Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1883-06-20
Annual Report of the Public
Schools Of Butler County for
year ending June l, 1883.

| 1t affords me pleasure to be able u
say at the close of another school year
that the schools of Butler county, will
few exceptions, were well taught ant
made commendable progress during
the year. A few lacked proper organ
ization and that degree of earnest co
operation between parents and teacher
that is so desirable, and that so materi
ally aids the teacher in the successful
management of his school. Improper
organization OF a school brings Turmoil
sooner or later. Indifference on the
part of parents neutralizes the efforts o
the best teachers. Failures in teaching
are nearly always traceable to one ol
both of these causes. A teacher should
always enter upon his duties with well
matured plans, and should enlist the
cooperation of parents. There is moth
ing like making a good beginning.
| The point of greatest weakness in oul
schools is the lack of cooperation and the
want of thoroughly educated and thor
oughly trained teachers To secure such
teachers we need longer terms and bet
ter salaries.
Twenty-Five regular and six specia
examinations were held during the year
Four hundred and tweDty-four appli
cants were examined, of which number
nearly one-iourth failed. The stand
ard was higher than that of last year
but most of those who passed success
fully showed some improvement.
Generally speaking, our teachers are
better qualified in the branches to be
taught than in methods of teaching
However, nearly all of them read Edu-
cational Journals and many have recent.
ly added to their library one or more
works on teaching, and are beginning
to realize that to teach successfully
they must not be imi.ators but origina-
tors as well.
Butler county has two hundred and
thirty school houses and two hundred
and sixty-one schools; an increase of
two schools from last year. Eleven
new houses were built during the
year; one in each of the following dis
tricts: Brady, Clearfield, Forward,
Jackson, Jefferson, Penn, Summit,
Washington, Worth, Cherry Zone con-
tanning two rooms) and Harmony one
containing four rooms two of which are
finished and were in use during the
winter term The mining interests OF
Cherry and Washington districts neces.
STATED these extra schools The house
of two rooms in Cherry replaces the
one torn down by a cyclone on the
Both of last June.
Some improvement in plan of houses
is noticeable. In this respect the neat
two-story brick in Harmony and the
one-story in Jefferson deserve special
mention With one exception all the
new houses and quite number of the
old ones were seated with improved
patent furniture. Much credit is due
the directors under whose supervision
these improvements were made.
A few sub-districts are not provided
with out-houses and lack of good
taste is shown in the condition of some
of those already provided. A goodly
number of schools has been provided
with Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
(books for reference), mainly through
the agency of Mr.. j. B. Morrow, Prin
cipal of the Centerville schools. Mr.
Morrow has also made valuable addi
tions to the library OF the Centerville
schools.
The Butler public schools have Sc
cured through the efforts of Prof. +
Mackey, Principal, and his able assis
tants, library Of nearly two hundred
and fifty volumes. "The National
Bank of Knowledge" has been intro
duced into a number Of the schools by
it's author, Il. w. Mckee, Esq, also
some maps and charts through Other
agencies. In the matter of improve
ment, we think, Butler county does not
lag behind. We would be glad to see
the good work 90 on, until every dis
trict in the county is provided with
good houses and suitable apparatus
Some districts made slight advance in
wages. Directors exercised great care
in the selection Of teachers; but ai
many of our experienced teachers have
during the year, engaged in other pur
suits, the number OF schools taught by
inexperienced teachers was in excess OF
previous years. While many Of The
young teachers had made no special
preparation, except to acquire knowl
edge OF the branches TO be taught, they
met with commendablc success; some
Of them taking higher grade certificates
than older and more experienced teach
crs. Any person who expects to dis
charge the responsible duties Of {
teacher should fit himself for the work
Textbooks are not uniform in all tn,
districts. To teacher Of experience
and broad culture this matters but little
But to an inexperienced teacher i
usually results in too many classes ant
thus retards the progress Of the school
The great want in the way Of text
books is suitable book for the study
of language as an introduction to tn,
study of grammar But few distrcti
have adopted any Of the Language
Lessons" now published. Some of tn,
teachers CT commend their judgment
have, by their own effort, introduced
Language lessons" with good success
These language lessons become not onl,
language lessons, but spelling lessons
and writing lessons as well. Gramma
can be taught from the use Of Language
better than by technical rules.
The fourteenth annual meeting Of th'
"Butler County Teachers Institute
convened at Butler, December 25, ant
continued in session five days. Th
attendance Of both teachers and citizen
was large. Much interest was mani
tested throughout the entire session