Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1869-12-10
EDUCATIONAL.


Should Teachers know Hcg 10 Spell.
Within the past year a good deal of fault hiss
been found. in certain portions Of Chttenden
County, with the methods which the Superin-
tendents of Schools have chosen to pursue to test
the literary qualifications Of the candidates for
tescherships. 1t is charged that they have set
their standard too high, and made their examin-
atoms too rigid. This is proved to be the case
from the fact that certain worthy young persons
have failed to get certificates This failure has
caused cbagrin to the applicants and trouble to
prudential committees; and they have tried to
indemnify themselves in some instances by be-
rating the Superintendent who wss so stupid
or 50 partial, as to fail to discover the trans
cendant attanments to the young man or "o-
man who had been engaged to " keep
school, and who had % always given satisfaction
to the district
These examinations are by law required to De
public, yet in fact are seldom attended by any
but the candidates and the examiner SO we
think II NAV be well to publish some OF the
results arrived at BY their means. We suppress
all names. but if any doubt the accuracy Of our
statements. there are documents on file to prove
them.
We will begin with orthography, as this is
first and lowest in the scale. Every teacher has
to instruct in spelling. It may not be necessa-
~, but certainly it will be convenient for him
to know something about it himself If he
make failure here, II sugurs i'll for his fitness
to teach other branches. If he be ignorant Of
this, he can hardly be presumed to know any
thing else as he ought to know it in order to
teach it successfully Spelling is not such
difficult art and mystery, that one has occasion
to put on airs because Of faultless orthography
But while good spelling brings no credit-to the
adult, bad spelling brings disgrace. The
mechanic and the merchant may carry on an
ineligible correspondence without shaping
their words in conformity to Worcester or Web |
ster, but the Professor Of 0rthography can
hardly get on without some regard paid to a
recognized standard
In one town in TINS County, each Of dfty-four 1
candidates was asked 20 write out list Of TWEEN
" not very unusual or difficult words. We
give the list. compliment, iaoeuiais, Eecle- |
iilstes. p4rey3rie. cylinder, eolaHder or cul- /
lender, 5u0y1acg, gases, feasible, hypocrisy. |
pEylacfsry, plural of money, archdpe. |
malicious, pIraiIei. separate, rheumatic, |
croguef, yiyucian, preeocious These were |
defined a. they we're given out, so as TO pre- /
clude all mistake as to the word pronounced. /
The result was IS follows just one spelled the
entire list; three spelled -; seven Is; six Il; I
four &c; six Is; seven a; six -; five - two
IL; two I0 three 9; one S and one :.
We take the first card from file which has
been shown US. The writer has had ten years
experience as teacher. All correct but these:
iaaoedlie, monies, arehy type, prec0seious. |
We take number two as they lie; more than Is /
years experience; all right but iHoeeviqte, |
monies, crogu,fe Number three in
order; has taught one term: Inaccurate, |
srle-eastes, prrregorric, cuieHder, fedseabls, /
hypocracy, parriieH. s,perats, reunatic, oroeta.
We try again; the writer has taught more than
ten years. inocculate, Ecclesiestes, calenisr, /
bouyaucy, piHactery, monies, rhumaiir. The I
one who wrote but seven words correctly had |
taught well-ngh dozen years. The one who /
spelled eight words had taught six years. OF /
those who spelled nine words one had taught |
eight years, and the others only term or two.
In another town Is we're examined, Of whom |
l. were experienced. Twenty words were used |
n..L Al, 9 - d.
correctly one IL; one -; one Il; two -; |
FIVE IL; three o; two 5: one 7; one 3. We |
give the list-the one used throughout the coun- |
ty last spriug:-PhysiciaH siatioaery, paper. |
ink, &C. parallel, sepuatc, ceiling, lof q
room,) sIere, seizure, eoiaRder, faucet, crochet,
a4i.eiuci, catcchism, synagogue, superse3e, in /
tsreefe, rlleys, hypocrisy, juoyauey, Ciacia- |
NAH, Yino0ski. Only one word was written /
correctly by all the candidates. We give some |
Of the variations: stationary. p1rgli, ssius, /
SECURE, cuiiiader, fasei, s4percsde, 5oy1Rcy, /
MISUNDERSTANDING. colyadar, el'aciism,
iatereeei, rallies. jouianey, CiaciuHahi-Piy-
eieiaa. stationary. plralei, sePpsrate, eoHea-
der, fossei, acqmiucf. synagogue. supsrcsie,
hyPP1cracy, bouency, Cincinnati.
In still another case forty words were used;
- candidates, the greatest number Of errors
%; the least 8. One who holds a State certi-
fcate missed -; one who has d" heard" spell
ing classes for more than twenty years was sue
cessfll with just Is, three not being attempted
at all The remaining twenty-five We set down
here, and leave the reader to guess the words
which were spelled at: 504aet, hup3rrqey, clore-
form, saerdlege, petsgogue, eatecism, offender,
euiendar, rytim. sprmiseiia, omaicleut, por-
pus, faiacter les, ptreHalogy, Grieciaa,
Ciacinat, .Mssippie, Ecclese1stese, riienary,
feaseU5ie, monies.
There is a certain formula in the School Regis
ter which each teacher is required to copy and
sign. Not much chance for error. one would
think; we have seen this carefully written out
with four or five original variations, and by one
who had had wonderful success, and " always
given satisfaction"
The following list Of common names has been
sent to US, by one who copied them last summer,
lterGfim ct spellGfim, from a register kept by
one of these satisfactory teachers ;-Li-e-
beth, Sussn, .Nstte, carry, Sharlotts, -Marriah,
Spier, Siers. We we're assured these were but
specimens Of the autographed curiosities in
that record.
We are very well aware that the above is not
very agreeable reading, and that in showing up
the matter, we have covered more space than
was strictly necessary. Few will venture to
term it " satisfactorily or advise the school ,
officers to - let well enough alone" But so
much clamcr hiss been raised in certain GUAR
tiers because of the faithful effort of those use
less officers, the school Superintendents, to !
keep Incompetents out of the teachers chair,
that scme of them have deemed it right to re-
veal, to public that should be interested, some
Of the secrets which have been disclosed in Z
their public examinations. The Superintend-
ents of this county are pretty well agreed to do
what they to obtain capable teachers. If b
the Committees and the people prefer " bad e
spell' of schools they have only TO elect school
officers who Il license anybody who aspires to 4
be " petagogue." b
AGRICULTURAL.
Do Farmers Study Enough! Il