The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-11-16
Educatio nal Questions.

EducatiO nal questions.
A MEETINa of the County Superntendents
of Common Schools of the State has been
called at Harrisburg on the 4th OF December
next, BY circular from the State Superin-
tendent. we learn that the following topics
will be specially brought before the assem-
blage:-
1. The minimum length of time the schools
should be kept open. Should it be increased to
five or six months?
q, Uniformity of textbooks in countless
Should provision be made in the law for effect
ing such uniformity?
8. County aid to Teachers Insttutes.-Should
the law now in existence in elght counties DC
made general?
4. Provisional Certificates. Should they be
dispensed with? II not, what changes should
be made iu the policy now nlactised in regard
10 granting them?
s. Renewing and indorsing Certificates by
County Superintendent. II good policy TO
renew and ndorse them?
6. District Superintendcnts.-Shoul there be
d general law providing for their appointment?
T. District Institutes.-What can be done to
increase their number?
g. Branches ofstudy required by law.-Should
additions or substitutes be made?
Some of these questions are of general inte
rest, while others relate more particularly
TO subjects with which the Superintendents
are specially concerned. In regard to the
question of increasing the minimum length
of time that school should be kept open to
I've or six months, there can hardly be two
opinions, it seems to us, among the intelli-
gent friends of education. Every district
should have at least two terms of school,
during the year; one in the winter, when
the cessation of ordinary farm labor allows
the older children and youth to attend; the
other in the spring or early summer, more
especially calculated for the younger children
but yet with ample provision for such others
as may be able to be present. Three months
is the minimum length of time for which each
of these sessions should be held, and the
winter session might be four or even five.
Farm labor throughout the country, in this
latitude, is mainly over before the first Of
November, and does not generally commence
before the first of April. Here are five
months during which good, active, sprightly
schools ought to be kept going in every
district.
In regard to a very large number of the
children over twelve years of age, this term
is the only one during the year that they
attend; and every practical teacher knows
that the last two months OF a five months
session are worth more to his scholars than
the first three. 1t takes a month or two for
scholars who spend six or seven months a
year in manual labor to get accustomed to
study, and to form habits OF close and con-
tfnuous attention. At fl st their minds are
unstrung aud without discipline. Study is iTk-
some, and it requires an effort to confne the
thoughts to a single subject. But after
few weeks this wears off, and the student is
then prepared to do his work and to make
substantial progress. In short term Of three
months, he hardly gets into this condition of
preparedness for mental labor before school
is out, and he returns again to the farm or the
workshop.
Another argument in favor Of long terms
in the winter is the fact that, in great ma
iority of our schools, there is change Of
teachers every year. And here again the
experience of every teacher is that it takes
several weeks to become so familiar with the
scholars personally, as to know their acquire
ments and mental habits sufficiently well to
get them properly classified and into the best
shape for making progress. Moreover, in
regard to scholars who attend school only
during the winter term, a little preparatory
review of what they have previously gone
over is absolutely essential before they are
fitted to advance in their studies.
All these considerations, and they are
eminently practical ones, lead us to the
belief that the minimum length OF time for
the winter sessions OF our common schools
should never be less than four, and might well
be FIVE months. The summer schools
should be at least three months in duration
though as a general rule they are less import
ant than the winter schools, especially in the
rural districts.
There are other topics suggested by the
questions we have above quoted worthy o
discussion, to which we may aliude at some
other time.