Excerpt from The Pennsylvania School Journal, 1895, Vol. 44 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. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.