Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1878-10-03

paper, to give expression 20 few sem
iiments which Think deeply concern
them.
] was present at o meeting ofthe peo-
pie held IN your town on the 18th inst,
the purpose Of which, ] presume. or
rather was tcld, was 70 express indig-
nation Al some Of the acts Of the School
Board and Examiner; but whether the
injury complained of--the product of
| those acts--was real or supposed, ! will
not attempt 70 say ss present. but thie
much VIII ssy, That attended one OF
the examinations recently held by Mr.
Thomas, the Examiner, and found il, in
my humble estimation, to be a fair,
practical and impartial one, with the
exception that time enough was not al
lowed TO write out the answers 10 some
Of the questions, which no doubt les
sened the per centage Of some of those
applying for certificates TO teach. Yet
can see no just cause why the Exami-
ner should be censured for carrying out
The imperative commands of bis supe-
riors and the school law (time allowed
TO answer questions accepted). II is
futile TO say that partiality was shown
in the examination, as each applicant
had The same questions, the same length
Of time TO answer them in, and the same
per centage was required of the one as
Of The other 10 obtain the required cer-
tificate 20 teach. Then how can an Ex-
aminer be Justly censured when he does
his duty fairly, justly, impartially and
according to the law governing him :
Besides, his report either has TO be ap-
proved or disapproved by the Board of
School Commissioners, and If censure
Is at all necessary. il is the Board that
should receive the condemnation OF the
people, for / contend that the Board Of
School Commissioners should (when an
| examination is necessary canvass the
questions proposed by the Examiner,
and If deemed TO be impractical or of
too high standard, to modify them to
suit the requirements Of the age.
Now, Messrs. Editors, ] don't wish
to be understood as becoming Mr..
Thomas advocate. He, like many of
US, may have faults and not be able to
see them, but i do think that we should
be more reasonable and when we ar
raign a person. an officer, we should be
able 10 produce specific charges, and
upon the arraignment TO give the party
arraigned an opportunity of refatation.
Was this done at the late indignation
meetingl l emphatically answer no.
have always held TO the principle that
justice should be given to him TO whom
justice belongs, hence the aforegoing
remarks. Had the late meeting taken
up the pro rata order (passed by the
Board of School Commissioners 9th in
stant) and made specific charge of it
against the Board, il would have been
done with some justness, for in my
humble opinion it should receive the
condemnation of all fair minded and
honest people. viii here give verba-
tam the order alluded to-: "Ordered,
that an average attendance of ten pu-
pills for a given term shall entitle the
teacher to full salary for the term, and
that IN all cases where the average at
tendance falls below ten, the teacher
shall be paid pro rGfG."
Is it not plain, Messrs. Editors, that
this order will act detrimentaIly to the
cause Of popular education Does il not
bear upon its face injustice towards the
teacher, patron and pupil ! Why
Because the teacher, under the school
law, must be in his school room six
hours each school day for the purpose
of giving primary instruction, morally
as well as intellectually, to the little
ones placed under his charge, and since
il is in our primary schools that the
child's character is formed and brought
out for development, and as the respon-
sibility OF the teacher is scarcely if al
all below him who sits in the minister
al chair for like purpose, he should
receive q fair remuneration for his ser
vices. Any common sense man car
see that under the pro rata order il il
possible the teacher may receive moth
ing. or at all events, not enough TO pay
his board bill, which nature herself must
necessarily create. Under the school
law. il Is The duty of The Boards oI
School Commissioners to EIx the salary
Of teachers of their respective counties,
which law has, believe, been strictly
adhered to in our county till the last
meeting. 5th instant, of School Com.
missioners, when the pro rata or.
der indefinitely fixing the teacher:
salary was passed. How gentlemen
Of such known capacity and experience
as compose our present Beard should
fail to see the evil effect of such an or
der / am not able to fathom, although II
is plain that some object was sought to
be effected and the Teacher, the instrn.
ment through whom IL was to be pro-
duced. yet for the life of me fail to see
1.-THE object. II cannot be that teach.
ers need q siimulant to exert them e
new exertion 10 obtain greater aver.
age, for TO my certain knowledge there
are few teachers in the field that have
not done and still continue TO do theiI
duty faithfully and according TO law
Even admitting that there are some in
efficient teachers, even then, has not the
Board power TO reject them by refusing
to confirm their appointment and no
make The innocent suffer for the guilty
II is certainly not because the teacher
does not command respect enough 4
cause the patrons to send their childreI
to school, for If he did not command re
spect be would not be in the school. !
is equally certain that il is not for wan
of ability to teach, because ne holds th'
= requisite certificate Of qualification.