The Litchfield County post., 1828-01-17

oefifeA co benNM fo tc srhepis abu bSt Stets 70 tn' tcrca iR iu success. lih example Is fs'ewcd hy an. other. and another tll almost every iaausaial man in the district cares 10 more about the common school tlaa d there were DO such institution in existence.
 one win say this ovcrdraWh picture and if it be net, thea Is tho fac, csiablishc-ihai # the rructOrs be no, superior their predecessors of 20 years, in the proportion as the general interest m these schools has declined, our public schools have deterOrated instead of being improved and that our present instructors thus superior, no will ask us to admit. We mean nothing in,idous by this mark unquestionably our instructors arc in every spect qualified for their station in proportion to the pay they receive: md although SC or $8 per month will sometimes hire instructor worth twenty, il is not generally so, do such instances in a hundred. No young qualify hiPself to iD- struc school for the ragprocuring pittancc of hundred dollars per year. dollars month, and seldom young man be found to turn aside from 'he pursEt of one of the learned professions for this Sriding sum. No who could ever honour pro- fcsson would do it, unless gripping poverty drove him to the measure and then he certainly would not feel much interest in the of the scholars under his 4harge.
 
 cred more important than it now is and higher ges must be offered to induce young men to qualify themselves instruct, before the first step is taken wards improvement in schools. And then the first step only is taken ;-the whole of nsruc ton must be changed And here have touched up- the most interesting and important part of our sub feet; subject upon which we have devoted consider able thought and study, and in which we have had some experience. Can it be supposed by any ration al man, that in assembly of from 50 to 60 and 70 children, an instructor can devote much time and attention to any individual, even'to any particular class Individuals or that these scholars, young, g norant of the importance of improving tme and fond of amusement, can improve without this special atten- ton ? Can any desrous of learning, progress in his studies amid the busy hum of the school room, with his attention continually called off by the thous- and wants, and complaints, and punshnens of his n- ant school mates? Is his time proftaby spent in such place, and.surrounded by such scenes? The com mon answer must be, no! Will he study at home and rccite his lessons his instructor? Ten minutes time is than the proportion which can be devoted to him. All the teacher do for any scholar, is, if possible, to solve any difficulties he may with in his studies.
 If be asked how this can be remeded,-wc an- swer-every town should have the priviege-wek know not but they already have itof enacting bylaws for the benefit of their schools and one of the first of these laws should be, that child unable to read the easy lessons in the spengbook, or, at least words of three syales and keep his her place, shall be ad mitted tc the higher winter school. It has been found that fcmaics,-whether from possessing patience from tber easier of procuring the love and confidence of children it matters not which will instruct and ,ance children in the simple principles of edn- on, faster than males. But even were there pes equality in this respect 1t is cer tainly pro6tab. to employ the former for this purpose than the latter. Females, competent to the task, can at a times be procured for three four dol lars month, and perform the business ofteaching infants equally well, and we say better, than maes besides they cannot be employed to give our young people of both eeXes the finishing off of education -this must and ought be done by competent young men. Will any complain that this will increase school expenses too much? We say, if school expenses are incurred for the purpose of receiving benefit equiva lent to them, it will be great saving of expense, for the equivalent will thaR concordance the in crease of cost. Even should these infant children main idly at home during the winter, and thus incur pecunary increase of expenses they would be but tri6ng losers, while their elder brothers and sisters would be gathers in an almost incalculabe degrec.- They would now derive all the benefit of their in- structor-the school would be still and orderly-and the teachers time, which before hearty wasted in attending to the and hearing and answering the complaints of 4 c scholars would be entirely de- voted to the improvement of the school The advan- tages ofths plan be easily comprehended by every reAecting t1nd, The too common expression of the mother, who says she will send her infant charge to school to "get them out of the way" is erroneous in the highest degree. Instead ofgetting them outofhe way, she gets fem directly into the way, where they parable 70 the elder members of the school. The in- troduc2o of d regulation of this character, whether by law common consent, is an important step to- wards improvement in common schools.
 Another regulation, and one brine impoatance,i is the procuring ofcompstent instructors; and to effect ths adequate wages must be offered. Let it be well understood by all partcs that 16 20 dollars month, with board in family, is a suficientto the expectation that the person offering himseisc ueten to instruct in all the higher branches belong ing to common educaon-that he can instruct prof. taby any of the rules of Arithmetic, in Geography, in English Grammar, and possibly in Rhetoric, Logic, and the of composition: and with all ths that he has the faculty of communicating hsideas his pupils