Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1865-10-20
For the Bedford Inquirer.
SCHOOL REFORM No. i.


SCHOOL REFORM No. /.
MEssRs. EDIroRs:
Our Schools have made but little progress
during the past four years. The public mind
has been too much occupied with drafts, bat
ties and invasions to care much for their well
fare and improvement. Now however, the
smoke of battle has cleared away. We have
bright prospects ahead, and it is high time
that school reforms claim some attention from
the people and especially from School Direc-
tors. There is much to be done, and to be
dene quickly, or the schools will not meet the
demands of the public.
The school system itself is seldom to blame
for the opposition it meets. On the contrary
nearly all complaint grows out Of wrong
administration Of the system. Many reforms
indispensable to its proper working have been
carried out years ago in other parts of the
State but here they have been entirely neg
lected. Among the most important of these is
that of UNIFORMITY OF TEXT BOOKS.
The law requires Directors to establish uni
formity of Text Books, just as imperatiyely
as it requires them to lay tax and keep the
schools open four months each year. If the
law were strictly enforce their neglect to do
this would forfeit their appropriation, as sure
ly as their neglect to keep the schools open
four months and yet, in only three districts
have we anything approaching uniformity.
The evils growing out Of this general neglect
are incalculable. Among the most serious
are the following:
/. The schools cannot be properly classified
and an hour is often required to teach as much
Geography, Grammar or Arithmetic as could
be better taught in fifteen minutes if all had
the same books and could be put in the same
classes. In many schools half the teachers
labor is wasted in this way and yet parents
seem not to understand why so little is done.
In any ungraded school, thorough classifca-
ton is indispensable TO success, but this is
impossible without uniformity of books and
if parents send their children to school with
all kinds of books and Directors permit them
to do so, they should neither complain nor be
surprised if very little progress is made.
2. Without uniformity, the expense to pa
when he finds that no uniform series is insist
ed upon, naturally induces as many of his
pupils as he can to get the books that he pre-
fers Phis is done from year to year. The
coming of a new Teacher is the signal to buy
new books and throw others still unsoiled
aside. II is not strange then that citizens
complain of this annual drain upon their
purse. If uniformity were established and
insisted upon book once bought, would be
used until mastered or worn out, and in my
judgement the aggregate expense to the peo-
pie of the county would be less than half what
it is at present.
8. When all ki nds of books are used in a
district, store keepers cannot tell what kind
to buy to suit their customers. They some
times buy none at all and sometimes buy the
wrong ones. In many schools pupils have
been compelled to drag through the whole
winter without proper books, because they
could not be had in the neighborhood If
uniformity were established, dealers would
know what to buy and customers could al
ways be accommodated
1t is high time that these evils be remedied.
The reform will cause grumbling; but what
reform does not? Nothing can be gained by
delay; it must come at some time and why
not now? Besides the complaint viii be only
temporary The reform is always popular,
as soon as it has been instituted long enough
to be understood.
Teachers generally teach best from the
books, that they are best acquainted with.
Hence in selecting, such should be preferred,
provided they possess equal merit. The books
ssed in the County Normal School are Os-
goods Readers. Mitchells new Primary and
intermediate Biographies. Browns Gram
mars, Brooks arithmetic and Ellsworth s
system of Penmanship.
Three-fourths of the Teachers of the county
are best acquainted with these and prefer
them. j. W. DIcEERsON,
County Superintendent.
| Bedford, Oct. IT, 1865.