This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1862. Excerpt: ... Primary Teachers. pupil's progress is made without the direct assistance of the teacher. But in the Primary Schools, the teacher is herself tli text-book, the living oracle; and nearly all the impressions received by the pupil are a direct reflection from her own mind and heart. But a teacher may possess every desirable mental and moral endowment, and yet, if a position in a Primary School is regarded as secondary in importance, and a situation in a higher department is continually before the mind as an object of ambition and desire, it is vain to expect the same degree of success that would be realized if no such distinction existed. Since the duties of Primary teachers are really more arduous and responsible than those of teachers in the higher grades, and since most teachers would prefer situations in the higher grades, even if the compensation was the same as that of the Primary teachers, it would be difficult to find a reason, except in the power of custom, for paying the lowest salary to teachers of the Primary classes. In St. Louis, Chicago, and several other cities, the salaries are alike in the Grammar and Primary grades. By applying the same scale of salaries to both departments, the two positions are made equally honorable, and School Directors are enabled to secure for sition, the temper, and the demeanor of the teacher should be narrowly scrutinized before committing to her guidance the intellectual and moral instruction of the elementary classes in our public schools."--S. S. Randall, Superintendent of Schools, New York. Special Training of Teachers. the pupils of each grade the teachers best qualified to instruct them. It is to be regretted that so few Primary teachers receive any special training before entering upon the peculiar dut...