Educational Review

JUNE, 1911

THE DIOCESAN TEACHERS' INSTITUTE

The present paper aims to set forth simply an account of the workings of a diocesan Teachers' Institute, based on several years' observation of a local Institute which has passed through the experimental stage and is now on a definitely established basis. This account will serve to record the efforts which are being made in the Archdiocese of Oregon along the lines of Catholic education, and may incidentally be suggestive to others.

The Teachers' Institute of which we speak is a gathering of all teachers from the Catholic schools in the diocese, for a week during each summer. It is not merely a meeting of representatives from the different communities but aims to be directly of service to each individual teacher. While it is primarily for the teachers in Catholic schools, it not only does not exclude other teachers, but gives an opportunity for teachers in the public schools to come in contact with the principles of Catholic education. The Institute is not held merely for the teachers in the parish schools, but for all our teachers, whether in academies, parish schools, or Catholic high schools. In assembling such a gathering for a week during the summer it requires some management to avoid the time of retreat for the various religious communities both of men and of women. The selection of a place, too, is attended with some difficulty, though locally we are fortunately situated, as each of the twelve religious commu

nities who are teaching in the Archdiocese has a school in Portland where its members reside during Institute week.

We pass to the aim of the Institute. The Institute is distinct from the summer school. Its purpose is chiefly inspirational. Teachers engaged in the round of daily class work receive too little encouragement, and are in grave danger of losing freshness and spontaneity, and of degenerating into human machines. It is the aim of an Institute to counteract such tendencies, to give a sense of solidarity to the teaching profession, to keep before the minds of the teachers of youth the high ideal of the vocation to which they are called. In fact the Institute is an intellectual retreat; hence it should not be too long. Teachers require a vacation after the nerve-racking experience of the school year, both for their own sake and for that of the pupils committed to their care. The Institute should, therefore, not encroach too much upon the vacation period. Its purpose is not merely instructional on the one hand, nor pedagogical on the other; it is not expected that teachers will here study in detail the subject-matter of a special branch; neither is the Institute merely a series of lectures on method. It must be suggestive both on the pedagogical side and on the instructional side. The intense earnestness of our teachers may be depended upon to cultivate the seeds which are sown in their minds during the Institute. The lectures must therefore be arranged accordingly.

The choice of instructors for the Institute is of prime importance. They should be taken both from local talent and from the national field. In the first place selection should be made from local instructors. The colleges of the diocese may always be counted upon to possess able instructors, and the writer can bear testimony to the courtesy and enthusiasm which they manifest in connec tion with the diocesan Institute. Provision must be made, too, to utilize the talent of the teachers actually employed

in the elementary schools, though the burden of the Institute should not be thrown upon them. Perhaps the best means of using the talent of the Sisters is in the informal Round Table discussions which should find a place on the Institute programme. In addition to local lecturers, we must bring in the ablest Catholic educators that can be found in the United States. This is essential for the infusion of new and progressive ideas. We must strike a medium between the extreme views that our present system of instruction is fundamentally wrong and, on the other hand, that we have nothing to learn on the subject of education. Both views are equally mischievous. A diocesan system should feel that its salvation is not dependent upon the introduction of radical ideas on method of instruction or content of curriculum. On the other hand it should avoid that condition of sterility which Kipling satirizes in his poem where he speaks of those who are "perfectly pleased with their work."

We come now more directly to the actual management of the Institute. The simplest form of Institute would be that conducted by a single lecturer. The teachers are assembled from all parts of the diocese and from all departments of the schools, teaching every grade from the kindergarten to college preparatory, and every subject from music to domestic science and back again to grammar. The lecturer, choose what subject he may, can hardly hope to be of interest or use to this heterogeneous assemblage. He may try to find the least common denominator in general talks on method, but sustained interest cannot be maintained on such a basis. The Institute must begin by recognizing the various interests represented and attempting to make an appeal to every class of teachers present. This leads to departmental work. It also involves the selection of a number of instructors who are fitted to present different subjects and to present them according to the needs of the different groups of teachers. These instructors must have clearly in mind the purpose

of the Institute, for no matter how thoroughly the lecturer may know his subject, he may fail to present it so as to be useful to the teachers. He must bear in mind. that the primary purpose of the Institute is inspirational and consequently, that he is not to present a course of lectures furnishing detailed information about the subject in hand, nor is he concerned exclusively with the method of presenting his subject to a class. His aim must be to open up new avenues of thought, to implant fertile ideas which will bear fruit in the years to come; to increase a love and zeal for the particular branch he is teaching, for the success of the teacher in the school is not to be attributed chiefly to method, nor to mere mastery of detail, but to the interest and enthusiasm for the subject which he can awaken in the pupil.

In describing the actual programme of an Institute we may begin by calling attention to the religious exercises with which it is opened and closed. The Church has always placed every serious undertaking under the protection of God. Hence it is fitting that our Institute should open with the Mass of the Holy Spirit, to draw down the light of the Spirit of Truth and Wisdom on the assembly. At the mass a sermon is delivered by a distinguished priest, on the aims of Catholic education, thus giving a keynote to the proceedings of the Institute and declaring the principles upon which those who are assembled are agreed. This opening sermon serves, too, as an enunciation of the Catholic position and makes clear to the public the serious purpose of the Church in maintaining, at such great sacrifice, its independent system of educational institutions. The Institute is brought to a close with solemn benediction at which the Most Reverend Archbishop delivers the concluding address.

In general it may be said that the forenoon is devoted to departmental work and the afternoon to the general sessions of the Institute. The department work may be divided according to grade or to the special subjects, thus