Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1883-03-22
CORRESPONDENTS.
OUR DI STRICT scHooL-As SEEN BY
ONE OF THE INSPECTORS.

OUR DI STRICT scHooL-As SEEN BY
ONE OF THE INSPECTORS.
FREDRRICvILLK, March 30, 1883.
EDITOR AVALANCHE:
On entering the school nothing was
observed out of the routine of the or
binary district school--some pupils
studying, some apparently so, smaller
ones looking at pictures or toying with
slate and pencil, while still others idle,
curiously watching teacher and visitor
seemingly wondering what was going
| to be done next. One little fellow
seemed TO be posing, trying this atti-
tude, than that. to see which would
rest him the most, and wrestling with
all his might the while with the mighty
problem what TO do with his feet; they
seemed for the time being to be entire
ly superfluous, yet he could not find
any way of detaching them. or to get
them out of the way. The constant
moving of them and the noise result
ing therefrom, however, proved
source of annoyance to all who were
nervous or susceptible to slight (n dis
turbances, in the effort to commit the
usual lessons.
This suggests the feasibility of lay
ing strip of carpeting under each row
of seats and desks. 1t also iInpresses
one witt the nee cassity of pro viding
something for idle hands to do. Very
small pupils cannot be expected to be
studying all the time, or to sit like a
statute for hours. There are n thou
sand ways in which they can be profit
ably employed, and this must be left
for the fertile minds of their teachers
to devise, when the little pupil shows
any weariness of the last task assigned
them. No particular fault could be
found with the mode OF instruction az
compared with the generality of teach
ers and schools. But one fault COM
mon to district schools, and observa-
BILE here as well, was one which is,
perhaps, natural result or outgrowth
of disposition that pervades the
whole American nation. 1t seems to
be the ambition of the average Yankee
or American citizen not to do n task
we'll and thoroughly but to get over
the greatest amount of territory in Il
given time. wo bcor men Lo""t of
cradling SO many acres of grain, or
p,owing SO much land, or of mechan
ics accomplishing SO much i'll a given
time, but never hear anyone boasting
of how well they have done the work.
An old countryman, especially in agri-
culture, is noted for the precision and
thoroughness of his work, u result Of
having fewer acres TO till and the eff
fort to obtain the greatest possible
yield from the said acres. In our
schools the same spirit is manifested,
and it seems the ambition of the pupil
not TO learn n little thoroughly but TO
get through each book as rapidly as
possible, and like one who runs rapidly
over hills and wales, through village or
city, cannot tell of what he or she has
, passed by with any degree of accuracy.
The ability to call words by their prop
er names, without reference to their
Specification or to the sense of what
they are reading, is considered by some
to be good reading. And such readers !
Woe be to the poor little pauses-the
MANNED commas. the crippled colons
and senicolons, the flattene1 periods,
and the mangled and bruised interro-
CATION and exclamation points they
leave in their reckless haste, utterly
wrecked among the heterogeneous mass
of words, phrases and sentences they
have left in unrecognizable heaps be-
hind them.
But this article is assuming undue
proportions. In short, let ii be I'M
pressed on the minds of teachers gen.
a orally the Importance, nay, the neces-
4 sity, of seeing that pupils do not AL.
I vance in the books faster than they
e can store the contents away in the cells
3 of memory. To learn to read under
: standingly as they go, and to regard
2 the pauses az sign-posts and guide.
e posts 20 assist ia following the drift oi
!. tie writer, IN endeavorlng 20 pace
e something before you for your consid.
!. Grafton for approval or otherwise. -
: Let it also be impressed on the mind.
5 of teachers TO watch closely the writ
e ing and the making of figures to Sc
i cure greater uniformity in both, as thi:
d is of equal Importance with Other
= studies.
d Much more could be said and writ
/. ten on this topic, but must be deferred
n until some future time.
d II. A. DEAN.