prejudiced men have spoken of them as an idle and useless race. They were in reality the greatest toilers, and the greatest benefactors of humanity that the world has

ever seen.

1925

PATRICK J. MCCORMICK.

Healy, Ireland's Ancient Schools and Scholars, 102. Dublin, 1893.

MATERIAL CONDITIONS.

The best results in teaching, especially in the grades, can be secured only when favorable conditions obtain. While it is eternally true that a really efficient teacher can do much, even in the face of difficulties, it is not less true that the right material conditions in the classroom are of tremendous importance to the novice and lessen to a very considerable extent the labors of the more experienced pedagogue. Indeed, it is the latter who is generally the more insistent on securing right material conditions, for he knows, often from bitter experience, that everything that tends to eliminate friction and facilitate the real work of the classroom is a powerful aid to him in the discharge of his professional duties.

With these facts in mind, it is my purpose in this paper to touch upon certain material conditions which are of special moment in any discussion of class work. Many of the things I have to say will doubtless be considered obvious; but there are some things so obvious that we often fail to see them. At all events, in these days of psychological analysis and transcendentalism in the discussion of classroom methods, it may prove refreshing, if nothing else, to get away for a few minutes from the multitude of fads and schools and systems and dwell upon a few elementary facts regarding the externals of teaching and study.

A primary consideration is due the classroom equipment. It is not the teacher's business to buy school furniture, but it most emphatically is his business to see that the janitor does his duty. Desks that wobble, seats that creak, doors that can be kept closed only by stuffing bits of paper into the jambs are things that no conscientious teacher should tolerate. Things like these are the fruit

ful source of disorder, worry and waste of energy. They exert a bad influence on the mental habits of the children and bring to the teacher premature wrinkles and unmerited gray hairs.

The general planning his campaign, the carpenter examining his tools, the musician tuning his instrument are models for the teacher. Before the actual work of the day begins, the teacher should see to it that all things are ready. Inkwells must be filled, a sufficient supply of chalk must be in an accessible place and the humiliating necessity of sending to a brother teacher for the loan of an eraser must be obviated. The children, on their part, must be taught to have their books, pencils and other class necessities close at hand and in serviceable order.

"Shun delays, they breed remorse," wrote the poetpriest, Robert Southwell. We can shun delays to a great extent by foreseeing what we shall need for the day's work in the classroom and making our plans accordingly. If, in the course of our lesson in United States History, we need a map of South Carolina, it is very poor policy to think of getting it only when the lesson has been actually begun. At the very beginning of the day the map should be at hand-labeled, if necessary, "Exhibit A," though at the same time it need not be conspicuously displayed to attract the attention of the pupils at an inopportune time. An example of how not to do things in this regard was furnished by a teacher who, after securing a set of the Perry pictures, found herself seriously handicapped in her work simply because she never could learn to make her selection and arrangement of the prints before the class period had begun.

One of the most important conditions for class efficiency is the matter of ventilation. Some teachers absolutely ignore the closed windows-until after an hour or so, when they begin to wonder why it is that they suffer so much from headaches and why the children are alter

nately listless and fidgety. At the other extreme are the teachers who believe blindly in the virtues of fresh aireven when the thermometer flashes a danger signal-and expose the children to needless draughts and cruel physical discomfort. Other teachers again, with the best intentions in the world, seemingly never can learn that the most effective means of securing proper ventilation is to open the windows at both top and bottom, even if only the distance of a span. The recess time, of course, offers an opportunity for a thorough change of air and a complete ventilation of the classroom.

The golden age in school management has not yet arrived. When it does come the teacher will be free from all distraction, and only then. We must, perforce, resign ourselves to the inevitable and welcome, with at least permissive will, the unavoidable noises that strain our tempers and jar our nerves. At the same time, by carefully looking ahead and learning from experience, we can do much to lessen the evil of distrations, both for ourselves and our pupils.

If noise, for instance, interferes with our work, the obvious thing to do is to eliminate, whenever possible, the occasions of noise. That phrase, "whenever possible," covers a multitude of sins; but while it is true that many noises are beyond our power to prevent, there are others which, if we are quite frank with ourselves, we shall find to be of our own causing. These we can remedy by destroying their occasions. As for the inevitable noisesfrom the clattering streets or the buildings in course of construction-we may find it advantageous to shift our schedule slightly so that the annoyances may come at the least undesirable time. This simple device has often been used by teachers wise in their generation.

One fruitful source of distractions in the classroom are the exits and entrances of pupils-sometimes our own, sometimes those from other classes. While excep

tions are bound to occur, it may be said in general that for this intolerable coming in and going out during school hours there is absolutely no excuse. Sometimes the principal of the school is chiefly to blame, as was the case in a school where every morning a boy was sent from class to class to get from each teacher a list of absentees. The boy emphasized his importance by wearing squeaking shoes and developing astonishing comedy talent. His entrance, in the middle of a recitation, was the signal for complete distraction for every one in the class; and while the teacher, with not the best grace in the world, wrote a list of names on the proffered tablet, the children smiled blissfully at the visitor's elastic neck and mirth-provoking grimaces. Not until the boy's footfalls-and they were pronounced-had died away down the corridor, could anything be done in the classroom; and even then it frequently meant starting the lesson all over again.

Good order and attention in class are to some extent determined by the condition of the blackboards and the nature of the decorations on the walls. Blackboards covered with scrawlings and scribblings, with harrowing reminders of yesterday's lesson in arithmetic, with the injudicious maiden efforts of budding Giottos and Millets do not contribute to that concentration of mind and unity of mental effort which, even under ideal conditions, are so difficult to secure. Gaudy posters, curling chromos and pictures hung awry are not only in bad taste; they distract the children at all times and exert a pernicious effect on their plastic characters.

The matters of postures and carriage of teacher and pupils are elementary topics indeed, and yet they have an importance which can never been adequately stressed. The pedagogical martinets-may they rest in peace!who used to insist upon a uniformity of position at all times and a definite angle for every book during the