The weekly Oskaloosa herald. [volume] (Oskaloosa, Iowa) 1855-1885, 1876-09-28
EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
Edited by j. w. JOHNSON, Co. Supt
The Farewell.

The good bye" day came at last, and
we all, in our hearts, bid sad farewell
to our good teachers, Prof's Eldridge,
Hull and Rheem. They had spent one
month with us, toiling ceaselessly and
there fingers yet, and long will linger,
pleasant memories of those hours, and
there were sown in those few DAYS, seeds
of good from which many will gather
golden harvests. May fortune smile ever
upon our teachers with whom we spent
such pleasant moments. But, ahl when
they were done the lessons, then came
that examination! Ninty eight of us en-
listed in the siege, and came out glorious
ly. By Saturday evening the work of the
Centennial Normal was ended and many
are they who went away weary in body
yet cheerful in mind to bless the work of
the Normal.
Since writing the above, almost three
weeks have past away, and Prof's Hull
and Eldridge have gone to their Normal
schools at Troy and Grandview, and Prof.
Rheem to his chosen work of teaching the
children of his city the useful art of music.
Since that time, also, that huge heap of
MSS. has been carefully read, graded
and laid away. In it were S134 answers.
One sheet of paper, on an average contains
from six to seven answers, so that there
were about 1 200 sheets written. Each
answer, when read, was marked at its
value, an6 when the sheet was finished,
its value was estimated by the sum of
the values placed upon the various an
swers. When the nine branches belong
ing to some individual were read then the
per cent. of this person was ascertained by
adding the values of the nine branches
and dividing by nine. This is then all
copied into the Superintendent's record,
then again twice copied upon the certifi-
cate, and when the document is mailed
and the one dollar fee deposited with the
county treasurer for the benefit of next
years Normal Institute, the business is
done; unless the per cent. should fall be-
low 80. then there must be letter instead
and the money refunded. There have
been examined at this office, since last
October, almost four hundred applicants.
Multiply the above tedious process by
400, then add state report, appeal trials,
school visitation and other items too
numerous to mention and the story is
told.
But now the result: Twenty
teachers received first grade certificates.
Forty-four received second grade
twenty-six were unsuccessful
1t may be safely said that there is inn
provement manifest among our best
teachers The interest taken by many of
our number ones is highly creditable to
that they are willing and anxious to be up
with the times. What if one aods good
teacher ten years ago, does it argue that
he must always be? Not at all. Unless he
keep pace with Normals, and Educational
Associations, unless he read books and
journals he is sure not to be- One other
progressive symptom is the fact that di-
rectors enquire of applicants: What kind
of a certificate have you? They are COM
ing to the record and looking for them
selves and if they find low per cent.
their minds are made up at once.
Many good teachers got second grade
certificates but it is hoped that they will
"cOme dp higher" next year