The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1885-06-25

brothers at asking such questions, that
she remained silenteand awaitedaresults.
Now;.I would~like to tellyou Of the
fdismaf failure that college president
made; how the students of the institu
ton disobeyedz every moral law and made
themselyes.the, terror of the community
leaving home moral young men with the
intentions OF preparing ;fofethe ministry
and coming horna reprobates, outlaws
and moral ispsrs; but if I were to give
you the detailsSit is possible that my
subject might bs recognized, and ! pre-
/ fer not Ia do him any more harm; he
fhasd done himself too much harm already
Eby.aceepting 8 position for which he and
bis earnest friend ought to have known,
he was wholly unfit. But my learned
friend had an idea.@$It was that every
man that is a good scholar and is big
enough to thrash the biggest boys will
necessarily be good teacher. Nothing,
of course, could be more erroneous than
Ethis. But, after. ALL, isn't this just the
Idea ion which tPennsylvania1 teachers
examinations are based? What under
the sun is the relation between profound
scholarship and aptness to teach Z. Some
oof the brightest scholars are the worst
failures in the school.room. Imagine
Locke, Sir William Hamilton, or Lap
. lace, in the Kindergarten or teaching
beginners to read. We have no doubt
they would have failed. Nothing is
more certain than that to teach well one
must bring himself to his pupils level.
One of the. troubles of. our overwise men
is that they shoot over the heads of their
pupils and fail to impart instruction in a
shape ineligible To the. .lesrners Every
teacher knows that often when allsshis
own ingenuity and patience have been
exhausted in trying unsuccessfully to
explain point to a pupil. -that.same
pupil will catch hint from an associate
which clears up the difficulty at once.
I think it is an outrage upon sPennsyl7
vania teachers that they are subjected to
80 many examinations, when the result
of the examination smeanasso Titles if
the teachef could beSseen at:his work for
en- hour, or if special class or two were
brought in and he were required to teach
half hour, an intelligent board Of direc.
tors would be able in less than ten min
utes to determine whether or not he
would be successful in their school-room.
/ agree witheyou That ssnperintendents
should ba einpoa nsrsnew:all grades
ofscertifeates,s the provisio sionals from year
to year, unless the candidate himself
prefer to 60 into the examination to
secure better certificate than he held
before. . ts|
Just as soon as the standard is fixed at
the professional certificate, or when it is
understood that as soon as teacher
reaches one and a-half, allowing that one
half for excitement, confusion from the
presencgo of visitors, improper questions
by the examining officer, etc, he need
pass no further examination in that
branch, we shall have ten anxious for the
examination where now nine detest it
and worry aboutit, while possibly one is
willing to undergo the ordeal. If teach
ers must be examined and examined, let
it be not as to their scholarship but as to
their fitness to teach and their success in
the actual work of teaching.
I hope, MIR. Editor, that while your
article has set me to thinking and talk
ing that my little effort may not fail in
helping teachers and ,superintendents to
seethis, question in its true light. We
have been taking our, ease too long in
this State; it is time that we move for
ward. Our prejudices are strong, know,
but they. are not worthy of us. We old
men are partially to blame because we do
not tgiyeLthe youngsters more encourage.
ments to take hand inHthe fight.
Yours for improvement,
T. THOMSON, ESQUIRE.