Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1872-05-24
suifner'S Address.

After his inspection of the public schools yes
tcr,!ay. the Superintendent of Public In<truc-
ton addressed the teachers for about an hour,
at Washington School House, John W. Burke.
Chairman of the City School Board, Richard
j. Collins, Clerk Richard l.. Carne, City Su
perintendent, and several other gentlemen and
ladies being in Attendance. He spoke Of the
importance Of the teachers profession. and OF
the common error in thinking that anybody
could teach. 1t was supposed by people, gen
orally. that anybody could farm or teach
schools: for other occupations special preDara-
ton was required by the common voice of the
community, bur for these, none. There never
was greater faIIacy. The worst farmers he
had ever seen were the oldest oues, and the
worst teachers, had had forty years experience.
carpenter, who could not plane board smooth,
or make tight Joint; on revi>iting his birth
place after an absence Of twenty-five years, he
had found some men at work and working
lust as poorly as before So it was with teach
ers if they did not give thought and study to
their profession, they were not likely to bc Of
much service 1t was true that they were the
worst paid class Of the community, Considering
the cost of their education, the talent required
of them and the laborous character Of their
work: but if they worked hard 10 improve
themselves, the community must, IN time, APP
preciatc their services more justly, and pay
them adequately. Teachers meetings ought
to be held more frequently than they were, and
the City School Board should furnish tech
er' library for their use. An educational jour
nal ought TO be taken by every teacher, and
the Educational Journal Of Virginia, if proper
" encouraged, would supply the want 1t was
thought that on many points there was little to
be learned, but great deal Gould be said on
almost every branch of teaching. His time be-
ing limited. he would take up the subject OF
teaching a child to read, only and Illustrate
his assertion by that There were two ways Of
teaching to read the synthetical and the ana
lytical. The old style was to call up your pu-
oil with his primer, point out the letters, say
this is \, this is B. &e., and require him to re-
peat them and at last, By dlnt Of patience, the let
tiers were learned by rote, but the child had a
very small idea of their use, if he had any.
He might drawl through b-a, ba and b-a ba
k-e-r, kcr, baker, but though he knew per-
tecty what baker was, he was reading me-
chanically, and, very probably, did not, in
the least, associate b-a ba k-e-r, kcr with
that useful parsonage Here was the fruitful
cause of bad reading: of the unnatural tones
in which most people conveyed the words OF
books and newspapers to others. The synthet-
ic method could be used to advantage by cards,
letter blocks, word sticks and many other con-
trivances, which would render the learning Of
letters and spelling easy to children, but he
paeferred the analytic: the learning OF simple
words, first, by their pictures, and then by
their literal representations The child would
presently want to know how and why BE
double spelled BELL as he would take his toy
to pieces to see how it was made after satisfy
ing himself with it awhile. He strongly
commended Lccrs phonetic method in this
connection, as tending to give, with ease, the
proper use of the vowel sounds.
After the sddress. Dr. Rufner, at the request
of superintendent Carne proceeded to his Of
fce and inspected his official records, together
with the records of the City and County School
Boards, and the permit, order, and warrant
books kept by the Clerk, and expressed his sat
isiacton at the manner in which all the bust
ness Of the office was transacted, and the neat
ness and accuracy with which the records, &C.,
were kept.
In the course of the day. he visited the
Court House, which the City Superintendent
is DESTROYS Of procuring, when the new Court
House shall have been completed, for school
house, and warmly approved the plan, especl-
ally as admirable play grounds would be, there
by, secured for the children.
Ga the whole, he thought cur schools had
been advanced as rapidly as could have been
expected, and that we had some ex' client
teachers; but said our accommodations for
white children were very bad, aud our furDl-
ture worse. He strongly recommended the
further grading and consolidation of our schools,
aud thought the City Council should add to
the salary of the Superintendent sum suf6-
cient to warrant him in undertaking more
systematic and regular visitation of the schools,