Social feature of the normal Institute

Title

Language

English

Source

The Philippine Craftsman Volume V (Issue No. 7) January 1917

Year

1917

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

500 THE PHILIPPINE CRAFTSMAN tendent and the industrial supervisor may hold round-table con ferences with the teachers in each municipality and thereby accomplish a great deal of good, as the problems of the imme diate locality can be considered in a concrete way and at a time when they are pressing for solution. This practice is followed with excellent results in the division of Pangasinan. The weekly or biweekly meetings, conducted by the supervisor, afford constant help to the teachers while they are engaged in their work. It is believed that these meetings are indispensable in any district that aims at the highest efficiency. However, it is not believed that they can or should take the place of the normal institute, but rather that they should supplement and extend the work of the institute. SOCIAL FEATURES OF TIIE NORMAL INSTITUTE. By L. P. Willis, Acting Division Superintendent of Schools. Oriental Negros. The program for a normal institute should make suitable provision for social activities. “The schools should give right habits, methods, and ideals,” says W. H. P. Faunce; “if we educate the man for the job and for the job alone, there will be one set of men to work with their hands and another set of men to work with their brains. This is a condition that no * * * community should tolerate. It means the permanent stratification of society. I want to educate the man for his life as well as for his living.” Every effort should be made to develop a capacity for the appreciation of the beautiful in art, literature, and life. When teachers go back to their schools from the normal institute, they should carry with them a resolu tion to do better work. They should have a deeper understand ing of the joy which comes to a person who feels that his labors will be of some real service. Arrangements should be made sufficiently ahead of time, to permit a general program of social activities to be published in the division circular which announces the plan for the institute. The success of these features depends greatly upon the individ uality of the persons in charge. For this reason it is advisable for the division superintendent to appoint a committee, selected from among the best teachers in the division, to arrange for and look after these affairs. Good music is an absolute necessity in all normal institutes. There are usually a large number of teachers in any division that play such instruments as the guitar, bandore, violin, and flute. They should be requested to bring them to the institute, RELATED SUBJECTS 501 and to volunteer their services as members of the normal glee club. The weekly literary program can be best arranged for by having each supervising district, or a certain group of districts, render a program for the week assigned. The teachers of the towns nearest to the place where the institute is in session, should be held responsible for the first entertainment. A special feature, in which teachers have shown great interest, is the "round table discussions.” The dance needs little previous announcement to assure its success. Occasions of this nature can be readily organized at any time. But considerable prepara tion should be made for the entertainment which marks the close of the institute. Athletic events bring teachers from the various parts of the province together in friendly contests. To provide equipment without extra cost, a request should be included in the institute circular, for all principals to bring with them as much of the athletic equipment of their schools as may be available. Where possible, the normal institute should be provided with an athletic outfit of its own. The daily opening exercises ought to be made short and snappy and full of interest. The principal should make pro vision for some entertainment in the nature of a surprise, if possible. Songs of an inspiring nature, solos by good singers, recitations and declamations by members of the institute, and talks by prominent men of the community help to put the teachers in a state of mind conducive to a good day’s work. Many other features have been suggested, such as excursions, bathing parties, moonlight parties on the beach, and children’s parties. But whatever the nature of the function, it should ever be kept in mind that the object is the drawing together for a short season of all those teachers who, for the next several months, must be widely separated. It has been said that "social life is the transition from the family to the larger complex life of the world. In the pupil’s little school world, he is trained to the forms and habits of life which fit him for the larger social world of which he must soon be a member.” In order that the teacher may fit the child for life, he himself must have come in contact with the best that there is to offer in his own world; and a Filipino teacher can find no better opportunity for social improvement than in the normal institute. It therefore is necessary at the division normal institute to surround the teacher with an atmosphere which is conducive to that inspira tion which will fit him “for life as well as living.”

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