Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1873-12-31
OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
Attendance. School Houses, Institutes aud
Peabody Aid.
SECOND ARTICLE. !

means of obviating difficulties, as well as
that they may congratulate themselves up
on successes attained.
SCHOOL ATTENDANCE.
The attendance in the schools has not
teen as large as it should have been, yet as
good, perhaps, as was to have been expect
ed, everything considered. As usual, the
number fell off after the excitement of the
opening had subsided. Some children
We're employed in gathering and putting in
the crops others had no inclination to go,
and unfortunately, were possessed of pa
rents who, through want of energy or ut
Ter worthlessness, failed to compel their
attendance. Hence, whole families are
coming up without any education whatev-
er. In one school | found only seventeen
pupils present, when above ninety belong
ed. Two Others had only ivepresent, each,
with forty or fifty belonging. These are
only exceptional cases, yet there is de.
gree OF non-attendance in all the schools
which must be broken up, and the ques-
Hon is, what will do it? Generally the
very persons for whom the schools were
particularly established are most negligent
The most earnest efforts of directors, visit
ing the people at their homes and CON
ierrlng with them personally have failed
OF success. Attendance must be secured
Tor without it the very object of free
schools-which is the, securing of univer-
sal education-is defeated. The school Of
hcers and friends of the schools every-
where say I'VE must have a law to com
pel attendance. Compulsory taxation and
compulsory attendance must go together
II Is to be hoped that improvement in the
future may make such u law unnecessary
even If there were no doubt Of the prac-
tlcaoiity of its enforcement.
SCHOOL HOUSES.
Knox county is, / venture TO say, be- !
hind few counties of the State in the char |
hcter OF her school houses, still there is |
room for vast Improvement. We have
many good buildings, yet to say that we |
nave school house, which is q model in |
every particular, is impossible. The |
greatest fault is a want of architectural de- |
sign. When the poet wrote
"A thing of beauty is a Joy forever
lie uttered truism which is just as appli-
cable to school houses as to any thing else.
a school house built with regard to beauty
ana convenience is of itself potent educa-
tor. The impressions of childhood are
more lasting than any other, and few OBJ
ects of that period remain pictured in the
memory longer than the school house.
How important then, that the picture be
worth the preservation, and one which
snail exert an influence for good through
Life. a number of new houses have lately
been built-some of them sadly deficient
n design. With little, or no more cost.
hey could have been made both orna-
mental and adapted, whereas they are now
neither. When, in the future, houses are
20 De built 1t will afford me much pleasure
20 confer with the people and directors, and {
furnish plans. / do not mean BY this that {
any thing shall be Iadded TO the expense.
t does not necessarily cost more to build
house right than wrong. Without good !
..ralI fpr sI,al ,1I,r II 1 J..
sible to have first class schools. So impor- '
tant do consider this, that / propose to I
devote large portion of my time during the t
coming year to securing the construction |
ardfurnishing ofschoOl buildings in. desti-
tutesections. The miserable cabinsi in which | !
some schools have been taught this sea.
son, are disgrace to civilization. Strange
ii is, that parents, who are careful and
tender with their children Mt home, will I
send them to school house scarcely fit to n
shelter dumb brutes. l find many schools
taught in churches and in a kind of com !
olnation .cnureh-and-school-house, which I
ls not at all adapted. Churches should be &
built as churches and school houses as 81
school houses. The proper furniture and j
uses of the one are SO dissimilar from
those of the other, that it is impossible that Il
they be successfully combined. The soon "
ar this fact is appreciated and acted upon, !
The better it will be for both congregations J
md schools. \
TEACHERS INsTI IUTES O
IN order 10 elevate the standard Of teach 81
ing, il was found necessary TO establish
some system of teachers Institutes. g
have, therefore grouped the districts of u
he county in four divisions, in each of is
which an institute is held once a month. A
The district system was thought 10 \
20 better adapted to begin with The jo
Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh districts meet
It Campbell's Station on the first Satur. {
lay the Fifth, s xth, Seventh, Eighth, de
and Twentieth, at Oukdale hi
academy, in the Eighth district, on the pc
econd Saturday the Second, Twelfth,
thirteenth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and
lwenty4tirst, at MechaniesviIle on the On
bird Saturday, and the Third, Fourth, gi
sixteenth, Seventeeth and Eighteenth at Of
spout Hollow on the fourth Saturday of to
ach month. The attendance has net been re
g large ~ desirable, but a deep interest is in
manifested by those present and much good We
las already been done. 1t is very neces a. u
y thatteachers attend these meetings dur. mo
ng the entire year, whether their schools m
re running or not, If they propose to make sb
eaching their profession. At the close of m
he year, certificates of attendance will be ri
ranted by the institutes, and would nd ro
Use directors, who wish to obtain WE'LL :;
uaitied and wide-awake teachers newt 10
Ill, to require that applicants shall pro. te,
uce these certificates. My limited space ~
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