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CLASSROOM MANUALS:
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Brother Agathon, Superior General 1777-1798, writes to the Brothers of the Institute about the Twelve Virtues of a Good Teacher.
There follow some of his reflections about the virtue which occupies one-third of the complete treatise: Gentleness!
GENTLENESS
Notes:
Gentleness is a virtue which inspires us with goodness, sensitivity and tenderness. Jesus Christ is the most accomplished model of this virtue. He recommends it to us especially by these words: "Learn of me for I am gentle and humble of heart." Gentleness is, according to the Bishop of Geneva, as it were, the flower of charity. He adds, after St. Bernard, that gentleness is the perfection of charity, when it is not only patient, but, over and above, gentle and good-natured.
In general we can distinguish four kinds of gentleness. The first is that of the mind, which consists in judging without harshness, without passion, without considering one's own merit and one's supposed superiority. The second is that of the heart, which makes us want things without being stubborn about it, and seeks them in a righteous manner. The third is that of manner, which consists in behaving according to good principles, without vanishing to reform others over whom we have no authority, or in things that do not concern us. The fourth is that of our conduct which makes us act with simplicity and uprightness, not contradicting others without reasonable cause, and without any obligation to do so; and observing, in this case, a reasonable degree of moderation.
All these different forms of gentleness, in order to be genuine, must be very sincere; for, says St. Francis de Sales, "it is one of the enemy's favorite ruses to make people amuse themselves with words and conversations about gentleness and humility, without paying much attention to their inward affections. They think they are humble and gentle, but are really not such at all. This is recognized because, in spite of their ceremonious gentleness and humility, at the slightest cross word one may address to them, at the least injury proffered to them, they rear up with unexpected arrogance. "
What we have just said gives us to understand how singularly admirable is this virtue of gentleness, since it has humility as its companion, and because, when it is patient, it is in truth the perfection of charity. It follows, therefore, that under its first aspect, it restrains our fits of anger, smothers our desires of vengeance, and makes us face the misfortunes, disappointments and other evils that can happen to us, with entire equanimity of soul. Under its second aspect, which is its most distinctive mark, it wins the friendship of students. It is a general principle that love wins love; a teacher should then, above and before all, cultivate the feelings of a parent towards ones pupils, and look upon self as holding the place of those who entrusted them to him. She should borrow from the parents the sentiments of tenderness and goodness which are natural for them. A teacher does this by showing gentleness; it inspires him, in regard to the students, with affection, tenderness, good will, winning and persuasive manners. It removes from her commands whatever might be abrupt and austere, and blunts their sting. Thus, it makes the children happy and attaches them to the teacher; and if they are reasonable, will they not always willingly yield to his insinuations and her gentleness, rather than to constraint and force?
Let us give further consideration to the means by which a teacher can make oneself loved by students, thanks to gentleness.
1) The teacher will begin by avoiding the defects that he must correct in them, for example rough and shocking manners.
2) The teacher will require good order and discipline that are neither harsh nor forbidding.
3) The teacher will be simple, patient, precise in his manner of teaching; he will count more on his own consistency in having the rules followed, than on an excess of application on the part of the pupils.
4) The teacher shall show equal kindness towards all, without any partiality, preference, or particular attention to anyone.
5) The teacher should not overlook the mistakes which need to be pointed out, but it should be done gently and carefully. When he corrects, he should not be either bitter or offensive or insulting; and immediately after he has punished anyone he shall take care to dissipate the fear that the punishment may have caused the child, by making him acknowledge his fault, and the rightness of the punishment, and by recommending to him not to put himself in the same situation again.
6) The teacher will be consistent in his dealings; this is all the more essential since if each day found the teacher in a different mood, by a change in his humor or his manner of speaking, the children would never know precisely what to count on, and would not fail to lose respect for him, and to find his constant changes ridiculous, unbearable, and very apt to make them lose interest in school or even to inspire them with aversion for it.
7) The teacher shall often speak to them about virtue, but always in a dignified way, praising it as the most precious of all goods, so that he may inspire them with love for it, and may train them in the practice thereof.
8) Every day the teacher shall relate to them something edifying that will help them lead a Christian and virtuous life.
9) The teacher shall teach them politeness as needed, and the good manners that they should observe if they wish to be respected in the world, and to live there honorably. Thus, she shall strive to make them respectful, gentle, honest, considerate and obliging towards their superiors, their equals and everyone.
It is very important, indeed, to oppose certain tendencies in young people which are directly opposed to the common duties of society and of civil converse: a rough and unrestrained uncouthness which prevents them from thinking about what may please or displease those with whom they live; a self-love which pays attention only to their own commodity and advantage; an overbearing and haughty attitude which makes them think that everything is due to them, while they owe nothing to anyone; a spirit of contradiction, of criticism, of mockery, which condemns everything and seeks only to wound others. Such are the defects against which open war must be declared. Young people who have been brought up to be thoughtful for their companions, to give them pleasure, to yield to them on occasion, never to say anything outrageous about them, and not to take offense easily at what others say, such young people will soon learn, when they take their place in the world, the value of politeness and of civilized behavior.
A good teacher educates the heart, the mind and the judgment of his/her pupils by the following means:
to educate the heart, a teacher will forestall the passions and vices; this is done by inspiring the children aversion and horror for the occasions of sin, by combating the evil inclinations which they display; by leading them to love Christian virtue; by teaching them the necessity of practicing these virtues and indicating to them the occasions when they should do so; by helping them acquire good habits, making them understand, for instance, the difference between a student who is honest and sincere, on whose words one can rely, and whom one can trust implicitly, who is considered incapable not only of lying or deceit, but even of the slightest dissembling; and another student who always gives rise to suspicion, whom nobody feels safe in trusting, and whose word one cannot believe, even when he happens to tell the truth.
to educate their minds, a teacher will instruct students zealously and with affection in the dogmas and duties of religion, and in whatever can make them persons capable of directing themselves by right reason, and citizens useful to society. This further requires that one should always think of and speak with them correctly, with reason, with good sense, and should accustom them to do likewise in all the occasions which come up. A teacher points out to them and calls them to order when they fail in this; catching their mistakes when they judge badly or talk nonsense, or take things the wrong way. The teacher accustoms them to act with so much discernment that they may always have a praiseworthy end in view, and may always be prepared to give valid reasons for what they want, do and say.
to educate their judgment, he will point out to them the relationships things have with one another, and the properties which distinguish them from each other. She shall make them speak of these things according to the understanding which they should have at first gained of them themselves, and do so always with correctness and precision; he shall present to them the comparison of what is reprehensible in their conduct with what they should have thought, said, done or not done.
Even so, when striving thus to educate the heart, the mind and the judgment of one's students, a teacher still cannot expect to succeed unless he avoids whatever smacks of harshness.
A teacher fails by harshness when she demands of students what is beyond their capacity, requiring them, for instance, to recite lessons of catechism or of other more difficult matters which their memory does not allow them to retain; or by imposing on them penances out of proportion to their faults; he should consider that he himself would be as culpable, by giving excessive punishments, even if merited, as though she had punished someone who had not deserved it at all.
A teacher would fail again if he demanded things with so much overbearingness and pride that the students would obviously not be disposed to conform; if she exacted such things when they are ill-disposed, without paying attention to the fact that they are not ready to profit by the efforts of his zeal, so long as they listen only to passion, resentment and their ill-will.
A teacher would also fail when she shows equal insistence on things of trifling importance and on those which are more essential; when he never listens to the pleas or the excuses of the students dents, thereby depriving himself of a means of correcting his own mistakes; or by never pardoning them their faults, even though she should forgive a good many in which there is neither malice nor evil consequences to fear, such as failures arising from ignorance, distraction, forgetfulness, frivolity, heedlessness, and other defects which are normal at such an age; when she shows herself perpetually dissatisfied with the behavior of her pupils, whatever it may be, never appearing to them save in a grouchy mood or with a freezing air; never opening his mouth except to say cutting, disagreeable, improper, injurious remarks; when he shows continual bias against them, interpreting ill everything they do; when she exaggerates their faults; when she acts towards them as though they were irrational beings, without any feelings: for instance, by jerking them, pulling on them, striking them violently in anger. (Such behavior can only be the result of a fit of temper which a teacher, more than anyone else, should be incapable of). When she does not inform the children why she is punishing them; when she punishes doubtful infractions just as she does the ones she is sure of; when he never lets himself be moved by the students' pleas, never pardons anything even when they have committed only minor faults such as having accidentally written a page badly, or having come late to school once, or having been caught not following the lesson; when their faults are neither against religion nor good morals, such as words or
actions contrary to purity, swearing, fighting, disobedience, stealing, lying, lack of reverence in church and doing prayers. All such conduct on the teacher's part makes the pupils lose their love of work, their liking for what is good; it disheartens them and makes them complain of injustice.
A teacher should convince self that:
1. punishment itself does less to correct faults than the manner of imposing it;
2. if a teacher inspires excessive fear by inflexibility and harshness he bestializes the children's minds, robs their hearts of noble sentiments, makes them lose all worthy sentiments, and gives them a hatred for the school and for learning;
3. by wanting to spare no fault she will prevent her corrections from being useful;
4. by wise moderation he can win over those whom he would only irritate by indiscreet harshness;
5. the teacher will never succeed in making the pupils fear him save by inspiring them with the fear of God, of God's judgments and God's sanctions; if they pay no attention to these, or if these things make no impression on them, all her authority will remain powerless to make them fear herself.
Moreover, it must not be forgotten that if gentleness is full of charity, it must still be firm. Charity can indeed for a time attract the hearts of the students, but it does not suffice; when they begin to take things easy, as they do from time to time, then firmness must take over to keep them within the bounds of duty, or to bring them back when they have departed therefrom.
"My son," says the Wise Man, "let your deeds be done in gentleness and you will draw down on yourself not only the esteem but the love of others."
On this a commentator observes: "The Wise Man wishes to see gentleness employed; and at the same time she wishes us to do perfectly what we are about; this to show that he wants this gentleness to be firm. "
Notes:
Firmness, according to the words of Scripture which we have just quoted, thus consists in complete faithfulness in observing everything that can lead to the end proposed; thus, it requires of a teacher strength, courage, and constancy:
Strength, to oppose whatever might be contrary to good order, not letting the difficulties and pains found in teaching dishearten her. This is necessary for instance when a teacher arrives for the first time in a class; for the first concern of the students in such a situation is to study the new teacher and to size him up to discover whether he has some weak point, and if so, to profit by it. When they see, on the contrary, that the teacher quietly and in an unruffled manner opposes to their tricks and their attempts at disturbing her, a gentle and reasonable firmness, they soon submit and come back to the path of duty.
Courage, to keep trying to do whatever may produce or preserve good order, and the progress of the students.
Constancy, to persevere unflinchingly in one's good dispositions; quietly to confront obstacles, opposition, problems even in spite of little hope of success.
Written three hundred years ago, there were neither women teachers or students in Christian Schools. I have taken the liberty, to modify pronouns . In attempt to be gender equal I hope I have not offended any or misinterpret the text. (Marge Beauvais 2/26/97, adapted for Deans of Students Weekend in Chicago) p.10
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