Nebraska advertiser., 1868-02-13
EDUCATIONAL.
J. NJ AH'KBNzrE EDITOR
visiting Schools.

Do you visit your schoolP No! Well then, de-
pend upon it, you know nothing Of its manage
ment.
We frequently hear people boasting Of their
good school and their accomplished teacher, and
how we'll the scholars are progressing, and al this;
but ask them how they know, and how indefinite
their answer: "Oh. everybody says he is a first
rate teacher, and my Johnny has taken such a
Hkin' to go to school this winter, I know the teach
er must be good, for l never could get him to go
before 70 Such are some Of the aimsy reasons
given by most people when asked how they like
the school. Thus, "they say" and "JOhnny,"
are incentestable proofs that the teacher is doing
bis work we'll.
The same infallible method is used in discover
ing that the teacher is incompetent. Everybody
says he's a poor coot, and my jim thinks he's the
meanest fellow ever lived-so of course he amt fit
to teach"
Now all We have to say about this method Of
deciding concerning the qualifications of your
teachers is, that a more unjust aud imperfect test
could not well be adopted.
Let us look for 3 moment how the same reas son
ing applies to any other employment. You hire a
carpenter to build q house for you your business
is such that you cannot oversee the HOsk yourself
but you tell your son John "a boy Of twelve years
of nge) to stay with and assist him. In a few
days you say, "Well, John, how do you like Mr..
-? Is he a good workman? " Excellent" says
John; I" like him the best kind. 1 think he is
doing a first rate job-and be works 90 fast, too"
Now, John might say all this sincerely on his part
and yet the man might be miserable botch, and
waste half his timo in idleness.
No nan Of sense would consider the opinion Of a
child of any weight in reference to the ability Of o
mechanic, and yet too many are ready to trust the
judgment of such in reference to the qualifications
Of a teacher. How bssely unjust is such a critic
rionI To think that a child, without any knoWl-
edge whatever, must determine the question of his
teachers ability l Is it not an insult to every in
telIigent teacher? and need we wonder SO many
shrink from the ordeal, and rather than TO pass
muster under such a test, leave the profession for
which they are eminently qualified and follow some
other calling in life? Ask yourself, my friend, are
you yourself able to decide on the ability Of the
teacher? Would you not shrink from deciding on
his literary qualifications 2 And yet viii you
allow a child, whom you consider greatly your in.
feiOr, to decide for you? No, no, it is wrong. Be-
fore you decide what the teacher is doing, visit the
school-see for yourself it will do you good and
encourage the children, and if the teacher is in
cIined to be slack it viii act rs a spur to make him
DO better if the teacher is doing well, it will en-
courage him, for he will know that his reputation
viii not rest upon the ~"say-sO" Of a child.
Let me urge it upon every mother and father
visit your seLool know for yourself how your
children are taught; compare the methods now in
use with those in vogue when you were schOol
children. Let parents and friends of education
visit our schools, and we viii soon see an improve
ment. The drOne will find the hive too warm fol
him, and the true teacher will see his labors appre-
Gle sed. We shall then see better school-houses
and more comfortable seats children will love tc
60 to school, and greater intelligence will spread
through the community, and home viii become
more attracti We than the saloon or eard-tabIe.
Try it, friends. Visit your schools at least once
o month it will be time we'll spent, and you will
feel enough better and do enough more duri1g the
year to amply reward you for the time thus con
sumed.
To find the surface Of a globe, multiply the cir
cumferonce by the diameter. If a globe is s inches
in diameter and % inches in circumference-8x25,
200 inches surface.
If a third Of six be three, what viii a fourth Of
t'5snty beP
Wherefore is there a price in the hands of q fool
to get wisdom, seeing he hiss no heart to it
Is It correct to say, "These are very fine mo-
Nasses?' 4
sinoo tho RaiIroal excitement in thi. COUNTY