Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 77.djvu/496

490 individuality and strengthening that personal influence, which is the real mainspring of all successful education.

Personal influence is, of course, not only a matter of intellectual attainments; it appears to me, however, that at the present time so much is made of the duty of schools to aim at the formation of character that there is an unfortunate tendency to regard this duty as something distinct from the other functions of a master, and as independent of intellectual qualifications. Among the first qualities now demanded of a master in a public school for boys are manliness, athletic skill and a hearty and healthy personality, and these are often regarded as compensating for some lack of intellectual equipment. I suspect that there is a similar tendency in schools for girls. And yet I think it will be found that the only permanent personal influence is really wielded by teachers who exercise it through intellectual channels, and that those who acquire intellectual authority will generally succeed in training the characters as well as the minds of their pupils.

On the other hand, the master who is not up to the proper intellectual standard will soon be found out by his cleverer pupils, and will lose influence, whatever may be the charm of his character.

The formation of character, so far as it can be distinguished from intellectual training, is largely worked out by the boys themselves in any public school in which healthy tradition and a sound moral atmosphere are maintained, although it is true that these traditions depend upon the character and personality of the teachers.

The educational value of the personal and intimate association with one and the same teacher throughout the school or university career is officially recognized in the tutorial system at Eton, Oxford and Cambridge. It has generally led to excellent results, provided that the tutor possesses the right qualities and that pupil and tutor do not happen to be two incompatible personalities; but the results may be well-nigh disastrous where there happens to be antagonism between the two, or where the tutor does not realize his opportunities and responsibilities. I have known some tutors who only excited a distaste for learning in their pupils, and others who entirely neglected or abused the high trust which had been committed to them; but far more, I am glad to say, who have not only exercised the most profound influence for good on their better and cleverer pupils, but also inspired intellectual interest in the most unpromising of them. Although such a tutorial system does not enter fully into the scheme of other schools and universities, and therefore a student does not usually remain long under any one teacher, it must be within the experience of most persons to have come for a time at least under the influence of a teacher who has inspired real enthusiasm for learning and from whose lips the instruction, that might from others have been a trial, has become an intellectual treat.