The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1883-12-07

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1 Although the columns ofyour paper assS
open for tho di rnssion Of ali matters
bearing on the welfare Of the county,
yet hitherto the agricultural, political and
commercial interests haye been brought
forward prominently while the educa.i
Itionsl interests have been to great extent
left in the background. We are naturally
led to enquire why this ID Che Gaze. The
reason must either l,e that tho subject u
Of less importance than the others or the
public have concluded tl,at our educ..
tioial system has reached sucll q state Of
perfection that it may 10 safely leit totakc
care Of itself;or else the community are
10 interested In the rice for tile almighty
dollar that the subject Is neglected., re-
gardless oil it's Importance. The first can.
not be true rs it has been admitted BY oil
that education is second olly In Import.
ance to religion while not a few hold the
opinion that it tskes foremost place.
| Neither can the second l,e the proper
solution as it is well known that tho sra.
TEN is only in its infancy and although
our county superintendent, Mr.. jackson,
in doing all that can be expected Of him
yet "a great deal remains to be done. In
order that education may become sue
cess, it is not only recesssry that superin.
tendant teachers, parents and children
work in unison, but there must Re q
proper system well carried ont. There is
no doubt that Pe,nbina for young
county spends great deal Of money in
schools. This fact alone is sufficient to
prove that some method should be
adopted that will give the public an idea
of what return they arc getting for thsir
money. Public examinations, which, are
all well enough in themselves, are not by
any means all that il necessary. 1t 10
very casy for teacher to drill his class
up on few subjects for the purpose Of
making q display at public cxa,ninatio ms,
but it is q different matterto prepare them
in s,lcl, way az to stand the test of a
written examination. I would suggest
tllat VIC have some kind af O county
examination once year. The spring
would be probably the ties. time. This
could either be for promotion or conpeti-
ton. The former would probably be the
best as It would furnish uniform basis
for the whole county, and thus be an
excellent guide. especially for young
teachers. Some central place in the
county could be chosen where all the
pupils could meet aud be examined ON
the questions The work could be all
done in one day, and unless prizes were
given the only expense attached to IL
would he the cost Of printing the questions
and the the paper used in writing the
answers. We think that great deal Of
good would result from something of this
kind and it could bs accomplished with.
out much trouble. If it were found diff.
cult to have all the pupils brought to
one place, the county could be divided
into districts which would overcome the
difficulty. merely throw out this idea
as suggestion and would like to hear
the views Of others on the subject. II it
he thought impracticable or worthless, l
have nothing more to say. but If something
of this kind can be accomplished, will
be only too willing to help the mat
ter forward. j. b. ROBINSON.
Toilette. Dec. !. 1883.