NOVEMBER 26. 1948
THE CANADIAN  JEWISH REVIEW
5
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CNAS.L.SCNRTIR A.I.JENKINS
W .   M .   WATTS ID.   HOLLAND
THE TEACHER'S JOB
Address To The Ohio-Michigan-Indiana Jewish Religious School Teachers Association
By Dorothy F. Zeligs
It used to be a comparatively simple thing for a teacher to evaluate his task. It meant that he spent some time with the curriculum or textbook which he was going to teach and mastered its contents to a greater or less degree. The teacher today who really looks at his job sees it as a complex and challenging undertaking. That is why his first responsibility is to view it with an awareness of its many facets.
The teacher's job may be analyzed along the lines of three major elements: (1) Understanding the child as a total personality; (2) interpreting the curriculum; (3) guiding in the learning process. Although these three elements are closely inter-related, let us consider them separately for the purpose of this study.
When a teacher walks into a classroom at the beginning of a semester and sees a group of unknown children, how is he prone to regard them? Does he see them only as a group, to whom he plans to impart a given amount of subject-matter? ThiB attitude is still prevalent in our schools to a large degree. The skilled teacher who looks at his job with intelligence and understanding sees the children before him as personalities. Since each one is a unique individual, the first responsibility of the teacher is to get acquainted with the members of his group. In order to do so, he must establish a relationship with them. This happens in any case, whether the teacher is aware of it or not. From the moment he opens the door, from the very first word he speaks, the relationship, whether positive or negative, has begun. The wise teacher plana that it shall take place along constructive lines, -^fci. t^eoH a mueh greater natural aptitude than others for establishing good rapport with children. Such adults have in some way kept open s bridge to childhood so that children do not seem to them as creatures from another world. For this reason it is sometimes said that teachers are bom, not made. However, the factors that enter into a good relationship can be consciously learned and applied. Through our ever-widening knowledge of the psychology of personality and the laws of learning, the well-trained teacher can approach his task with ever-increasing confidence.
What is the ideal relationship between a teacher and his pupils? Is it one in which the teacher meets the children entirely on their level and becomes "one of the fellows"? In the early history of progressive education, many teachers made the error of thinking so. Children, however, are stern realists in spite of their capacity for imaginative thinking. An adult can be a good friend, a good leader, a good companion, but he can never be other than a grown-up. If he tries not to be, he loses esteem with those who look to him for leadership and guidance.
In an attempt to be democratic, some teachers and parents ask children to make decisions which rightly belong to the adult The following little incident is an example. A mother was talking to her three-and-a-half-year old, who had been home from nursery school because of a cold.
"Are you feeling all right today, Joey?" "Yes, Mommy." "Do you want to go to school?" "Yes, Mommy." "But Joey, do you think you ought to go to school?" "I don't know, Mommy. Tm not a doctor; I'm just a little boy."
The ideal relationship between a teacher and his pupil is based largely upon the teacher's awareness of the child as a personality, his respect for him as a thinking, feeling human being. It is the same democratic approach that a person of good-will has to all people, whether adults or children. It is highly different from the authoritarian rule of the teacher in the old-fashioned classroom, which can be rightly compared to the fascist
approach. The ideal democratic relationship referred to above is ncJt inconsistent with rightful authority and the power to give direction when necessary.
The nature of the relationship between teacher and children is the most important single aspect in the teaching situation. What the teacher is as a human being, as well as what he teaches, will affect that relationship. Psychologists have proven that desirable learning can take place only in an atmosphere where there is some degree of positive feeling between teacher and pupil.
The specific job of the Jewish school is with the Jewish child in the world of today. It is important to understand the child, not only as an individual, but in his related-ness. We must see him against the background of his family, his neighborhood, his public school experience. It is necessary to understand the impacts of the environment upon the total personality of the child.
There is particular need for the religious school to avoid conflict with the home. This does not mean that the school should not seek to develop better attitudes towards Jewish life in a child who comes from a home that is somewhat negative in its Jewish attitudes. Often ^a^phild brings Judaism from the school into the home and influences parental attitudes along desirable lines. But where the gulf is too great between the home and the school, a child may be thrown into a state of serious conflict.
One may wonder how such a situation can arise when parents themselves choose the school to which they send their children. Some parents send their children to a Jewish school not from a
.....� � .�ues, but for
reasons quite different The action may be prompted by a sense of guilt on the part of the parent, or because the child's friends go to a Jewish school, or because it is considered the proper thing to do in certain neighborhoods.
An incident which occurred in a suburban community near New York City is indicative of the turmoil such conflicts can create. One Sunday morning a child in one of the intermediate grades went into a tantrum, lying on the floor and screaming. When the startled teacher finally was able to find out what the trouble was, she learned the following facts:
The child had been given a large Christmas tree and numerous ornaments with which to decorate it. But that morning was the only time he could have had to trim the tree, since he had a football game scheduled for the afternoon. His mother, however, forced the child to go to Sunday school as usual.
The teacher said she would let him go home early enough to enable
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him to trim the tree. She felt that to do otherwise would hardly have increased his positive attitude towards s Jewish school. Whether or not one may agree with her handling oi the situation, the fact remains that the leeoaeisteneies in
that home misled a gutt Between the home and school too treat for
this particular chfid to bridge.
It is a well-known fact that one of the serious problems in Jewish life todsy is thst of the emotionally maladjusted Jew. There is a tendency among chilJren in particular, to hide "their hart from their parents if they have been discriminated against as Jews, or if they are suffering inferiority feelings in this respect. This fact was brought out clearly when the parents of a certain group of children in a suburban community declared
in a discussion group, that their youngsters had never suffered either from such experiences or from such feelings. A member of the school staff interviewed the children of grades one and two a v�rv c*r*>**-'
si on. Because there was a goov rapport of long standing between the leader and the group, the children soon dropped their protective secretiveness and revealed their innermost feelings to a degree that was profoundly moving. In answer to the question, "Tell me about some time when you especially remembered that you were Jewish,** some of the responses were:
"When you're in trouble � like when  someone  calls you names. Some boy called me 'fat Jew.' I'm not fat." "My brother got in a (Continued on Page Eight)
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