Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1883-11-17
aancaster fntelligsnrrr.
sATcapA7 EVENING, nov. II. 1893,
Do the InstItutes Pay .


Some OF our cosemporarles are discuss
ing the question whether teachers insti'
tutes pay. No doubt they pay the teach
ers, for they seem to enjoy them but
whether they are Instructed by them
sufficiently to be profitable to the public
who bear their cost, IL the real question.
Theoretically they are good, and IL they
are properly conducted the theory should
be sustained by the practice. We have
now experienced them for q number OF
years, and IL they are real benefit, 1t
should by this time have demonstrated
itself to those who are In position to judge
Of the quality Of the school teachers
work, and whose duty it is to do so for
the public. In estimating their value
the easy self congratulation of those who
participate in them is not to be taken
into great consideration-certainly II is
not to be deemed convincing proof OF
their utility. ...
There is too great disposition man
ifested on the part OF the management OF
these institutes to provide mere enter
tainment for the teachers. The even.
ING performances to which the teachers
are treated are hardly instructive in the
line of their profession, and some OF
them, perhaps, in no line. They are
very we'll in their way, but tbs schools
should not be adjourned to enable their
teachers to enjoy Helen Potter, Frank
Beard, or even Judge Tourgee and
Robert Collyer. Nor is it certain that
those features of the regular institute
proceedings which are most popular with
its members are most edfying aud
instructive. We can easily understand
how they are benefited and instructed
by the breezy speeches of DR.. Higbee,
and the ripe experience of such veteran
workers in the cause as Drs. Wicker
sham and Brooks, but what direct
relevancy to their work there is in con-
veying to them instructions for organic
ing a national bank or in dramatic
readings, we have not been able to
fathom.
As has been previously suggested II
these columns. the one subject conspic
uously neglected by this and most
other institutes, Is that of pri
mary education and the necessity
of having the best schools and the best
teachers for that class Of scholars at
whose tender age the mind is most sus
ceptible TO impressions and Of which the
largest number of pupils enjoy the I'D .
vantages OF the common schools The
Inquirer forcibly points out that the
remissness of school boards in this direc
tion is most notable right here in our
own city and yet nobody who held
membership in the institute and nobody
who undertook to instruct or entertain
it-except, perhaps, DR.. Higbee, who
thinks strongly on this subject-called
attention to this most pressing of all
practical school questions.
The institutes no doubt do coed ;
they can be made to do much more.
And it is in this hope and with view
to save them from some popular re-
proach--uot altogether undescryed--into
which they have fallen that we offer
some friendly suggestions. For it is not
unreasonable 10 expect Of the teachers
that they use all the time ut their dis
posal,i in the week they are given for heiI
association, in learning and practising
things that will directly tend to thei
Improvement as teachers.