The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1872-04-11

teacher In our public schools, who
waits patiently and works diligently,
to assist her last struggling dullard
over the pons asiaaoreA7a of the grade
examination, more to be praised,
than the tricky, polite, wire-pulling
teacher who keeps her dull pupils
perpetually in the background, and
selects a picked platoon oflittIe prod
igies, promotes them on high aver
ages. and wins the smiling commen-
dation Of q bamboozled principal
II cannot make brains," is the
invariable cry of the pedagogue who
has signalIy failed in the task Of ad-
vancing his pupils. No, sir, you
can not; but you can muddle, AMI
crush, and squelch, and be fuddIe
brains like oxen pudding brick and
your impudence in such o case is
equaled only by your impotence.
The proportion Of our pupils that are
really or apparently dull, cannot be
easily determined but the number
increases fearfully as the teacher
lacks industry and ability; AMI,
though [ cannot grasp the idea Of
infinity, nor form a conception OF
eternity, nor take in the meaning Of
a newspaper war map, vet can con-
oeive OF sixty-four ounces in d.
vision consisting Of sixt y-three pu-
pills. Boys never fail to learn a
trade. Some show greater ingenui-
ty than others, but all can become
Ijourneymcn. Do we make Journey
men scholars out Of all our pupils t?
I fear not. Is the pupils failure or
the apprentices success owing to
the fact that the latter is taught bv
a mechanic, and the former by a
schoolmaster When ounces null
tiply, let us look within ourselves or
our system for the cause and the
remedy. Our graded course, with
its plan Of examination, It's mini
mum, its miscellaneous, its thimbie-
rig, and its trick-o'-the-loop, is, in
: the hands ofan injudicious teacher,
a ssistant or principal, huge, patent
machine for making ounces Let Us
have iron rules and mechanical reg
ulations for our servant and not as
our masters, remembering that the
letter of any fixed rule should give
way to the spirit which is the well
f re of our pupils collectively and
s3verally, remembering. also, that
, laws, liks grapes, when pressed to
: hard, yield a sour and unpleasant
wine. Our graded course is ten
bar gate. The thoroughbreds go over
flying the hunters clear it, land
in on tire legs, with the fourth ready
for use in case of a slip; even the we'll
; conditioned common stock do it
comfortably but, with the clumsy,
the spawned, and the foundered, it is
contest between iron bars and breast
t bones. For the last mentioned.
think [ should take down bar oaca-
+ sionally, aud let them pass on; but
, would not raise my bar higher against
the poor creature, nor place spikes on
5 the top, whereon they might stick
; forever, in the event of a single mis-,
Z step. Let teachers, then, promote
: heir clever pupil as a matter Of
/ course, and their dull ones by all
: manner Of means +; and, if they fail
f in the latter, let them be sorry !; and
fnot sorry, let them be ashamed.
0 The French aristocracy, having
7 reduced the common people to the
!. con tition of cattle, told them TO eat
e grass; the English government, af-
+ ter bringing the Irish to starvation,
0 denounced, as INDECENT and ill-dis
: posed vagabonds, the wretches whom
e its policy had murdered. The tyr
4 ant alwars scorns, despises and re-
i viles the victims of his oppression.
g Injustice and sophistry play into each
: others hands like pair of confeder-
I ate swindlers injury is the head of a
D snake, calumny is the tail; and the
, extremities unite in circle Of venom
: the head holding the tail in its
: mouth. So with the teacher who
f fails to do his duty. When, by in
dolence or inehiciency, he clouds the
!, intellects, dampens the enterprise,