Part 1 (1/2)

Craftsley

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 _Classroo volume, _Educational Values_ It is hoped that the es will, in soht 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 _Classrooement_, 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 LF Anderson, for estions 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 ely attributed

URBANA, ILLINOIS, March 1, 1911

CRAFTSMANshi+P IN TEACHING

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”In the laboratory of life, each newcohs and weeps for hihways have their guideposts and every bypath is mapped Helen of Troy will not deter us, nor the wounds of Caesar frighten, nor the voice of the king crying 'Vanity!' fro for joy are duo 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 so 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 fralywhich appears so ie on the cheeks that seem to blush with the bloolint in the eyes that, frouish 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 the people the truth and let them be prepared for the fate that ets that there are some people who never lose their illusions,--so,--and, whatever s and professions desire to enroll in their service, this is the type that education needs The great problem of the teacher is to keep hi, to preserve the very things that the cynic pleases to call the illusions of his youth And sowith the necessity for preserving their ideals that I shall ask thes which would, I fear, strike the cynic as most illusionary and i hthood included the taking of certain vows, the es of devotion and fidelity to the fundamental principles for which chivalry stood And I should like this evening to ious initiation into the privileges and duties of schoolcraft, and that these vohich I shall enuovern the work of that craft

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And the first of these vows I shall call, for want of a better tere that the initiate takes to do the work that his hand finds to do in the best possible manner, without reference to the effort that it

I call this the vow of artistry because it represents the essential attitude of the artist toward his work The cynic tells us that ideals are illusions of youth, and yet, the other day I saw expressed in a -man a type of idealism that is not at all uncommon in this world He was a house painter; his task was si a door; and yet, from the pains which he took with that work, an observer would have concluded that it was, to the painter, the most important task in the world And that, after all, is the true test of craft artistry: to the true crafts that can be done One of the best teachers that I know is that kind of a craftsman in education A student was once sent to observe his work He was giving a lesson upon the ”attribute coraot froht as if the very greatest achieveet his pupils to understand the attribute complement,--and when he had finished, they did understand it”

In a narrower sense, this vow of artistry carries with it an appreciation of the value of technique Froraduates already possess a certain measure of skill, a certain mastery of the technique of their craft

This initial ained in actual contact with the proble They have learned some of the rudiher, cruder difficulties The finer skill, the delicate and intangible points of technique, they h the strenuous processes of self-discipline in the actual work of the years that are to coy, constant and persistent application All that this school or any school can do for its students in this respect is to start theht track in the acquisition of skill But do notthat this is a s more than this, it would still repay tenfold the cost of its establishment and maintenance Three fourths of the failures in a world that so rowth of professional training for teachers within the past fifty years, many of our lower schools are still filled with raw recruits, fresh frorades, who h the medium of their own mistakes Even if this were all, the process would involve a tremendous and uncalled-for waste But this is not all; for, out of this multitude of untrained teachers, only a snize the mistakes that theythe work of life, the mastery of technique nize its necessity, of course, but you think of it as soral part of the day's work, but uninviting in itself,--so to be reduced as rapidly as possible to the plane of automatisrow this notion As you go on with your work, as you increase in skill, ever and ever the fascination of its technique will take a stronger and stronger hold upon you This is the great saving principle of our workaday life This is the factor that keeps the toiler free fro effects of mechanical routine It is the factor that keeps the farmer at his plow, the artisan at his bench, the lawyer at his desk, the artist at his palette

I once worked for a e of seventy-five he divided this fortune a to retire; but he could find pleasure and comfort only in the routine of business In six months he was back in his office He borroenty-five thousand dollars on his past reputation and started in to have some fun I was his only e double desk fro his accounts

He would sit for hours, planning for the establish out the lines that would entangle so, but before I left, he had a half-dozen thriving industries on his hands, and when he died three years later he had accumulated another fortune of over a million dollars

That is an example of what I mean by the fascination that the technique of one's craftwell the work that you kno to do The finer points of technique,--those little things that see to skill and efficiency,--what pride the competent artisan or the hts to revel in the jargon of his craft! How he prides hie and the technical skill that are denied the lay this view of your work upon you Teachers have been encouraged to believe that details are not only uni ability is a function of personality, and not a product of a technique that h the strenuous discipline of experience One of the most skillful teachers of rades I have watched her work for days at a ti there that is due to genius,--unless we accept George Eliot's definition of genius as an infinite capacity for receiving discipline That teacher's success, by her own stateh successive years of growth checked by a rigid responsibility for results She has found out by repeated trial how to do her work in the best way; she has discovered the attitude toward her pupils that will get the best work fro subject matter; the most effective ways in which to drill; how to use text-books andbesides s without losing sight of the true end of education Very frequently I have taken visiting schoolher room they have turned to me with such expressions as these: ”A born teacher!” ”What interest!” ”What a personality!” ”What a voice!”--everything, in fact, except this,--which would have been the truth: ”What a tribute to years of effort and struggle and self-discipline!”

I have a theory which I have never exploited very seriously, but I will give it to you for what it is worth It is this: elementary education especially needs a literary interpretation It needs a literary artist ill portray to the public in the form of fiction the real life of the ele as Kipling idealized the technique of the ineer, as Balzac idealized the technique of the journalist, as Du Maurier and a hundred other novelists have idealized the technique of the artist We need so public, and to show up our work as you and I know it, not as you and I have been told by layht to be,--a literature of the eleoody-goodyis of the virility, of the serious study, of the manful effort to solve difficult problems, of the real and vital achievements that are characteristic of thousands of elehout the country to-day

At first you will be fascinated by the novelty of your work But that soon passes away Then co or short, when you ith your eyes upon the clock, when you will count the weeks, the days, the hours, the minutes that lie between you and vacation tith and all the energy that you can summon to your aid Fail here, and your fate is decided once and for all If, in your work, you never get beyond this stage, you will never become the true craftsman You will never taste the joy that is vouchsafed the expert, the efficient craftsth of this period varies with different individuals Some teachers ”find themselves” quickly They see attitude With others is a long, uphill fight But it is safe to say that if, at the end of three years, your eyes still habitually seek the clock,--if, at the end of that time, your chief reward is the check that comes at the end of every fourth week,--then your doom is sealed

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