Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1869-12-31
EDUCATIONAL.


How IT WORKS WITH Is.
First, it renders school teachers Of experience
almost unsttsinabe because our old teachers
will not submit to the impositions las they re-
gard them) Of the superintendents This is
shown by the reluctance manifested by such 10
attend examinations
Owing to the scarcity Of teachers, We were
compelled to pay more for teacher wholly mex
perienced than the season before for one that had
met with signal success Our school standard
is very low compared with what il should be, but
we are yet to be convinced that a very few weeks
alta State Normal School has doubled or more the
capacity Of teacher that had been very success
ful, and the effort to compel all or nearly SO to
attend the normal school with q strong sectarian
bliss does not meet the appreciation Of all who
desire good schools. To arrogste that the super
inteuGents know much more the wants Of a
school than rhe inhai tants of the district, some
OF whom ma laye n former superintendent
seems a little egotis icaL Did the dove Of Wis
dom descend only On SUCH and a few pupils Of
the State School who appear to think hcy kaor
hour 10 teach
Certain filings at Somebody about SOMEBODY'S
cousin not getting a certificate which if it
meant Dist. No.-in-is too untruthful
and contemplate to merit a reply. How came it
that certiic're was obtained IN twenty minutes
ton failed to Ore And how comes it that
some obtaine, ne right to teach for pay after
having the question cards for several days That
there has been strange schools and strange
teachers las well as SUPPLEMENTARY none will
deny. Perhaps it will be always 50, and perhaps
school follies are to terminate abruptly-eyen
now Verify it does seem rs though some
thought that all school knowledge hsi lied from
parents and those that should be interested. and
been concentrated in a few, shall say 1t, super
intendents and their satellites. With due respect
for those thst - did their duty let me modest
ly ask, may not the aim be so high as to miss
the mark until the mark be elevated
With an unshrinking signature l subscribe /.
myself,
Yours For High, Thorough and Untrammeld /
Education.
vermont. Dec. I3. 1863.
We print the above communication to oblge .
the writer Of it Whom we will call " and be-
cause it affords very convenient peg on which
to hang some suggestions. We suppress both
name and date, because We prefer that the dis
cussion should not become personal one, and
for other reasons which will suggest themselves
to most readers of this somewhat acid epistle
In our previous articles we have had no oeca-
sion to name sny particular district though we
have availed ourselves Of facts which came with
in our knowledge. There are several other dis
tricts in the County of Chit,enden, which have
Just as much right to be indignant as Non
the town Of. If they find in eur columns
anything which seems to suit their special case,
they are at liberty to take it home. They are in
danger, however, of appropriating coat which
was cut for another customer, or of wearing
sway " ready-maie" one, cut for whomsoever
il might chance to fit.
We regret, with our correspondent, that good
teachers are so hard to procure. We are sorry,
too, that such teachers cannot'be persuaded to
work without pay; for we, too, are taxed to
keep the public schools going We decidedly
prefer, however, thai what money we do con-
tribute shall go toward the wages Of competent
and skilled instructors. We will cheerfully give
twice what We now do if only somebody will see +
70 it that the money is not wasted on teachers
that are not teachers
We set a high value on experience. also. r
Other things being equal, the experienced c
eacher will probably have the best success. 4
But some teachers seem to learn positively moth
ng from experience. They are like drill ser
;eants or mill-borses, plodding the same dull =
ound for ten years together They never had p
'ut a smattering Of the things they profess to Il
each, and they seem incapable of learning any, o.
hing more. They exhibit, some of them, mar a
ellous capacity for stunning and shedding new C
ieas. They can teach O Geography for twen- Il
: consecutive terms, and at the end Of that D
me be unable to sustain such an examination r
D 1t as should precede admission to grammar I,
'hool They can teach Reading without being o
Ole themselves to read inteligby, or state any r
rinciples which should guide the elocutiouist i,
heir utterly formless and execrable hand-Brit- Of
ns is no disqualification for instructing in Pen
aanship; and they can hear spelling classes and II
cad English literature " world without end" .,
nd still miss from FIVE to fifteen words out of :;
tolerably difficult list of twenty, as We showed
short time ago. Very much the same thing is >;
rue of Arithmetic and History, both of which
he Statute requires to be taught. q | don't see p,
hat good it does teacher to know who were J.
he leading generals in the Mexican war; said =,
young lady the other day; and we Imagine i,
!. would agree with her. The question. >.
owever, very clearly reveals this fact, that the =
knew just nothing of recent United >,
;ates history, though processing TO be able to n,
i've instruction in it I: or, what is the same q.
ming, applying for district school. half =.
ozsn such questions, properly distributed, if n
Unanswered or wrongly answered, would satisfy a..
ny examiner of the candidates ignorance in
ais branch. Now Y. may think that man :.
iay teach without first knowing. As to the A.,
signal success of the person to whom he al in
ides, we know nothing. We DO know some- =,
hing, however, of the causes Of the satisfao- =,
on which teachers are said to give to the dis ba
let. II the children are suited, the parents p,
re- And the children will find no fault. If in
ally they have good time at school. If =,
he teacher is personally agreeable to the chi.
ren, they praise him, and the parents Join in W