The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1878-02-07
RANDOM THOUGHTS.
By The EDITOR.

utterly untitled for teachers. This is
serious charge, and has aroused good
deal of feeling among the teachers and
their friends.
Every man has his hobby, and if he do
not ride it to death, he may often use it
for good purpose. Ny particular hobby
upon the subject of education is, that it
should begin with the practical and USE
iul, and go up to the ornamental as occa
sion and circumstance may permit. On
the other hand, the hobby Of the teacher
Of the present day appears to be, to look
with disdain. scorn and contempt upon
the small, practical, useful, every. day
part OF education, and devote nearly all
the time to what they term the higher
branches.
1t is pretty fair way to judge of the
ability Of any kind OF mechanic, by the
quality of the article which he manufac-
lures Now let US test the teachers of
the past and present by this rule.
During the past nine months have re-
ceived about two thousand letters. More
| Nhhh VI AhNoo hNAb OiaNho
for cards, and were evidently written by
young people, with few exceptions. These
young folks have had all the advantages
of the modern improved school houses,
books and apparatus, and the instruction
given by the present grade of teachers.
Now three-fourths of these letters were
written with pencil, and in every other
way lacked every element of practical
common sense. 1t has been quite COM
mon for party to write his or her name
in two, and often in three places, and
generelly it is spelled a different way
each time. 1t is the rule, and not the
exception, to order cards. but not to say
where to send them, and the only guide
is, to look at the postmark on the envel-
ope; but as it is part Of the education Of
the average Postmaster to make his post
mark illegible, then all trace must end
No doubt most of the writers are prof.
cient in Algebra. Latin, Greek, French,
German, Music, Drawing, &c.
Within the past month / received a
letter from Minnesota and one from Iowa.
The former was written by man y
years Of age, the latter by a woman aged
g. Both of the writers were pupils in
the first school which | attended. That
was fifty years ago. have so often spo-
ken of that old school house, that will
not again describe it in detail, only
remarking that there was not an inch of
glass. an ounce of iron, a Trick or a s. vn
board or plank about it, For windows
there were cracks between the logs, and
these openings were covered with leaves
from the last years almanac, and the
paper creased with lard to make it trans
parent For ink we used decoction of
maple bark aad copperas, with a little
sugar added to give it polish. Pens were
made Of goose quilts. The desks were
clapboards laid upon long wooden pins
driven into auger holes in the logs
The teacher, old John Mckenzie, did
not teach the higher branches" He
was pretty thorough in the three RS, !"
Reading, Riting and Rethmetic, although
in the latter he never thought OF going
beyond the Single Rule OF Three.
Now, what was going to say was, that
with all these drawbacks, the letters re
ceived from my old school-mates are
models of plain hand writing and COM
mon sense, when compared with the great
mass of letters received.
know that the present generation OF
teachers and pupils regard the old fogies
with contempt and derision but every
thing is respectable or ridiculous only as
viewed from the opposite standpoint
How you would laugh, and then be shock
ed, could you see as l can, in my minds
eye, how old John Mckenzie was barred
out fifty years ago. | was very little
boy, and my father went with me to the
school house. In addition to the pupils,
1--WE called them scholars then,) there
were a score or two Of men, from the sur
rounding country. The school master
had treated, and the bottle Of corn whis-
ky was passing around freely.
Now let us suppose that old Mckenzie
and his scholars, and his neighbors, could
have looked forward lin imagination) and
seen, as the result of fifty years progress,
thousand Of the letters | have mention
ed Suppose they could have realized
that if hatchet, or a shovel or a wheel
barrow, or any piece of iron, or any thing
else were left from under lock and key
it would surely be stolen by the boys and
sold for tobacco suppose they could see
not only every boy, but even the teachers
spending nearly every cent they can earn
beg or borrow, for tobacco; suppose they
could see young ladies (D graduates o.
the High Schools, with plug of wax in
their mouths as large as their two thumbs
rolling it under their tongues, and ovei
their tongues, and plugging it into theil
cheeks, and thus chewing it hour aftei
hour, and this in large crowds of people
, and oven in church suppose that they
could see that not one young person j:
fifty had sense enough to shut door il
winter when entering a room suppos'
they could have seen all this and hund
: rel other evidences of progress which
have not time to mention, would no
! these ignorant back woods greenhorn
had their laugh too 2
> So you see it altogether depends upoi
the standpoint from which we take ou
view, after all.
p The Cincinnati Gazette of last Frida,
r had letter from II. V. Boynton, o
r Washington City, which makes some ad