, 1865-11-21

Mr.. Editor ! am sure, that there are |teach-
ers' in this island. who, when tried by this
criterion, are, as "lucus a NON zucendo," only
negatives of their own names In all other
y~ocations of life we only find men, who are
educated and trained for a certain kind Of bu-
siness, employed in carrying it out tayl0rs,
shOemakers, carpenters, coopers, smiths, plan
tiers, merchants, lawyers, physicians, divines,
all are limited to their own sphere Of business;
but to the teachers profession "a profession of
such a paramount Importance, that, where it is
properly and successfully carried out, it must
be the means of the greatest secular and spiri-
tual blessing, and even favor the greatest res
%trictiOns in the immense outlay to support the
many departments Judicial, prison, military,
etc. Of our public administration though it
IS properly only appertaining to students and
pupils of a seminary, such persons have here
been deemed fit, as had not even been compe-
tent TO fill situations as private clerks in an
office here the trite adage: "Ne Sut0r supra
crepidam !' has lost its validity. 1t is, how
ever, quite natural, that such, as are unable to
obtain a comfortable livelihood in their own
original calling, like to get one by being placed
IN a public teachers position, if they can OBJ
tain it no one will blame an ass, when placed
by the CCachman before his blind masters car
riage, for ~parading there and eating oats. Nor
Will L QGllN UluU llltIC may DC Ileu MOI OilSl-
nall" trained as -schoolmasters, who may fill a
public schoolmaster's situation with credit to
themselves and benefit to the community where
they are appointed to act as such but in that
case their preferment should be founded Oh q
general acknowledgment Of their worth, not on
personal fayoritism. Only in communities
wanting 10th a Tree press aHI Il strong public
opinion ignorant adventures will succeed,
through favoritiSm, in getting themselves stuck
up as luminaries, whence the consequence will
be, that 'Lights," if found must be put "uadey
a 6ushl."
2. What the two Danish schools ought
to be to the island.
1t shall now be the subject of my refec-
tons to consider, what d school, 50 munilicent-
Iy endowed as each of the two publicly sup
ported town-schools are, ought to accomplish
for the benefit of the inhabitants. 1t is an OBJ
yious conclusion, that a community sustaining
a pedagogic institution with an outlay Of be-
tween three and four Thousand dollars a year,
should derive a corresponding benefit from this
outlay but l can boldly assert, that it is the
notion of the public, that this is not the case,
The great desideratum for the inhabitants here
is, that there should be such a pGdagOgiC inSti-
tuition as could, like a kind of an academy, give
a liberal education to those, who are aiming at
a higher position and usefulness in society; but
the "Danish'' schools do not satisfy that want.
The Danish school in Westcnd, at least, is, in
reality, both with regard to what it is %calculat-
ed to do and with regard to what it is actually
doing, in no essential point superior to either
the Roman Catholic OF even the Moravian
school in that town still there is that great
difference between their cost, that the two lat
ter chools,-supported, as they are, by the
respective congregations, to which they belong,
-subsist by their own funds, whereas the
Danish school sucks at least $4,000 annually
from the public treasury, which seems to be a
rather heavy disbursement for to support a
school only suited for the lower classes The
so called burgher-schools, in its present state,
is therefore a perfectly useless and, at the same
time, even cumbersome hunch on the back Of
the public, who, as taxpayers, are compelled to
support it, but still, if they want to give to
their children a tolerably scientific education,
are under the necessity either to send them to
some other country, as to Denmark, Germany,
England or the United States, or at least try,
if possible, to get them instructed by private
tuition, which also, to many, may be entirely
too expensive and inconvenient. The only
branch of learning, which the Danish school
has above its rivals, is Danish, which, at pre-
sent at least, is taught in such a n manner, that
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