OCR Text |
Show OUR. LITERARY TABLE ' The Training of the Teacher" is No. 5 of a series J of educational briefs, by Rev. James A. Burns, C. S. I C. superintendent of parish schools, Philadelphia. There is much valuable information In this little i book outside the scope its title indicates. The rise and ; development of the parochial school system is a phe- nomenon which has of late years been attracting more and more attention of non-Ca Coolie educators. The j deliberations of educational bodies, educational jour- ; nals, and the popular press, alike furnish evidence of : how closely our sehoqjs are being studied, and of how keenly felt is their claim to effectively rival the public senools. The phenomenon, even apart from the reli- i gious question involved, is indeed striking enough to elicit the attention and earnest study of all who are ! sincerely Interested in the progress of popular educa- tion. . It may be questioned if the history of educa- I tion affords a parallel example of the development of a system of schools on so comprehensive a scale, in i so shoTt a period of time and in the face of difficulties I so real and so great. The parochial school system of j today is practically a creation of the past fifty years, j Instead of the few scattered parish schools existing at the middle of the last century, there are now many thoi'sands of schools, organized on a national plan, and to be found in every State and territory and in almost every city and town. In endeavoring to determine the extant to which the training of the Catholic teacher has been influenced influ-enced by the greut educational movement represented by the normal school, it must be remembered that the movement was distinctly Catholic in its origin. Its essential principles were woven into the rules and constitutions con-stitutions cf the great religious order created by the founder of the first normal school, and most of the teaching communities which have been established since are modeled more or less upon the order of La Salle. In certain important respects, as we shall see. the Catholic teaching orders represent the most perfect per-fect development of the fundamental idea for which the normal school stands. It must be remembered, too, that nearly all the teaehers In the parochial schools today are members of the religious orders. In studying the growth of the parochial school system, two tendencies are noticed which verc evident from the very beginning, but which have become specially manifest during recent years. One is the replacement of malj teachers by women. The other is the replacement of lay teachersboth teach-ersboth men and women by religious. A quarter of a century ago lay teachers were quite common in the parochial schools, especially In the Middle Western West-ern states. Today they are rarely to be found, and where they are, it is usually in the capacity of assistants as-sistants to the regular teachers. The gradual disappearance disap-pearance of male teachers from the elementary schools seems to be due chiefly to- economic causes, just as in i the case of the public schools. At present less than j one-twentieth of the teachers in the parochial schools are men, and even this slight proportion appears to be j on the decrease. Nearly all of these belong to religious 1 orders. Many of them are really teaching classes of high school grade In connection with parochial schools, and there is a growing tendency on the part of the teaching brotherhoods to concentrate their work in the field of secondary education. Catholic elementary edtt- cation is today, tUfreftNrc, almost entirely i,, the ii,-,, fll of the religious orders of women. Thes . . very numerous. The "Catholic Directory" recognize eighty-five distinct teaching communities of women, the combined membership of which is upward of 4 0,1 Some of 'these communities have less than 196 ligioua, while m.iny are comparatively lar-, ihe largest numbering about G.W members. Som. cesan, that is. their work is confined to a Angle cese: but, as a rule, tbe establishments of 'a-'h order rang" through a number of states, and not a few havs schools In -very section Of the country and every state. In Benziger's Magazin for February we ha opening of a new serial. "The Way thai Led B-by B-by the author of "Kind Hearts and Coroneta" J. Har- rison. it promises to make a v-ry interesting and -I citing serial. "The Rpsemonde," by .Uiliatt Sennet, is I the tragic romance of a bell; "Not Mentioned in Des-patches." Des-patches." by Thto. Gift, a true story of the war, dramatically told; "My Priand Eugene, by Tbi Jarman. is a humorous tale, and "A t'hartre My!." h Antonio Fogazanno. a well told lov story. Tiie sp..-i,. articles have been carefully selected, and. arc oi mor than passing interest. "A Keliglous Painter of To day" is the critique, comparison and appreciation of one of the great European artists. IU is handsomely illustrated with reproductions from some of the tlst's famous paintings. "A Glimpse into "Ole Kane-tuck' Kane-tuck' " gives us, as much as can be contained in a article, a little about the Blu Grass state and its peo-pie. peo-pie. It has four illustrations. The storiettes are brtgh and clever, omprlsing "Both Side of the Qifesti-.,,. "Guadalor.pe" and "A Legend of the Crypts of St. Peter'?." "Dolls and Doll-Houses" is an Interesting Study of the history of a plaything as ancient as tha f history of fashion. It is iretl illustrated. "The Mak-ing Mak-ing of Mush- in Many Lands" is an unusual subject. and in addition fo the instructive text has eight pic-tures pic-tures that pertinently illustrate the information given. The fuH page pictures are "Making Holiday" ana WM "Along a Country Rosd,'1 with a Splendid double-pag. showing "Napoleon's Return from EIDa. urreir ; Events," "'Father Finn's Corner." " James and Amuse-j Amuse-j ments for the Young Folks." "Woman's Piealm." "Book Reviews," "Monthly Competitions" these are t;; standing departments that, each month, seem to grow j brighter and better. Humorous little stories and in-j in-j teresting items are always to be found in each 'bum-J 'bum-J ber. The subscript i n price is $2.00 a year. CHANNELS OF ENNOBLING THOUGHT. i An Essay, by Miss Mary Donaghy, class H. Sacred j Heart academy. Ogden. Upon the wholesome cake of Sesame, into wht h enter only the purest ingredients, the great mind ( lH Ruskin fed and ripened into perfect maturity. And what a great mind it was so lofty in its aspl-rations, aspl-rations, so undaunted in its advocacy of right and mi I elevated in Us idealism an Idealism which many I think was carried to a Quixotic degree. Tn Ruskin's essay. "Kings' Treasures." we i armed with the magic password. "Sesame." WMch j opens to us the enchanted realm of books; while In "Queens' Gardens" we are led to pay homage to thf peerless Lily, the perfect type of a truly noble wo-man. wo-man. In these two efforts the essay is presented In I one of Its highest forms, combining gracefulness of diction with persuasive instruction. The first step In the valuation of books. Ruskin t Bs Us. is to obtain a criterion whereby we may judge on- H errir.gly the good book .which perpetuates what is Hjg true, useful or beautiful in the author's mind, from the worthless chaff holding a place but for the hour with the priceless wheat. Ruskin's powerful pen strongly imprints upon OUT minds the grand truth: "No wealth will bribe. name overawe, no artifice deceive, the guardian of those 'Elysian gates.' which forever debars the vulgar mind from the aristocracy of the learned. Perhaps no single work has don more toward cor- A recting the English people's fault than this essay, for y Ruskin's practiced band aims the arrows of reproach unerringly at the weak points in the armor of Eng-lish Eng-lish honor. - How different the view of the great essayist ob-tained ob-tained through his "Sesame of Kings' Treasures." in which we are stirred by the outpouring of a heart filled with ideals which are daily shattered by the world around him, from that obtained through his Lilif3 in "Queens' Gardens" in which we see his ad-miration ad-miration for womankind, through the medium of one of the noblest pictures penned in modern type. "Queens you must always be: queens to your lovers. queens to ycur husbands and sons: queens of higher mystery, to the world beyond, whtch bows itself, and will forever bow. before the myrtle crown and the stainless sceptre of womanhood." Tet Ruskin wculd have them more than olMfflf. He would hav woman a vitalizing force, reviving even the tenderest flowers in her path. He would have all women like Maud, of whom Tennyson says: "Even the light harebell raised its head. Elastic rrom her airy tread." Into the noblest feelings of the human heart Rus-kin Rus-kin dipped his brush and. drawing it forth, painted in glowing tributes the universal and all-powerful idea 1 Home. Woman's place, he tells us, is essentially and un-changeable un-changeable here. "Whether the stars only may be over her head, the glow-worm in the night-cold grass may be the only fire at her foot, but Home is wher-ever wher-ever she is, and for a noble woman it stretches fer round her. shedding its quiet light far. for those who else were homeless." . |