Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1870-04-28
from the Free Press.l
What are we to do for Teachers ,
ESSEX, March %, 1870

from the Free Press.l
What are we to do for Teachers
ESSEX, March %, 1870.
MR. EDITOR If l mistake not, the
result of the examination of teachers at
Essex during the session of the Teachers
Institute, gives rise to. or at least renews,
some important questions and considera-
tons touching the future educational in
! terests of our State. AS was recorded in
the Free Press, there were twenty candi-
dates for the State certificate, only two OF
whom were successful This result
taken in connection with the fact that, at
the Institute held at Bennington, nine
teen teachers presented themselves fer ex-
animation, fourteen of whom were reject
| ed and that at Fairhaven there were fiji
teen applicants. but three of whom were
approved-would seem TO forcibly sug-
gest the important query, What are we
to do for teachers 'The rabble of Yer
mont teachers" as one gracious graduate
of the Normal School saw fit to express
himself of those teachers who were not
graduates, or had not obtained the State
certificate, have only another year and a
half of immunity; and then, Judging
from the above, their number is to be re.
duced somewhere in the neighborhood OF
four .ftths Evidently something is
rotten in Denmark" What is the mat
ter ;? Are our Vermont teachers, as q
class, so very ignorant and SO unqualified
for the positions they fill Or is the
Board of Education unreasonable in its
demands? Is the teachers standard OF
requirement too low? Or is the Boards
standard of requirement too high? These
are questions which may we'll engage the
attention of the people, but they are rem,
dered especially weighty to teachers by
the fact that among the rejected appli-
cants were many whose sole business is
teaching, who follow it as a profession
and who have no other means Of support
! Under these circumstances the question
| in regard to their future becomes a mo-
mt ntous one to them and while we cry
out, What are we to do for teachers
they may well exclaim, What are the
teachers to do
have no personal interest in the eigh-
teen mourners" at Essex, and my re-
marks are made simply in the interest OF
education and to awaken the thoughts OF
! the public in this matter. l have no
expressing my opinion that these exam
nations are wrongly conducted, and are
not calculated fairly to test the qualifica-
tons of the applicant. They are dull and
drv. there is no spirit of emulation awak-
ened, and no attempt is made to discover
ANYTHING in regard to the teachers quail
fications beyond his proficiency in mere
school requirements, which in my opin'
| ion are not the most vital points in
the recommendation of teacher
There is no effort to bring out
the salient points of his character, tc
discover whether the candidate has the
natural tact and talent which are neces-
sary to the successful teacher to ascertain
whether he possesses the executive ability
without which he cannot properly man
age a school, and what are his ideas OF
school discipline, or what would be his
moral influence upon his pupils. Nothing
is attempted beyond this amount of book
knowledge he brings to the trial, and be
may base his pretensions to occupy the
very important position of teacher il
the community to his proficiency III
the usual school studies, to his pre-.
vious application and in study, irres
pective of character, disposition or execu
have assiduously crammed their heads
with the contents of school books may
reasonably expect to receive the State GER
tificate, although they may be utterly in
capable of properly governing school OF
minds of their pupils outside of the reg
ular studies. A gentleman while wit
Messing the ealisthenic practice of the stu
dents of the academy in which the lnsti-
tute was held at Essex, remarked that the
better opinion of teachers character
firmness and capability for school govern
ment could be formed from his manner OF
acquitting himself in these physical exer-
cises than could be obtained from the
written examination of the Institute. DIR
French himself made remark of SINH
lar import Now, although | believe with
many others that physical exercise is toe
much neglected in our public schools, and
that proper knowledge of school calls
themes should be made one of the qualif.
cations of teacher, would not perhaps
advise putting the class of candidates
through a course of gymnastics to ascer-
tain their fitness for the employment they
seek, but would advise that some means
be employed to satisfy the minds of the
examiners in regard to the character
and general ability of the applicant.
Not alone to ascertain whether he is
sufficiently we'll qualified to teach in the
branches assigned him, but also whether
he is capable of rightly conducting a
school, and possesses that authority and
strength of character without which he
can never challenge the respect or enforce
the obedience of his pupils, and therefore
can never exercise any, or at least any
good influence over them; for any one
who has ever had any experience with
schools will bear me out in the assertion
that nine out of ten of the teachers who
fail, fail, not from any want of ability TO
instruct their scholars in the studies pur-
sued in our common schools, but from
their incapability to govern and manage
a school, arising from lack of those very
qualities which I have named. Again,
the Board of Education asks more than it
| gives. Its requirements OF the teachers
| should be in some degree commensurate
with what its institute proposes to fit
them for. While DIR. French, in his inim-
liable and pleasant manner, was instruct
| ing the members of the institute In the
! most approved methods of teaching nota-
tion and the rudiments OF grammar, the
teachers who were being examined were
puzzling their heads on questions in ge-
elogy, astronomy and Jurisprudence. AS
might be expected, some OF the answers
were ludicrously incorrect. One bewiid-
cred youth, considering the question,
what is the geological aspect OF the