Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1860-03-16
SUPPLEMENTARY Report.

Super inicudcmi's Report.
The following is the Report of the SUI
prrntendent Of Common Schools in this
town, Rev. Mr., Wilbur, as delivered in oul
town meeting on the 9th inst:
Mr.. Moderator- Gentlemen and .teHow.
citizens. Having been appointed by the
IIo orable Board of Sclectmen TO fill out
the unexpircd term of office made vacant
by the removal frcm town of the gentle
man, whom. At your last annual meeting,
YOU elected to supcrintend your public
Schools it now becomes my duty TO rem
der a report of my doingS. According to
my understanding of them, | have endeay-
cred faithfully and impartally to discharge
the duties devolved upon me. There have
been thirteen applications for certificates OF
license to teach, Twelve Of the number
were granted and one rejected. My pred
eceSSor, Mr.. Sc, erens, reports nineteen
certificates granted TO teachers. Hence
during the year there have been employed
in town thirty-one different teachers, and
seventeen of them have been engaged in
their work during the winter months. With
the success of this latter number | have
made myself somewhat familiar. My
whole time spent in visiting these Schools
has been eight and cne-half days In some
of them there has been exhibited q com
mcndabe degree of interest, and there has
appeared marked evidence of proficiency.
In others there has been almost total want
Of interest; the teachers seeming to care
only for the time to come when the School
should close, and they pocket the ill-earned
dollars; and the scholars as a matter OF
course, doing little or nothing by way i'm
provement For illustration, in SOME scho Is
there have been noticed classes in Geogra-
ply with the books all open at recitation,
and the scholars hating and tripping, blum
derng, and waiting TO find the answers to
the plainest questions. Two or more causes
have been at work to produce this condition
of things. One, the want of interest on
the part of the patrons in looking after the
teachers, and the prosperity of the schools !;
and another, the great multiplicity of text
books in use. For instance, in one School
found six different classes in Geography,
where really there ought to have been but
two, and all this to accommodate he pupils
in the use of the various kinds of books
they happened TO possess. This is an evil
Of no trifing magnitude, and it must be
overcome before our Schools can be wha-
they should be. No teacher can spend his
strength as profitably for his employers
when he has this evil TO meet and contend
with. as when he does not, and the tenden,
cy for him in such cases is unless he has a
strong will, and an iron constitution. TO be-
come discouraged, and when not looked af
ter by his employers, 10 try to shirk a little
We have had some Schools where these
evils have not existed, or where, if they
existed AT all. it has been in less degree.
We have had some Schools which have
been an honor to the Town, and would COM
pare favorablv with the Schools in this or
any other State. There have been others,
also. occupying middle ground. standing
fair, doing tolerably well. But / must not
enter too far into particulars. / will, how
ever, in this connection, make honorable
mention of three Schools as occupying in
my judgment, the front rank. They
were taught by Miss Hagar, Mr.. Fos-
ter and Mr. ellison. Miss Hagar's School
shall class, unqualifedly, the best iutown,
being a model well worthy of patterning
after, Nor is this any disparagement to
the Others when say that her school has
been pronounced by the Secretary of the
Board of Education as the best he has Wis.
tied of its kind in the State.
Before concluding this report, allow me,
gentlemen, TO call your attention TO one or
two things Of vital Importance TO the inter
ests of our Schools, and the education of
your children. The first is the selection
and employment of experienced and thor
oughly qualified teachers. AT least we
must secure such teachers as have some
adaptation 10 their work. 1t is not every
good scholar who is qualified to teach. A
good and successful teacher must have
something more than book knowledge He
needs TO be man of good common sense
and possess at least some knowledge of hu-
man nature. Then he needs TO have the
right snap, or be composed of the right met
tie himself or his efforts will prove an ut
ter failure The point is this, we must
seek for faithful, efficient teachers, without
having SUCH leHueF regard 10 the uOItarS
and cents. One term of four months School
of the right stamp is better than a year of
the average grade of our schools.
The children are not deficient in natural
endowment. They have native talent, but
it needs development, it must be brought
into proper state of cultivation. We have
in Rockingham as good material for fur
nishing scholars Of HE first class, rs there
Is to be found elsewhere, and we have the
means requisite for defraying school ex-
penses. What we need is a more wise and
Iudicious expenditure of our moneys. and
deeper degree of local interest in the cause
of general education.
When parents and patrons wake up to
proper appreciation of this subject thev
may secure an improvement of thirty or
fifty per cent. in single year. The prop
er education of your children is a matter
OF vital importance, and a subject in which
have ever felt lively interest. May
the time speedily come when the common
schools in Rockingham shall be second to
aone.