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Page 4
Three types of teachers.--Two types of teachers are remembered: one to
be forgiven after years have softened the antagonisms and resentments;
the other to be thought of with honor and gratitude as long as memory
lasts. Between these two is a third and a larger group: those who are
_forgotten_, because they failed to stamp a lasting impression on their
pupils. This group represents the _mediocrity_ of the profession, not
bad enough to be actively forgiven, not good enough to claim a place in
gratitude and remembrance.
To which type would we belong? To which type _can_ we belong? Can we
choose? What are the factors that go to determine the place we shall
occupy in the scale of teachers?
THE PERSONAL FACTOR
When we revert to our own pupil days we find that the impressions which
cling to our memories are not chiefly impressions of facts taught and of
lessons learned, but of the _personality_ of the teacher. We may have
forgotten many of the truths presented and most of the conclusions
drawn, but the warmth and glow of the human touch still remains.
To be a teacher of religion requires a particularly exalted personality.
The teacher and the truth taught should always leave the impression of
being of the same pattern. "For their sakes I sanctify myself," said the
Great Teacher; shall the teachers of his Word dare do less!
The teacher as an interpreter of truth.--This is not to say that the
subject matter taught is unimportant, nor that the lessons presented are
immaterial. It is only to say that life responds first of all to _life_.
Truth never comes to the child disembodied and detached, but always with
the slant and quality of the teacher's interpretation of it. It is as if
the teacher's mind and spirit were the stained glass through which the
sunlight must fall; all that passes through the medium of a living
personality takes its tone and quality from this contact. The pupils may
or may not grasp the lessons of their books, but their teachers are
living epistles, known and read by them all.
For it is the concrete that grips and molds. Our greatest interest and
best attention center in persons. The world is neither formed nor
reformed by abstract truths nor by general theories. Whatever ideals we
would impress upon others we must first have realized in ourselves. What
we _are_ often drowns out what we say. Words and maxims may be
misunderstood; character seldom is. Precepts may fail to impress;
personality never does. God tried through the ages to reveal his
purposes to man by means of the law and the prophets, but man refused to
heed or understand. It was only when God had made his thought and plan
for man concrete in the person of Jesus of Nazareth that man began to
understand.
The first and most difficult requirement of the teacher, therefore,
is--_himself_, his personality. He must combine in himself the qualities
of life and character he seeks to develop in his pupils. He must look to
his personality as the source of his influence and the measure of his
power. He must be the living embodiment of what he would lead his pupils
to become. He must live the religion he would teach them. He must
possess the vital religious experience he would have them attain.
The building of personality.--Personality is not born, it is made. A
strong, inspiring personality is not a gift of the gods, nor is a weak
and ineffective personality a visitation of Providence. Things do not
_happen_ in the realm of the spiritual any more than in the realm of
nature. Everything is _caused_. Personality grows. It takes its form in
the thick of the day's work and its play. It is shaped in the crush and
stress of life's problems and its duties. It gains its quality from the
character of the thoughts and acts that make up the common round of
experience. It bears the marks of whatever spiritual fellowship and
communion we keep with the Divine.
Professor Dewey tells us that character is largely dependent on the mode
of assembling its parts. A teacher may have a splendid native
inheritance, a fine education, and may move in the best social circles,
and yet not come to his best in personality. It requires some high and
exalted task in order to assemble the powers and organize them to their
full efficiency. The urge of a great work is needed to make potential
ability actual. Paul did not become the giant of his latter years until
he took upon himself the great task of carrying the gospel to the
Gentiles.
Our own responsibility.--It follows then that the building of our
personalities is largely in our own hands. True, the influence of
heredity is not to be overlooked. It is easier for some to develop
attractive, compelling qualities than for others. The raw material of
our nature comes with us; is what heredity decrees. But the finished
product bears the stamp of our training and development. Fate or destiny
never takes the reins from our hands. We are free to shape ourselves
largely as we will.
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