The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-12-04

run on. heslue8 supplying money, it 10
the duty Of the State
FIRST, TO FURNISH GOOD TEAcHDRs.
Speaking generally, good teachers ere
neither born nor do they grow; they
have to be made. They are made only
when there is G demand for them; the
multiplicity Of bad teachers is owing to
there being, cmall, demand for good ones
The complaint about bad teachers Ia a
very old one. Roger Ascham, ihe tutor
Of Qneen Elizabeth, complained In his
Schoosnicster that meu .Uere moro careful
in choosing groom for their horses than
a teacher for ,heir SONS. To-day, one OF
the most serious obstacles in the way OF
our school system is tho employment OF
incompetent teachers. This Is not pecn.
liar to South Carolina. The common
school teachers Of the ~ rthern States
outside of cities and t1 ans, are generally
of low standard. In many places they
are as bad as our worst. ] read that in d
French district of Canada o petition from
school teachers was signed by some OF
them with their. cress.mark. We should
have good teachers here, and by proper
means we can have have them, I have
the authority of distinguished English
educator for saying that America fur.
nishes the bes. material in the world for
the making of good teachers. One OF
the worst effects of tho present disburse.
ment of the school fund is the discour-
agment it gives'to good teachers, where.
by the beat are driven FROM the field,
The unconditional distribution of the
fund encourages the unnecessary multi.
plication of schools, which leads to the
unnecessary multiplication of teachers.
This cauaes the lowering of the teachers
pay and o consequent lowering of the
teachers standard, for the teachers
standard rises and falls with his saIary,
But the great desideratum In the train
ing of teachers is the
NORMAL SCHOOL.
Without q Normal Training College no
public school system Is complete or can
succeed and our public schools, with
their army ofiovcr three thousand teach
ers, will never be able to do work worth
the money expended upon them until
each teacher shall hfE7e either d Normal
School certificate or. q University ii-
ploma. The Constitution directs the
establishment Of Normal SCHOOLS Cart,
X.Sec. 6,) within five years after the
adoption of the Constitution" There
should be one, perhaps two, Normal
Schools for each race, situated conye.
niently in Charleston, Columbia and
some up-country town Of .ufiicienS pcpu-
iation TO eupply four or Eve hundred
children for the experimental school at
tached. The Normal Ehools could he
established and maintained without any
additional tax, and our General Assem-
bly, should at once attend to this matter.
IL iS the dutv of rho Stata
SECOND, TO ESTABLISH HIGH SCHOOLS.
While diffusing elementary instruction
the three ssR's-reading, 'riting and
'rithmetic-what / have called the knife,
fork and spoon of education-it is the
duty of the State to encourage and foster
higher education. AT present higher
education is practically discouraged,
which, especially to the poor man, is q
great injustice. Under the old ''free
scholar" system, the poorest boy in South
Carolina could enjoy the blessings of q
High School and University curriculum
and some Of the illustrious men of this
State were such "poor scholars" Under
the present system, the poor mans son ia
limited to the commonest and coarsesi
educational fare, and even the better
classes are discouraged in their efforts 70
give their sons q good education. The
State should establish and partly main.
tain one or two High Schools or Graded
Schools in every county, in which schools
the pupils might go beyond the narrow
bounds of elementary instruction. Such
High Schools could be supported with.
out additional tax.
1t is the duty Of the State,
THIRD, TO TEST THE QUALITY OF THE
WORK
done public suii0oiis-to sao Inn;
she gets the worth other money. It ia !
striking fact that there is not one thine
to show the value of tie education given
in the public schools--not s. thing in the
State Superintendent annual reports
nor in the reports of School Con,mis.
sioners, nor in the monthly repc.,.s oi
teachers. With an unnusiness-Iike blind.
meas thatis astonishing, The State lavish.
ly rays out her money for education and
cannot tell nor find out what she Ia ,ess..
ting in return. for it. She knows nuthine
either OF the quslity or the quantity O
instruction given. No dcubt she b fur.
nished with statistical tables showing the
number, sex and color of the echool
children, the average daily Attendance
the, number studying each subject. ttt
certificate, color and sex of the teachers
and the length of the sehnnl aaaainn
But all that 10 only interesting iuforma.
ton !; II. Il a!taE.la no test Ey which the .ayL
Gone IN the schools can be valued. Tt
remedy this glaring defect System Of
inspection is necessary. The Schoo'
Commissioners have visitatorial power
but their general Incompetence make,
their visits and examinations fruitless o.
good. Our system needs six or eight
STATE SCHOOL INsPEUroRs,
o set of well-qualifisd mon, acting indie
pandentiy of the teachers, whose duty i
should be to visit all the public schools
once a year, and subject the pupils il
each 70 careful examinations on certaif
subjects, the teachers pay being greatei
or less according to the number Of pupili
that might pass successfully. In tbi
way the work would be done by one se
OF men-the teacher; snd it's value
piaos.i uPun ~ ny another set or men
money would be wisely expended. no,
according to the number of pupils simply
nor their age, noE studiee, nor accordint
to the teacher's cektiGcate, nor the lenetf
of session, but chiefly by the resttils Oh
tanned. Paynsent by Yesillfa rould act d
most saiutary stimulus on tho teacher
and parents would soon discover that =
this way the best teacher would be th,
cheap pest 10 tieIu. 30 solid objection
can be urged against the establishment
OF o system of inspection. Is wonld Coz
but little, and IL would powerfully con
tribute to obviate the desects and to edt
70 the vslne and Effectiveness OF our pui,
lie school systsni.
II is the duty ofthe State,
FOURTH, TO MAKE THE PUBLIC EuEr
sUPPLEMENTAL