National Republican., 1884-11-04
Mrs. FLYNN,s REPLY.
Expensive Instruction Forced Upon Teachers
Superintendent Wilson's hammer in the
Schools.

Schools.
To NE E,iiior.
Tho two letters Is your issue Of Nov. claim
my attention Il would indeed ho "iguoble TO
III calmly by and sec Our fIcudS' oppressed.
was told by IN. mhcr OF the board somo
tine ago TINT when Mr. iovc,oy proposed the
Introduction of this teacher for clooution II
was violently opposed. Daring tho contest
/ Mr.. Wilson whispered 20 one of the trustees
mIniS y net org OF my prlccN, IherG n ,.n isa
| Jules, authorized hy the bOGyd. Mr. Wilson
advertised this teacher at tue meetings of
! teachers, and gave the u5c Of school rooms for
| the Clhssos. rhcEC glasses were c1mppsol OF
| teachers Gnd some pupils of the higher grddci,
| never attended thum aud know nothing of
| The mCfits OF the lady. When the new system
| Of tcnChiug music was introduced there was
some talk about clnsscs for teachers to make
| themselves competent In this branch. There
| was q charge for these classes lnercr went
did. ii Mr. Wilson tnousht It good
| for the schools to have this ucw syHtpiu,
the teachers thought they shul ii not he
called on topay for learning IT, am told that
| some attended these classes of cOcuiiOn nud
music to avoid Mr. Wilson, dspigasuro The
! drawing Is u special subject. aud th"ro Is NJ
extra price for 1t, have known Mrs, Fuller
to instruct the teachers thrCc-lOurths of every
Saturday nm entire winter aud spring, aud She
CSncts no pay from the teachers. In regard TO
the tyranny of the "unc-mnu power pc maps
have suffered less thnn the average some
time ago IN report of Inspector Entwisle II
was snld that the great expense Of coal was
occasOned BY having the school room doors
4 open, Mr.. Wilson insists upon having the
doors open. lie .buked mc once for having
my door shut told him that had a severe
cold, ana that the draught from the door made
the children MD '1ysclt sick, He answered
| In very rude manner hat should study the
wsofventiiation. win "iSx.TcnchCr' cali this
"a wise soldtionY' | appealed TO my super.
yising principal; he told mv to use my own
Judgment, and that health was the first con.
slderaton | recall two instances in which
Mr.. Wilson found f.ult With the teacher for
not having her curt ins os he wanted them.
Tho teachers explained how the sun would
shine directly i'll their eyes. He replied that
their sight was not TO be considered, but the
light of the room. | have these two cases
directly from the ladies In question. Does "Ex-
Teacher call this consideration. courtesy,
kindness, and helpfulness TO teachers?" Mr..
Wilson creeps around building on his toes.
AT times he Is In a room five minutes before
tine teacher knows It, know there is a class
Of teachers who openly espouse the cause OF
Mr.. Wilson. They, indeed. should accord to
him checrlully the tribute OF gratitude" "Ex..
| Teacher should remember that the school
1 system of Wash' gton is u system of fnvorit-
ism, True. all iavuritism cannot be excluded
from any system Yet u system In which
invorilism is the rule and Justice the exeep-
ton merits the condemnation of oil men,
such sour System. Another class of teachers
will surely sling with Joy upon the day of Mr..
Wilson's forced resignation or removal from
Office, Let "Ex, TEACHER explain II, The tribute
of Justice In the following. Mr.. Wilson went
into a school and said Boys, write com
position. You need not give attention to the
penmanship, but only to the composition"
Atlerward he took the compositions to Q
professional writing reacher and marked tho
school on writing from these compositions
He now claims the teacher OF this school can
!. not teach penmanship. In certain building
: was marked very high and the other one yer,
low. He praised one teacher for competency
= and rebuked the other for incompetency. 1
so happened that the same teacher had taugh
both schools. Ii had been arranged betweei
these two teachers 70 exchange the teaching
OF history and penln9nship ! know OF an
other teacher who received the highest mari
for penmanship. This teacher aftcrward &C
knowledged openly that he had not given ON
!. lesson in penmanship that year These case
' prove how personal feeling, nnd not Justice
monts may result from Mr. Whites case IL
was an excellent teacher, and every one ex
pected him to succeed Mr.. Copp as supervisor
!. principal. l am told he had mind of hi
not control him he did not get the position
Look at the late new supervising ,prlncipa
l. OF South Washington. It was but right tina
= Mr.. Fairbrother should have the position, bC
cause he had been good teacher In th
eighth grade. Mr. Wilson, 1t seems, objocte
to him, saying he was not college gradual,
y ably MT. Wilson was afraid that the publ
ie would be definitely informed whether or M
he himself is graduate OF Dartmouth; as h
\, claims "Ex-teacher' writes OF Mr. Wilsoi
Y "ie has labored to bring our schools to IL
degree of excellence which they have attaine
so that we may now point to them with prit
II hnor fear dissent when we class them amor
the best In our country With perhaps
greater development OF sight than of intelleC
Mr.. Wilson is all for show. ON this point NJ
Dodge gives very correct and general vie
In THE REPUBLICAN of Oct. q, 1884. "Wilson
81 whole idea, from first to last isto make gran
I'd superficial display. There are too many stud
.n at once. The result Is mere smattering
II many branches and u thorough understands
stead of educating, and Is all wrong. Scores
parents complained to me of these thing
It while was on the board, '&c. find In u
Ill scrap-book Il letter from II teacher published
IA few years ago In II daily paper OF this city.
do not know the authoress, but take the II
erty to quote: TOO much Is put Into the fir
,E year and what Is not finished there Is Cnrri'
into the second. A good deal Is added, is II
finished Il dragged on into the next year, AT
so on, until have In my own school to-di
bright girls II years old who came to me al
viii leave INC forever trailing behind them Y
odds Il nd ends of their halt.done work. v
4. drill and drlll, yet there are few girls IN q
:. public schools who can tell definitely in II
= minutes how many yards of carpet would
., required to cover the floor of her own rOol
All work is competitive, all comparison Is
per cent, md per cent. depends upon limi
\ years dose Is put up, labeled course
study II is to be administered in rcgul
I limits No matter whether pupil needs IN
! kind of dose or in that quantity, or whethcrl
is able TO take any nj Hll Give him the pl
scribed limits, make IL digest make time
The above and glance over the daily pr,
of the past years viii prove there h
been continual complaint By parents a.
. teachers about the schools called by az
IL Teacher "ainOng the best in our country
ee'; The remark, make time reminds me for
ppu bly, ofthe way spelling is taught. | know O
- teacher in the fourth grade who comnienC
Christmas the children of that school We
writing from five hundred To seven hundr
j words daily. As Il rule, every disorder Is pu
islicl by SO many hundred words after sch0
knew teacher in Il lower grade who po
lively denied that she taught spelling wi
YET 1t was c'enrly proved that her pupils We
detained Gu hour aiter school to write hu
lrCds of words, and the week before the
animation her pupils had llss OF seven hi
dred words All this is done TO get high p'
ccntGgcs, because the teachers kuOw that
Wilson decides their merit by marks, ! u
the teachers who read this not to condemn !
exposure of this point rs 1t Is done ior TIN
GOOD, to prevent parents from abusing
OycrWOrkcd teacher, and thus shielding /
''OnG.mun power which Is the sole catlsc
the cramm!ng. Here is the labor OF
teachers In the higher grades. sixty pup
are rCCkuncu for ch school An cXamiI
liuu In one study CHcn week givus 30 exam
alton pnpGr5 \ written exercise in spelli
- daily, Eiylnp mt least $50 papers more, nnd til
add two or lnfCG com POSI- IONS each month,
taking the lowest possible average, one
month, there are sixty compositions to ma
the ",lud Total of l,260 papers iur each tcucl
to read, mark, and leturn u her pupils.
nothing of reports besides. The teacher mi
necessarily be overworkud or take the time
her pupils to assist her. The result of all d
examining ON teacher and pupil Is to be iun
q a ll....t ,lt.altl IL ~