Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1880-07-28
STATE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION.
An Address by the Lancaster County super
inrendent.

| STATE TEACHERS ASSOCIATION.
An Address by the Lancaster County super
| intendent.
The twenty sixth annual session Of the
Pennsylvania State Teachers association
commenced at the court house in York
yesterday afternoon. Mr.. B. F. Shaub, Of
Lancaster, president of the association was
in the chair. Nearly every part of the
state was represented, and there was a
large attendance of the citizens of York
The exercises commenced with prayer by
the Rev. DIR. Miller, of that place, and,
! after the enrolment OF members and the
| transaction of routine business. Hon.
John Gibson, a prominent lawyer Of York
delivered the address of welcome. At the
close of Mr. Gibson's address, which was
frequently applauded, Mr.. Shaub, Of Lam.
caster, Pa, made his inaugural address to
which he said
| desire to consider few points in ouI
educational rccord, compare the record
of the past with the present, and to con-
clude with sorne we'll meant and as
think, much needed cautions. Hence the
title of this paper: "A Retrospect and Some
Cautions"
1. And first as 90 retrospect. We find
many faults in tho educational work of to-
day. Some are easily noticed, others are
clearly seen only by those who are accus-
toned to inspecting tho work aud anxious
to improve its quality. Educators arc ever
on the alert. The public is critical. We
arc all more competent to criticise than we
formerly were, and the disposition to do so
seems to have kept pace with the ability.
Unsatisticd as we are with the improved
present, it is nevertheless true that the
past has given us some things in our edu-
cational history that the present cannot
hope greatly to excel.
Let us glance moment at the condition
of the system in 1853. The report of Hon.
a. G. Curtin for the year 1855 gives the
condition Of the system as it was prior to
1854. advise every one to read this il-
tercsting report. He who does SO will be
a better friend of our present system than
he was before. Says Mr.. Curtin It is
undcniable that the school system Of Penn
sylvania had lost prestige and hopes, and
had disappointed the expectation of its
friends. Its failing energies seemed to por.
tend to ultimate decay. In many instances
the state appropriation was devoted to the
repairing of the township roads, no tax
was collected, no teachers employed. The
schools were burden on the cause of pop
ular education, and those who could afford
it withheld their children from them, under
an honest belief that in them neither the
minds nor the morals would he improved
The whole system was becoming a by
word and rcproach within and without
the borders Of the state"
Such was the deplorable condition OF
the schools, as set forth in an official re.
port. Ii seems scarcely credible that
twenty years after the establishment OF
the system it should be so barren in re-
suits, BY the act of 1854 the schools were
revived. The changes soon brought about
by this act were astonishing. In his re.
port for 1855, Mr.. Curtin says that, by
means of the county ysuperintendency, which
was the distinguishing feature of tho act
of 1854. renewed life and vigor was in
fused into tho system, tho schools were
greatly improved even in the first year of its
operations, and 4 power and efficiency
were secured that were hitherto unattain-
able" All these results, We must remem-
Der. were secured i'm the face of much op-
/; position to the act of 1854, and especially
to the supcrintendency. Teachers (?) were
opposed to it, the penurious were opposed
to it it had to contend against fightings
without and treachcry within. And yet it
stood backed by legislative enactment
and courageous friends in the depart
ment and throughout the state. Is it
not strange that All agency SO helpful
should have been SO bitterly opposed and so
persistently misrepresented, even at that
day? And is it not stranger yet that, to-
day, in the full blaze of historical and prac-
tical vindicatiOn of supervision, that there
are some who would bitterly resent tho
charge of ignorance as applicable to them
selves, who kick and bite, and chafe and
fret at the distinguishing feature Of the act
of 1854?
This part of our record also shows that
free trade in education don't work we'll.
The state must aid, must move briskly and
positively right along in the front, or the
masses will 90 without schools worthy of
the name. Local option don't work we'll
in educational supervision. OF the 2168
districts in the state but 119 have local
superyision, and of this number twenty
five are cities and boroughs. 2O49 dis
tricts of the state are without this helpful
agency. The "great expectations of
Mr.. Curtin in his report of 1857, concern,
inc close supervision, are yet far from
being realized. This .fact refutes many
fine-spun aryuments as to what the people
will do. The people don't generally
provide good public schools until after
the state has first moved and given judi
cious aid. This Pennsylvania did in 1854.
The authors of the act of 1854 "builded
better than they knew" They gave US
system which has in it wonderful potency
and promise, and from which has been
evolved an immense amount of good. May
i. like o. pure and unfailing fountain, con-
tinuc, during all future years, to send
forth its refreshing streams into every
nook and corner Of the state. Be it ours
to direct it wisely, to make 1t more eitec-
tive. to strengthen it when weak, and TO
judiciously adapt it to our varied needs as
they arise and press themselves upon our
attention.
IL. And now as to the "cautions." or
several evil tendencies on the increase
among us I shall speak of two only. l. A
turning away from mechanical and agricul-
tural pursuits. 2. A giving Of culture to
the intellect chiefly, and in the earnest de-
sire to do this, forgetting to give culture
to the moral nature. Schools are not re-
sponsible for all, nor for most of the er-
roneous ideas as to hand labor. But it may
be tbey are responsible for some of them.
How many teachers make their pupils feel
as enthusiastic about industrial pursuits as
they do about professional fear
teachers are making a mistake here, and are
either consciously or unconsciously sowing
lie seeds of distaste for any but profession
al A,pvv k<Nv anrNf