. To be the leader of a sect or the founder of a school, is
something; but the acceptable teacher is superior to either; he is the
first and chief exponent of a popular sovereignty which seeks happiness
and immortality for itself by elevating and refining the parts of which
it is composed. The ancient teacher gathered his hearers, disciples, and
pupils, in the streets, groves, and public squares. The modern teacher
is comparatively secluded; but let him not hence infer that he is
without influence. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, had their triumphs;
but none more distinguished than that of a Massachusetts teacher, who,
at the age of fourscore years, on a festive day, received from his
former pupils--and among them were the most eminent of the land--sincere
and affectionate assurances of esteem and gratitude.
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