The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1872-05-23
OTR COMMON SCHOOLS.


That our common schools, ad.
> mitted on all hands to be q decided
improvement on those our fathers at
tended in days of yOre, are not yeI
what they should be, requires not K
be argued. 1t is admitted. That Ger
tain defects exist which ought to bt
remedied, will not be denied, it i
thought, when the subject shall have
been duly considered. The present
article will call attention to a single
one, and propose briefly a remedy fol
the same:
L. 1t is the practice OF breaking the
allotted school year into two unequal
and widely separated terms or ses-
siOns.
The general practice, it is believed,
is to commence the winter term about
the ist Of December, and continue,
say three months aud half; to COM
menee the summer session in April,
and continue, perhaps, the same Pc
riOd, with an intermissiOn during mar
vest. Under this head we desire to
specify few evils:
1. Even if the teachers be good, a
new plan of operation is introduced
every term, which Of itself is enough
to ruin the interests Of the school.
such an uuwise course Is never ADOPT
ed by the successful farmer or me-
caanie.
,. The summer schools are usually
very small, aud often seriously inter-
rupted by the fact that children are
detained at home by planting, corn
hoeing and harvesting. Il is not at
all unfrequent for parents to aeknowI-
edge that the money expended for
summer schools is virtually wasted.
3. The abortive efforts of teachers
caused by the sparse and irregular at
tendance previOuslymentiOned,t tend to
bring common schools into disrepute,
and what beaefieent State designed
for the good of it, citizens, becomes s
source Of sneering and ridicule. The
real power and efficiency OF our com
mon school system are thus greatly
impaired-Often almost wholly de-
strOyed.
4. 1t lowers the dignity and s4ncti-
tY of the teachers calling, often driv-
ing the best and most efficient educa-
tors Of the young entirely from the
field, and leaving their places 10 be
occupied by Incompetent and sOulless
practitioners. The DEFICIENCIES and
imperfectiOns existing in so many Of
our schools are not the pranks of fate
or the result of the degenerancy of the
times, but the legitimate conse-
quences of a want of due attention to
these evils by those most necessarily
interested in them.
II. AS remedy for the foregoing
evils we would respectfully suggest
the following:
l. The school year should com
mence say about the lat of September
and continue the time allotted by law
or warranted by the financial eOndi-
ton Of the treasury.
2. The same teacher should b. en-
plOyed for the whole year. This viii
prevent the necessity of breaking up
and establishing new plans every full
moon. 1t will afford an opportunity
for the little folks who would attend
during the summer session to be In
school without interruption during
the pleasant autumn months; aud if
they can go during the winter, their
progress will be easy and gradual 1t
xiii " likaYjaes. enable the teacher to
come fully acquainted in the district.
3. The same teacher should be en-
plOyed, if a good Oue,-and no others
ought to be employed at any price
during successive years. To do
this his salary must be sufficiently
high to justify his giving his entire
time and energies to the work. The
thoroughly competent teacher is
much cheaper at a high salary than
the novice at q mere pittance.
4. Each school must be considered
by parents as a partnership enterprise
in which the capital stuck IS the souls
of immortal beings which are not to
be trusted to the manipulations Of
every capricious, self-cOnceited quack
who may present himself as an in
struetOr.
LetschOOl officers say We want good
teachers, and no others, and for such
we will pay good wages, and the work
is begun, to say the least. Teachers,
then, must not count the hours and
minutes during which they are to la
Dor, but work with a full realization
of the Importance Of their response
bility for time and eternity.
In our next we shall have occasion
to speak Of other features under this
subject. J. FRAIsE RICHARD.
Bepublie, May 13.