The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1883-02-01
Rambling Remarks About Scheolmen.

Rambling Remarks About Scbsolmen
To the Editor at the Press;
Your correspondent "Parent' has, it seems
TO me, misunderstood your other correspondents
"Goold Brown" have read "Goold Browns"
communication and fail to see therein a scin-
tillation Of shadow of censure Of the teachers
IN the Portland schools. Those teachers
most of them certainly-do excellent work for
scanty pay. There is, fancy, no complaint OF
these faithful servants. There is, 1 know,
much complaint of the methods pursued b y
the school boards OF Portland and other large
towns. The prevalent belief is that the work
turned out by our schools is-considering the
expense of the plant and the management
poor; that most boys and girls are no better
educated than the boys and girls of thirty
years ago; and that it costs much more to "ed-
ucate" children now than it did then. Think
ing people hold that one who has served q
seven years apprenticeship at grammar ought
to be able to read and write correctly; that q
child who has pored over an arithmetic book
many school terms ought to be able to state the
sum of short column of figures quickly and
correctly They also complain that school
children to-day are not "well educated"-usin
the words in their proper sense-and have not
learned how to learn.
recognize the truth of Parents state
ment that no father should judge the work Of
school solely by the results his own boy has
achieved. We all know that the bright boy
finds it easy to master his lessons and for that
particular reason he needs no stimulant to
quicken his pace. The School. paid for out of
the common fund, and supported by rich and
poor, alert and sluggish, is for the average"
boy. Its purpose should be to fit him for his
life-werk, not 10 stimulate geniuses It should
give him serviceable suit of armor. If he is
ambitious to inlay it with gold or to paint
some striking device on his shield he may do
it at the expense Of his purse or his wit. The
people ought not to be called upon to do it. I
fancy, toe, that Parent does judge school
work by the attachments OF his boy or girl.
The child, probably, has been brought up nm
der the kindliest and wisest supervision. He
has, first and best of all, been taught the way
that makes for righteousness; he has, without
conscious effort, become well-behaved, consd-
crate in speech, courteous in manner. It is
his good fortune to come of gentle breeding.
He has cultured father and consderate
and conscientious mother The father and
mother, proud OF the progress he has made,
with improper modesty, refuse to ask credit for
the good home training the youth has received
| or to credit to innate ability, or good fortune
| or careful bringing-up, or other favorable cir
| cumstance, the handsome record he has made.
They credit the gift granted by the Creator
and fostered by them, to the schools-deluded
| by the sophism that a machine which turns
out boy as bright as their boy, must be the
best of its kind, and faultless in its work
| ing. They do not stop to think that
the boy was bright when he went
| in or trihe furnished when he
| came out. In their thankfulness they praise
| the teacher and patronize the pupil. They
| forget that the public schools are established
| for the greatest good of the greatest number -
| for the boys and girls who have been raised in
| q patch of potatoes, not in bed of lilies; for
| children who are dull or ignorant, or entirely
| deprived of the wise and gentle ministrations
| that make the boy student long before he sees
| o school.
I fancy that "Goold Brown" as one Of your
| correspondents pedantically styles himself, en-
| tertains the opinions haye touched upon. He
| has hastily and briefly expressed himself, and
unnecessarily dragged individuals into the con-
| troversy. The question, it seems to me, is not
| one of persons but of principles.
We're it not for fear of your waste-basket
| would like to say something more in the way
| of complaint of our pubic school system.
| should certainly go farther In that way than
| "Goold Brown" has, and I believe many
| Parents would be my companions.
| Jan. 31st. Y.
IF "Y" has anything more to say and will
say it briefly, the PRESS will give him hearing
| The topic is one of immediate and general in
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