Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1879-11-19
Educational Meeting.


An educational meeting was conducted in Rich
mond, on Thursday, the 18th, by State superin
| tendent Conant Of Randolph. After reading Of
Scriptures and prayer by Rev. W. S. Hazen, Mr.
Conant spoke upon the methods OF teaching pri
mary arithmetic "Object, or objective teach
ing rs some prefer to call it, was favored by
him in the talk rs It was also by all the teacher,
who spoke upon any subject during the day
Rev. Austin Hazen spoke upon Teaching morals
in the public schools" His idea is that children
are sent to school for the purpose Of fitting then
to be better citizens than they otherwise would
be; that q good moral character is ms much a
necessity TO be possessed by good citizen, as IL
| good education; that teachers should look TO II
that the moral natures are not neglected in theii
eagerness 10 drill the intellectual. We as teach.
ers grant this and claim to understand It as well
~ anybody. But when the number OF partially
opposing religious elements represented by the
scholars is surpassed only by the number OF
classes those scholars go to make up, we find II
far easier to theorize in regard to teaching morals
than to put the theories into practice. Rev J.
ID. Emerson of Underhill spoke upon Teaching
reading" advocating for beginners the word
method. 1t is his opinion that any one who can
tell story well can read well, and the teacher
must endeavor to have the child understand the
story 1t is reading perfectly 1t does the story
Il may tell from Its own experience observa-
ton, and then the one will be read as well as the
other will be told "God makes, preserves, and
keeps them ALL read correctly and incorrectly
punctuated by Mr. Emerson, was given to show
that II the child had perfect understanding OF
what 1t was reading, correct punctuation would
not be troublesome matter. J. ID. BARLEY OF
the Burlington high school and Mr.. Conant also
spoke upon the same subject.
AFTERNOON SESSION
After dinner, which was served in the vestry
Of the Congregational church, the meeting being
in the audience room Of the same church, the
reading class from the Richmond academy read
very creditably few selections. Professor J. d.
Bailey spoke at some length on :" How to inter-
est children in local natural history" He mem
toned great many occurrences that may be
noticed by any one almost any day, and yet that
many never notice at all. Dr. A. B. Somers OF
Jericho gave some good hints on teaching ge-
ography. c. b. Towers, town superintendent, read
apaper on Primary teaching" He dwelt largely
on thoroughness" in primary departments and
in rural districts, and denounced the idea of hir-
ing cheap teachers for those places. lie did not
approve of having tire schools managed by those
who expect to teach but few terms, but thought
1t would be much better IL teachers were to make
teaching their life work. This is another propo-
sition granted probably by all, and when wages
permit we may look for professional teachers
Not till then. After some hints and advice to
teachers by the state superintendent, the meeting
adjourned till evening.
EVENING SESSION.
Rev. j. ID. Emerson in the evening addressed
the people on Radical teaching" This address
was prepared for class OF students who gradu.
ated from school of which he had charge, many
OF whom were then expecting to teach He spoke
entirely from his own experience as a teacher OIL
student, advancing no theories There was good
attendance at the meeting in both daytime and
evening, considerable interest was manifested
and we believe the meeting was in every way