Craftsmanship in Teaching

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Title: Craftsmanship in Teaching
Author: William Chandler Bagley

Release Date: November 2, 2005 [eBook #16987]
Language: English
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CRAFTSMANSHIP IN TEACHING
by
WILLIAM CHANDLER BAGLEY
Author Of "The Educative Process," "Classroom Management," "Educational Values,"
Etc.

New York The MacMillan Company 1912 All rights reserved Copyright, 1911, by the
MacMillan Company. Set up and electrotyped. Published April, 1911. Reprinted June,

October, 1911; May, 1912. Norwood Press J.S. Cushing Co.--Berwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.

TO MY PARENTS

PREFACE
The following papers are published chiefly because they treat in a concrete and personal
manner some of the principles which the writer has developed in two previously
published books, The Educative Process and Classroom Management, and in a
forthcoming volume, Educational Values. It is hoped that the more informal discussions
presented in the following pages will, in some slight measure, supplement the theoretical
and systematic treatment which necessarily characterizes the other books. In this
connection, it should be stated that the materials of the first paper here presented were
drawn upon in writing Chapter XVIII of Classroom Management, and that the second
paper simply states in a different form the conclusions reached in Chapter I of The
Educative Process.
The writer is indebted to his colleague, Professor L.F. Anderson, for many criticisms and
suggestions and to Miss Bernice Harrison for invaluable aid in editing the papers for
publication. But his heaviest debt, here as elsewhere, is to his wife, to whose encouraging
sympathy and inspiration whatever may be valuable in this or in his other books must be
largely attributed.
URBANA, ILLINOIS, March 1, 1911

CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. CRAFTSMANSHIP IN TEACHING 1
II. OPTIMISM IN TEACHING 23
III. HOW MAY WE PROMOTE THE EFFICIENCY OF THE TEACHING FORCE? 43
IV. THE TEST OF EFFICIENCY IN SUPERVISION 63
V. THE SUPERVISOR AND THE TEACHER 77
VI. EDUCATION AND UTILITY 96
VII. THE SCIENTIFIC SPIRIT IN EDUCATION 123

VIII. THE POSSIBILITY OF TRAINING CHILDREN TO STUDY 144
IX. A PLEA FOR THE DEFINITE IN EDUCATION 164
X. SCIENCE AS RELATED TO THE TEACHING OF LITERATURE 191
XI. THE NEW ATTITUDE TOWARD DRILL 204
XII. THE IDEAL TEACHER 229

CRAFTSMANSHIP IN TEACHING
I CRAFTSMANSHIP IN TEACHING[1]
I
"In the laboratory of life, each newcomer repeats the old experiments, and laughs and
weeps for himself. We will be explorers, though all the highways have their guideposts
and every bypath is mapped. Helen of Troy will not deter us, nor the wounds of Cæsar
frighten, nor the voice of the king crying 'Vanity!' from his throne dismay. What wonder
that the stars that once sang for joy are dumb and the constellations go down in
silence."--ARTHUR SHERBURNE HARDY: The Wind of Destiny.
We tend, I think, to look upon the advice that we give to young people as something that
shall disillusionize them. The cynic of forty sneers at what he terms the platitudes of
commencement addresses. He knows life. He has been behind the curtains. He has looked
upon the other side of the scenery,--the side that is just framework and bare canvas. He
has seen the ugly machinery that shifts the stage setting--the stage setting which appears
so impressive when viewed from the front. He has seen the rouge on the cheeks that seem
to blush with the bloom of youth and beauty and innocence, and has caught the cold glint
in the eyes that, from the distance, seem to languish with tenderness and love. Why, he
asks, should we create an illusion that must thus be rudely dispelled? Why revamp and
refurbish the old platitudes and dole them out each succeeding year? Why not tell these
young people the truth and let them be prepared for the fate that must come sooner or
later?
But the cynic forgets that there are some people who never lose their illusions,--some
men and women who are always young,--and, whatever may be the type of men and
women that other callings and professions desire to enroll in their service, this is the type
that education needs. The great problem of the teacher is to keep himself in this class, to
keep himself young, to preserve the very things that the