| Show written for this paper METHOD IN STUDY the following is a synopsis of a lecture upon method in in study delivered by dr J E talmage bebe before the normal society of the university or of utah october 27 1893 the lecturer spoke in an extempore manner without use of notes and the report given below is compiled from reporters notes carefully revised it is to me a pleasure and an honor at any time to meet with a body of earnest fellow workers and as I 1 claim to be a student however slothful and something of a teacher however incapable I 1 pride myself in in the claim of family connection with all others of the kind whenever I 1 meet one such I 1 feel within my nature the swelling impulses that tell of kin ship I 1 understand that I 1 have hav elthe the honor of addressing a boda ot of teachers teachers in fact or teachers in in expectation I 1 am safe in concluding therefore that 1 I stand before an assembly of students the most experienced of the actual teachers before me are doubtless among those who most fully deserve the title of students As long as one remains a teacher he must be likewise a student deep earnest and true the teacher should differ from his pupils mostly in being a broader deeper harder student than they As we are all then students in fact and by profession it surely cannot be wholly amiss amiss to call up the topic of method in our work it is necessary that we should know i whit what we are required or expected to do and 2 by what means this end or these ends mav be most easily reached personal an individual study constitutes the food of the teachers mental organism he must needs partake in proper quantity and at seasonable and regular times his digestion is naturally of but limited capa city he cannot consume enough at a sitting to last a month or a week it is not good to be a glutton today and a starveling tomorrow As to physical food hygienists attach great importance to the kind of aliment and also to the time and manner of eating yet fearfully full and wonder ully made as is the boby body of man his mental organism is far more complex ind and delicate and surety s food for such an organism should lie be selected with corresponding care yet there is ordinarily but little attempt made to devise and follow any systematic procedure in matters of study of the teacher much is expected besides the routine work of his ilass class room hi he is usually one olie of the busiest ahem bers of the community though not exactly a jack of all trades he is nevertheless a man of all professions hla pen must be ever ready and his mind alert for work to be a teacher worthy of that distinguishing name he be must bk be an educated man and what is it to tier be educated in this day of seemingly unnatural progress to be educated as the spirit of his work demands tm the teacher must be able to ta take a lively J interest in all matters of growth and development current in the comm community unitt and in the world he should have h favorite studies to which he can with interest and zest but he must not be a man of unmanageable hobbies if he have a bobby he muse ride it quietly aud alad unostentatiously without causing inconvenience to others abrou through h L noise or dost d not which he created cre creat atef fair less can he be with any propriety wholly a specialist much ol 01 of a specialist he may be something of a specialist he roust must be but entirely a specialist he can not be the specialist is apt to be narrow however deep deel the currents ot of his mind may run he is useful in his sphere indispensable in the world a necessary unfortunate in fact to me the calist is comparable to the locomotive grand mighty majestic while on the track yet how little can it render ren derone one in reaching any point not directly along the line of travel but let it not be thought because of such words and compa comparisons rions that I 1 deprecate the work of the special investigator from my heart I 1 say honor onor to every such hero the specialist special specialist is the pioneer in progress the explorer who bids adieu to well known shores with no compass but that of hope and sincere trust to guide him and carries his fortunes into the ocean of the undiscovered the teacher is he who waits anxiously at the port straining eye and ear to c catch atch the first signor sign or sound of the returning voy ager and who when he returns listens to the stirring accounts of discovery and give gives s the most desirable parts to his pupils the teacher occupies a place between the specialist and the people receiving from the one and giving to the other the original investigator is the true miracle worker under whose priestly ge s aly touch the little loaves of knowl edge ge e epand and increase till from them a multitude may be fed and filled while thousands more may feast upon the fragments we as teachers are privileged to be called disciples of this master appointed to distribute the life giving aliment thus blessed and sanci ifield to the hungry multitude it suffices my ambition as one of the humblest workers in this distinguished profession to be such a disciple of such a master how is it possible for one to be broadly educated today there was a time when one human mind could compass all that had been discovered disco ered in science our title philosopher a lover of wisdom tells the story of a day when such a one was physicist as far as physics had progressed astronomer g physics ottist ot anist physician astrologer chemist and mathematician now ho however rear every eairy one of these branches bran chei is comparable to ta a central sum of colossal magnitude with numerous lila planets nets A attendant on oh his courte course no man can in a any ordinary ordin iry life time fully master all the t discovered truths in chemistry ot or alioe the field of knowl edge even is as far as at present mit surveyed keyed is practically illimitable haw can czine one feel himself great when spice space is infinite to be anything in in i tl the he intellectual world I 1 i repeat that at y a person parson in ge general heral and aho a teacher in ill i particular must be aw of bf h specialist a eci alist in the sense of having particular tines lines of work but to be entirely a ipe specialist Oali st is not permissible in a teat teacher tier the nineteenth century is the carboniferous etau a age of f mt intellectual advancement the ce air air is is J heavily gar aen laden with the gases and vapors of gro growth 1 th th theearta the earth is reeking to with the sir strength l ori 0 increase As under tinder tropical suns plants spring up even among the graveled walks upon which men tread tome some of them of new dew and ad st strange rangit growths so in the domain of intellectual advancement every highway and byway is giving misgiving place to the verdure of increase some of these many of them perhaps are still classed as weeds axe are plants lants ol of which we have not yet learned le the uses others are assuredly various if none were in any manner bad it would seem that to a degree the curse had add been withdrawn and that in the field ofin of mental activity at least the earth was abou t to yield of her strength let us consider an instance the words of a language may be fairly taken as an index to the thought or lack of thought of the people and under existing conditions words are increasing at a prodigious rate by recent announcements we learn something of the progress being made in that stupendous work the oxford dictionary al ready nearly 35 years have been devoted by a large corps of learned men to the preparation of the pages and they are now lat laboring boring in the letter C one volume has been issued it comprises over 1200 pages presenting more than words beginning with A and B one may well wonder when this herculean task will be accomplished and what as an able thinker has in inquired will the supplement be like the volume or volumes destined to contain the words in each letter that have been brought into existence since the letter in question was finished in in the main work already it has been found necessary to prepare a glossary 0 the technical terms employed in the field of electrical science alone it is a huge tome and annual supplements are being made how can one keep up with the times limes what is it to be educated under these conditions it would seem almost impossible even to catalogue the discoveries and invention ot of the age surely the preacher was right when he declared to the making of books there is no end yet books are among the chief of the teachers tools and tools are to be regarded as aids in the work means devised for the accomplishment of a given purpose that purpose it in our profession is the development of the human capacity toward greater perfection not physical well being alone nor moral progress only nor intellectual excellence by itself but perfection of the individual or a condition as nearly ap pro preaching aching perfection as it is possible to attain the day has passed when the teacher thought his work to consist in I 1 pouring knowledge into the pupils mind the present aim of the profession is to lead out and thus develop the innate powers teaching the student to measure his own ability to feel the strength of his hh own wings in shorts short to use his powers in laudable service thus making himself a better individual physically intelli intellectually actually and morally referring to the tools of the teachers work it is a matter of general observation that in angart any art or science the history of its tools would be in tact fact a true history of thi the growth of knowl knowledge or skill along that line were honor given to whom honor is due the men who advanced advance d the art 0 ot f sawing chipping p ing and polishing marble would share th the e praises for the apollo the venus and angelos moses the discoverers of the arts of prie preparing paring and mixing pigments are entitled to a share of praise tor for the madonna we laud land guttenberg and caxton for their service in the art of printing and have called them anven of printing whereas the men who invented paper have done more mora toward advancing printing than those who first used types in the making of books the fundamental idea of printing that ot of taking impressions from dies was in m service long before the days of guttenberg as witness the medals and medallions of far greater antiquity printa printing i g could advance but slowly until a suitable fabric was prepared for the reception ot of the u impressions i the first uses of parchment of the papyrus and of modern paper mark epochs in the history of printing mineralogy could scarcely be called an exact science till the reached a stage of working perfection fec tion the history of of modern chemistry dates from the time of Lavoi first well directed use ol of the balance discoveries co veries in microscopy are largely due to the energies ot of those who work to perfect the instrument students of the brass and glass of microscopy as they are derisively dubbed but the simple possession ot of good tools does not insure good work the worker must know his tools and what astounding skill can be attained in their asel use who has not watched with admiration mi ration almost amounting to envy the ease with which the skillful artisan manipulates his tools the carpenter his plane and saw his level and compass and square the mason his and line the farmer his shovel and plow the sculptor his chisel the artist his brush these are masters of handcraft hand cratt the good old origin for our modern word handicraft and this arises from froin proper attention to he such skill is only obtainable through strictest attention to the requirements and system in study and practice in our work we have to be aided by a system of note taking not to be employed alone while listening to formal lectures in class but in in the course of our own reading and individual reflection every earnest student should keep notes of his work in all branches and beside the special notebooks note books thus produced he will find use for the scrapbook in which to preserve tor for easy reference clippings from periodical literature also a commonplace common place book in which to record tb thoughts especially worthy of remembrance from whatever source obtained froni from acknowledged instructors from books from individual reflection refi action or from the teachings of the teachers own pupil sand it may be from the smallest and most inexperienced of these little ones let us guard against desultory reading re reading biti that leaves no record in mind or book except in the weakening of our powers tithe time now forbids forbid sa a fuller consideration of this and more than a mention of other important points eints in the tine line of the teachers I 1 labor a bor ret let each one know himself and prepare himself for greater energy by strict regard to the requirements of his body as to food recreation and sleep as also to the proper hours for study we cannot afford to waste our energy let us guard our thoughts that they be ever pure elevating and ennobling where an unworthy word has injured one degrading thoughts have ruined alcort a score ve we are of necessity often forced to commune with our inmost selve ft should we not prepare for ourselves a proper reception then will we be comfortable with the entertainment afford afforded dby by our own iAin minds ds then will we wb no ion longer k think it ft always solitude to beato beacone be atone ncr that you may maly all take com tort and pleasure in your labors of love for such the teachers work largely is and bo be rewarded with the thanks of those whom you have been the means ol of assisting to higher purposes is my heartfelt wish for each of you individually and collectively for your honorable society |
