PENNSYLVANIA

SCHOOL JOURNAL.

VOLUME XLIV.

That which makes a good Constitution must keep it, viz.: men of wisdom and virtue;
qualities that, because they descend not with worldly inheritance, must be carefully
propagated by a virtuous education of youth.-WM. PENN.

N. C. SCHAEFFER, EDITOR.

LANCASTER, PA.:
WICKERSHAM PRINTING CO.

1895.

THE best ethical training in the public schools does not come from text-books. These may help, but they will fail of their purpose unless one very essential condition is present, and that is, a vigorous personality in the teacher's desk. It is strange, the number of people of intelligence who seem to think that success in the school-room depends upon one thing only-a knowledge, on the part of the instructor, of the subject to be taught. But the truth is, to-day and to-morrow as well, that the value of the teacher, regarded from any standpoint any one pleases, ethical or what not, depends upon the influence he is able to exert an influence not manufactured, but in the person by right divine. The true text-book, therefore, for expounding temperance truths, or for the ethical training of the child, is in the teacher's chair; it is he or she who goes in and out before them day by day, holding them, if worthy of the position, with silken cords and yet as strong as steel.

It is agreed by an overwhelming weight of evidence that the best light for a school-room is exclusively on the side of the room to the left of the pupils; that the windows should be massed as closely as safe construction will allow along nearly the whole of the side; that the windows should be square at the top (not circular), and extend quite to the ceiling, and that the window sill should be higher than the tops of the pupils' desks; that the seat farthest from the windows should be about twice the distance from the tops of the desks to the ceiling, or, in general, once and a half the height of the room; that, when necessary to shut off a part of the light, the lower part of the window, and never the top or sides, should be shaded; that shades should therefore always roll from the bottom, and, where the direct rays of the sun enter the room, white, or very light, curtains should roll from the top merely to soften, but never to shut out, the light; and if blinds are used, they should be made in sections and slide up and down, and that blackboards should never be placed between windows. The walls and ceiling of the room should be tinted a light pearl, lavender, or brown color, rather than a darker shade, or any shade of yellow; and the shades (rolling from the bottom) should be of a similar color, or of a greenish tint. Shades of yellow are not good for the eyes.-Supt. A. P. Marble.