an expression of their good-will and affectionate remembrance. A copy of this document may interest teachers elsewhere, and therefore we subjoin it. "British School, Dorchester, Feb. 18th, 1858. "DEAR SIR,-We, the scholars in the school with which you have for so long a time been connected, beg to express our sincere sorrow that you are about to leave us. We would, at the same time, earnestly hope that you will be pleased to accept, as a small token of our love and gratitude for the kindness and attention you have always shown towards us, and as a memento of our love and esteem, the accompanying pencil, which we hope will be received, not for the intrinsic value it possesses, but as a small offering from your affectionate scholars." "10 Mr. Janson." Signed by Twenty-six Elder Scholars. THE PROSPECTS AND DUTIES OF A NORMAL STUDENT. (From an Address to the Students of the Borough Road Normal College, by the PRINCIPAL, at the commencement of the Session of 1858.) Ir must not be forgotten that another point of some importance is involved in your coming here. Though you have remained much longer than other boys and girls in the schools in which you were taught; yet, as is implied in the name you bore, you have been not only teachers, but pupils; and some of the associations and habits of scholars still cling to you. The Queen's scholarship examination marks an important era in your life. You are now young men and women, with higher responsibilities than you ever assumed before. When you next enter a British School, it will not be as the elder companion of children, but as their master or their mistress. The year or two of your residence here bridges over the chasm which separates youth from manhood. It should make a great difference in your manners, your habits of thinking and of acting; it should give increased dignity and seriousness to your whole character. I do not mean that you should lose the cheerfulness and buoyancy of youth, still less that you should counterfeit a gravity which is not really felt; but I want to remind you that you have adopted a profession in which steadiness of purpose, earnestness, and gravity, are of more importance than perhaps in any other. The levity and recklessness which may seem pardonable in other occupations at your time of life, would prove a hindrance and a misfortune in yours, and destroy that moral influence on which a teacher's success so much depends. It is implied, therefore, by your coming here that you have considered this matter well, and that you are prepared to act accordingly. You have chosen a pursuit in which manliness and decision of character are needed earlier in life than ordinarily; you have committed yourselves to a work which demands more thoughtfulness and seriousness than perhaps any other. Do not forget what this choice involves. In making it, you have voluntarily pledged yourselves that you will at least endeavour to act up to its implied requirements. None but a person under the influence of true religion, whose own character and conduct are uniformly consistent with the Christian profession, and who enters upon the work of teaching not merely that he may get a living by it, but that he may have an opportunity of serving his Divine Master, and glorifying Him in it, can ever hope to be truly successful as a British teacher. And none but those who hope and pray to become all this, and who aim very high, and are disposed to work very hard, ought ever to enter an institution of this kind. I think, therefore, that a little serious reflection on the character of the work you have undertaken, and on the future that awaits you after your college course shall have ended, will show you the need of great watchfulness while you are here, as to your personal conduct. From this time every act you perform, and every folly and weakness into which you are betrayed, becomes of greater significance than ever. More is expected of you, more eyes are watching you, and more weight attaches to your individual influence. From this time, therefore, it is not too much to expect that you will use greater circumspection than has ever been demanded of you before; that you will, in fact, make every item of your conduct the subject of study and forethought; that you will, as the Apostle says, put away childish things," and remembering that you are now for the first time called to sustain the characters and do the work of men and women, that you will seek to acquire the higher tone of character, the deeper earnestness, and the more fixed and durable habits, which are consistent with that position. Never forget that not only in this Training College, but all over the country, the persons who will have the power to promote your interests are those who attach higher importance to moral than to intellectual qualifications. In estimating your fitness for any post you may hereafter desire to fill, the evidence of high principle, of Christian consistency, and of those qualities which make a person a noble example to children, will always outweigh any testimonial of mere literary or scientific acquirement. In the curriculum of study which has just been read to you, and which is prescribed by the Government, you will observe an important omission. Religious knowledge does not, as you are aware, form part of the actual requirements for a certificate of merit; but it does form the highest and most conspicuous requirement for a Christian teacher; and, therefore, it will claim a great deal of your attention here. In the opinion of the Committee of this Society, sound and accurate Biblical information is an indispensable qualification for a British teacher. You will, therefore, be called upon to pay considerable attention to the study of the Holy Scriptures; and the degree of success you attain in explaining, illustrating, and enforcing the truths of the Divine Word upon the children of the practising school, as well as in making good use of the lectures and other lessons of the Resident Superintendent, will have much to do with the estimate which will hereafter be formed by the authorities here of your fitness for the teacher's office. I hope you will never lose sight of the fact that you are to be teachers, not students merely. You come here mainly, and primarily, that you may know how to keep a school well. The subject of school management, both in its theory and practice, will therefore demand much of your thought. The first requisite for a teacher is, of course, that he knows well the subject which he undertakes to teach; the most obvious reason for your coming here is therefore that you may become thoroughly conversant with all the subjects which are taught in elementary schools, and with such other branches of knowledge as throw additional light upon those subjects, or will help to give you a more comprehensive grasp of them. But this is not all. It will be your business also to know how such subjects can best be taught; and whenever you become acquainted with a new fact or truth, the question should occur to you—“How can I best shape this truth so as to find an entrance for it into the mind of a learner? What is the most effective method of explaining this fact? How can I make use of what I have just learnt when I become a schoolmaster or mistress ?" Men acquire knowledge for very different purposes—some that they may display it in society; some that they may work out its results in the closet, or apply it to special professional purposes; some for the mere delight which the possession of knowledge gives; you acquire yours that you may impart it. Let this always be kept in view while you are studying or listening to lectures. Cultivate a habit of observing how knowledge enters your own mind. Notice what is the form of illustration, the tone, the look, the language, the method, which seems to bring new truth most vividly before your own powers of conception, and fix it most firmly on your memory. No one can ever communicate knowledge into another mind so well as he who remembers how knowledge was received into his own. Besides this, you will do well to avail yourselves with special care of the hints which the various lecturers and teachers may furnish respecting the best mode of teaching their respective subjects. All this will be necessary, besides the diligent attention to the lectures on school management, to the criticism lessons, and the work of the practising schools, all of which are specified in our time-table. I have said that a rigorous and exact attention to all rules will be required on your part. But this is not all. We shall expect to receive from you a hearty and loyal co-operation in carrying out the business of the year, and to see each of you voluntarily striving for his own sake to do his best. The student whose notions of duty extend no further than our requirements, is never good for much. Mere mechanical obedience to rules, however exact and scrupulous it may be on your part, will not suffice to make you happy or successful here. It may suffice to satisfy one's employers, and even one's own conscience, in some of the pursuits of life; but neither the business of a student, nor that of a teacher, can be well done on these terms. You are entering on a course which, from the beginning to the end of it, will demand a hearty zeal, a willingness, and a great amount of personal interest, I had almost said enthusiasm, in addition to simple conformity to rules. Let me caution you, therefore, not to be satisfied with yourselves while you only work under the pressure of authority. Always suspect that there is something wrong if you only just avoid blame. Let there be some feature of your work, some one subject of study marked by a more careful finish, and a higher excellence, than the teacher of the subject insists on and expects. There is a good deal of truth in what Dr. Arnold once said, "If you take your work as a dose, it is sure to be nauseous." Take yours, then, as food, as something not to be evaded, but welcomed and enjoyed, and do not be content until you positively like it. And it must not be forgotten that you are here not merely to be subject to the influence of others, but to exert your own. A human character is a mysterious thing. There are subtle emanations ever radiating from it, which pervade in a wonderful way the whole circle which surrounds it, and cannot fail to affect every other character included in that circle. No one can spend a year in this little community without leaving some trace either for good or evil on the characters of his fellow-students. Whoever brings an ungoverned temper, or a tendency to idleness, or an uncourteous manner, or an unforbearing spirit, into the society which you have just entered, brings with him an infectious disease, which will help to corrupt the atmosphere in which his associates live. Consider this well, and then I think you will have a strong motive for watchfulness in your behaviour here. Think of the good you may do to your fellow-students by constantly exhibiting, in the midst of them, the spectacle of thoughtfulness and self-restraint; of a dignified and Christian deportment; of a willingness to oblige others; of a force and vigour in the prosecution of your work, tempered by a meek and quiet spirit; and of a high standard of personal honour, truthfulness, and self-respect. Remember that an example like this cannot fail to be very influential in raising the whole moral tone of the commu. nity in which you live, and in promoting your own happiness and usefulness. And if it seems to you, on comparing the claims and requirements of this Institution and of your future professional life on the one hand, with what you know of your own personal qualifications on the other, that you are unequal to the work you have undertaken, I would not have you discouraged. There is nothing required of you here which moderate natural abilities, conscientiously and diligently used, may not, by the grace of God, easily achieve. It is not by the use of rare and remarkable talents, for the most part, that the best things are to be done. Very few men possess extraordinary gifts; and those who do not possess them can serve their Master and Lord as faithfully, and do quite as much valuable work in the world as those who do. Plain common sense, supplemented by ordinary diligence and high principle, will suffice to carry a man through most professions, and it will suffice in yours. You may be conscious that your own judgment is not naturally acute, and that you lack that power of rightly discerning the character of the children which is so important for a teacher. But experience will give you that power, and you will find it grow upon you every year, if you seek it thoughtfully. Or you may feel an inward suspicion that you are deficient in those qualities which give a teacher personal weight and moral influence over his pupils. But remember that steadiness of purpose and systematic attention to duty will certainly supply this deficiency, and give even the humblest among you a very enviable share of personal authority. And, perhaps, in looking forward to your work as a student in this place, you feel some misgivings because you are in regard to some subjects naturally slow of comprehension, and it may be because in regard to all you have a weak or treacherous memory. Even this ought not to dishearten you, for although no doubt there are great differences in our natural endowments, those differences are not nearly so great as we suppose. Do not let us blame nature for deficiencies in our character which are mainly the result of our own negligence, or which it is in our power, with a little effort, to remove. There is not one of our faculties which may not be greatly improved by exercise. This is true to some extent of what are called the higher functions of mind, such as imagination and reasoning power; but it is especially and remarkably true of the memory. Never, therefore, imagine a bad memory to be an incurable disease, or a mere misfortune to be lamented and endured. Consider it rather as an obstacle to be overcome, or as an inferior servant whom you can train into a good one; for the strength and retentiveness of our memory is mainly determined by the degree of attention which we devote to any subject. Now, attention is almost wholly in the control of the will, and the task of fixing your mind steadily upon one thing at a time is therefore wholly in your own power. However difficult it may seem to you at first to check wandering thoughts, and to concentrate your powers into one focus, the task will become easier every time it is repeated; and I believe that it will thus become possible for every one of you, after a resolute effort, to possess what is called a good memory. And do not forget that there is one fountain of wisdom and of strength, which is always accessible, and which yet is inexhaustible. Your best efforts will often fail, and leave you depressed and discouraged; and you will find not only here, but very often in your course through life, that your most successful performances are enfeebled by irresolution, or marred by folly, or defiled by sin. Have constant recourse, therefore, to Him who is the source of all light, of all real nobleness of character, and of all true happiness. He will teach you how all your motives can be purified, and your weakest efforts can be consecrated to His service. He will bestow on you, if you sedulously seek it, that triple gift which an eminent teacher once said contained the whole sum of a schoolmaster's qualifications" the spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION FOR GIRLS. THE following important letter and memorandum have recently been issued to the managers of schools under inspection : : Educational Department, Council Office, London, S.W., I AM directed by my Lords to bring under your notice the annexed copy of a memorandum upon the means of further encouraging attention to needlework, and other domestic industry on the part of female pupil-teachers and of candidates for Queen's scholarships in the training schools for females. The certificate from the schoolmistress respecting the skill of female candidates for apprenticeship in needlework, and the annual statement whether the female apprentices have been receiving instruction in any other kind of domestic industry, will be introduced into the Form (ix.) of Managers' Return, and will thus be brought under notice, at the proper time, when that form is received from Her Majesty's Inspector, shortly before his visit. It may happen, in many of the cases which are about to fall due for inspection, that the Form ix. will not contain a place for the certificate and statement in question. The Managers will not need to trouble themselves about the entry until the place for it appears in the Form ix. which reaches them, at least before the inspection of 1859, if not sooner. The Managers are requested, however, to notice at once 1. That the Female Apprentices should produce certified specimens of their needlework at each of the annual examinations, whether held in their own schoolroom or elsewhere; and, 2. That the Female Candidates for Queen's Scholarships, who go up in December to the various Training Colleges for Schoolmistresses under Inspection, will, in addition to the examination before Her Majesty's Inspector, be examined and reported on by the superintendent of the College, in the manner described in the Memorandum. I have the honour to be, your obedient Servant, R. R. W. Lingen. Needlework and other Domestic Industry of Female Pupil Teachers, and of Education Department, Council Office, Downing Street, It is considered by their Lordships of the Committee of the Privy Council on Education to be indispensable that all female pupil-teachers should be expert needlewomen, and very desirable that they should be practically conversant with other matters pertaining to domestic economy. Complaints have been received from persons who have ample opportunities of ascertaining the truth, that many of them fall far short of a satisfactory standard in both of these points. It has been suggested that the adoption of the following regulation will have a powerful effect upon female apprentices generally, and will give much satisfaction to those who are most deeply interested in their improvement. 1. At the Christmas examination for Queen's scholarships, the superintendent of every Female Training College will be requested to examine the candidates in needlework, and in the cutting-out of ordinary articles of dress, and, after that examination, to forward to the Committee of Council a list of the candidates, arranged in three classes. To the candidates in the first class a considerable number of marks will be given; those in the second class will neither gain nor lose marks; while a certain number of marks will be taken away from those who are placed in the third. This part of the examination may be properly entrusted to the superintendents of the Training Colleges, who are, of course, interested to keep up the standard at admission, with a view to success in the final examinations. 2. The superintendent will further ascertain in whatever way she considers most satisfactory, by means of the laundry, kitchen, and other premises of the College, whether any of the candidates have acquired a practical acquaintance with the common details of housekeeping. If she reports that certain of them have given evidence of practical attention to this subject, she will make a special entry to that effect opposite to the names of those who are placed in the first and second classes for needlework, and a certain number of marks will be awarded to them in consequence. 3. She will also add a note to the name of each candidate, concerning whose dress, manners, or personal habits, she may see prima facie reason to be dissatisfied. |