The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1876-04-01
The Champion School Teacher.
HIS PROGRESSIVE IDEAS AND NOVEL NO
TIoNs REGARDING HISTORY AND
GRAMMAR.

Weaver, and short time ago the Board
Of Supervisors, having collected some
facts concerning his method Of instruc-
ton, summoned him before them, aud
the President examined Weaver In re-
ference to the matter. He said
Mr.. Weaver, the board is not salts
fed entirely with your way Of impart
ing instruction to the youthful mind,
aud we called you before US to-day TO
ascertain what the general drift OF your
purpose was on certain occasions that
have come under our notice, when you
have been giving the boys what you
seem to have considered useful infor-
nation upon variety Of topics. For
instance, Mr.. Weaver, in teaching the
history class, we feel compelled to take
exception to your views when you as
sert that Benjamin franklin was shot
at the battle OF Agincourt, and that
Nebuchadnezhar was King of ltlay,
and played the fiddle willie Quebec was
burning. You may possibly have later
information upon those topics than has
reached the rest Of us, but the com
munity is prejudiced against these
views, and they make you unpopular. "
! don't recollect saying that" said
Weaver, but just as likely as not
may have said Agincourt Instead of
Waterloo and got Nebuchadnez2ar
mixed up with William the Conqueror
l was sick that day and my mind didn't
work right, somehow"
i" And besides, Mr.. Weaver, we feel
as If we ought to direct your attention
to the fact that you were wrong when
you instructed the class In grammar
that Martin Van Ruren is an adverb
and that the word hungry Is n per
sonal pronoun. These mistakes are
serious enough, but when you fiogged
a scholar because he insisted that " bu'
collie was not an intransitive preposi-
tion and that it did not represent spe-
cies Of stomach ache, II scehs to the
board that you went little to far"
1t wasn't for that / whipped him, "
said Mr.. Weaver /" 1t was because he
put a pin in my chair. was only in
tun about those things. / knew well
enough Martin Van Bnren was an ad-
jective.''
" Well sir, that may or may not be
a satisfactory explanation But the
board would be- glad to know your nu
thority for the statement that Garibaldi
was Saracen who fought against the
crusaders, and that he received his
name from the fact that he was bald.
headed ? You see the parents Of the
children complain about this kind of
thing. They don't like it. They say
1t poisohs the minds of the little ones,
and it makes parents mad"
=" I'm sorry, replied Weaver, hut
} hold those views conscientiously, and
I'm going to stick to them
7" But such theory will hardly avail
to explain why you asserted to the class
In arithmetic that vulgar fractions were
so called because only blackguards use
them, and why you made Mr.. Coyle's
boy go down foot for saying that there
was only two halves to an apple. The
community is indignant atthese things,
sir, and when they learn that you
taught those little innOceDts to spell
dog d-a-w.g, l am seriously afraid
that public sentiment will be strongly
in favor of having recourse to violent
measures. Now you certainly know
that there Is no respectable authority
for spelling the name of that useful ami
nal d-a-w-g. 1t Is preposterous. 1t
shows want of proper sense of the
fitness of things, now don't it ?"
Well, maybe 1t does. But I'll tell
you. Every body spells dog the other
way, d-a-u.g, and it struck me that it'd
he a good idea for my scholars to start
out on fresh, original basis to get up
sOmsthing new and startling and re-
freshing in the dog line.and SO | threw
d.a- w-g out as a kind of an idea a
mere suggestion, you understand, with
out intending to insist on 1t. But l
don't mind coming down on that. IN
give it to them the old way IL you insist
on it,"
Very we'll. But while we are 60
ing over the matter permit me to urge
that you could have had no respectable
authority for telling the school that
Omahs Is the capital of Mexico. and
that the Revolutionary war was begun
in 1912; and still less is there any war
iuu0 iOI yOut bSbCibiOu W tuC pupuo III
history that the middle name of Gene
raj Washington was McGrath-George
McGrath Washington This sort of
education OF the infant mind attracts
attention and excites remark. 1t brings
ridicule upon the sacred name of the
Father of his Country, and leads the
children astray respecting the geograph-
ical location of Omaha. 1t is wrong,
sir-all wrong and the board cart put
up with it,"
Well, the way l came to do that, l
s'pose," said Weaver, twas ttat l
used TO know man named George
Washington McGrath, and ! must have
confused him with the other one, And
rs for Omaha I'll bet you II il 10 Nexi-
co, or Siam, or Siberia, or some of them
places now, isn't 1t ?"
4" The board, Mr.. Weaver, 90 not
think 1t worth while to pursue this sub
ject further, but, while we are here, l
may as well mention that in that poem
which you wrote as an example for the
class In English composition, we find
rather too much lesity for such seri-
ous matter as the education OF children