HINTS TO TEACHERS OF YOUNG CLASSES.
By Hattie Olive
As a missionary to foreign lands, when preparing for his work, must, besides his knowledge of facts and of the needs and wants of human nature in general, learn the language of the people among whom he expects to live and labor, before his tact, learning, and religious experience can be of any service to the natives, so the teacher, before he can reach the hearts of his class, must be thoroughly versed in the language of childhood. Without this knowledge, which will perhaps be more readily recognized under the name of sympathy, the teacher, although the greatest, wisest, purest, and most earnest of persons, can achieve but little; but with this rare attainment, and a pure life, and earnest purpose to succeed, the poor preparation for the work of teaching, over which the most of us mourn, need be but a slight hindrance to the immense amount of good which we, as teachers, might accomplish. Through a lack of this ready sympathy with child-nature, teachers are apt, if one child is dull, another uneasy, and still another surly and impudent, to feel that his conduct is actuated by pure ugliness, especially if the offender is a half-grown boy. But such misdemeanors should not be made a personal matter, as often, if these moods could be traced to their source, they would be found to have originated in some trouble at home. By careful study, the teacher will often be able to “trace the day’s disasters in the morning face” of the child, and with a little tact, the impending disturbance may be warded off. If we remember how often we, from overwork or some imprudence, rise in the morning with every nerve quivering, and how a little thing will jar upon us, it will make us more tender and patient with high-strung, nervous children; for it is a melancholy fact that the average child of to-day has nerves, and a little care will teach us how to soothe the child, instead of irritating him still more. No one can do much with children unless the heart be won, and this is just where a knowledge of the child’s nature can be useful. If you have in your class a boy who is a terror to all around him on account of his life and energy, the surest way to his heart is to induce him to do you a favor in some way. If you have that sympathy and love for boys, without which no one should attempt to teach them, you will generally, by careful thought and planning, be able to so direct this superabundant energy as to make it a blessing rather than a curse to its possessor, and to help him to a life of greater usefulness than if he had in him less of this terrorizing element. But it is not always possible, even by good management, to avoid an issue with the members of the class. There came a time when the Creator, the embodiment of love and wisdom, failed in his plan of ruling by love, and was obliged to cast out a part of his host, although they had not inherited the imperfections that are the legacy of these boys. And the time will come to every teacher when the trial must be made to see which of the two—teacher or scholar—has the stronger will. In this case it is strength of will, and not strength of muscle, which determines the result.