Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1886-02-05
AFTERNOON SESSION.


The opening paper of the afternoon was
read by Principal O. p. Conant of the st.
Adams High school on the subject,
school Hours" Mr. Commits own eX-
perence, and that of many others as well,
led him to make the following points:
First, that five hours III the schOolroom is
enough for teacher and scholar; second,
that the sessions should be abridged if
necessary, but have no recess, which the
DRY he supported on the general grounds
of giving more time out of school to the
children of INDECENT parents, and
the avoidance of communicating inhu-
ences on the play ground third,
that detention after school hours as Il mat
ter of discipline should be avoided as eX-
haustive and productive of no good to
either teacher or scholar; and fifth, that
home lessons should be judicOuSly as
signed. OF course there are exceptional
cases and there are some scholars so con
scientious and studious that they ought
by all means to be restrained, but speak.
ing from experience the foregoing sugges-
tons are capable of broad and general ap-
plication. Mr. Commits paper was an able
and exhaustive treatment of the subject
in hand and evoked many opposing opn-
ions.
Mr.. Bishop of Montpelier thought, diff
fering from Principal Conant, that there
should be period in every scholars life
when he ought to do all his work in school,
and maintained that six hours is enough
for the student of IS to 20 years of age.
The students under those years ought to
leave their books in the schoolroom He
differed also III regard to the recess 1t
is impossible to properly Ventilate the
schoolroom without letting the pupils 20
out. Scarcely one out of 20 knows how to
use the five hours of study to the
most advantage and the pressing need of
the teachers of to-day is to teach the
scholars how to apply themselves for those
five hours. Mr. Sheldon of Boston held
that five hours were sufficient for the older
scholars and three hours for little scholars
from five to seven years of age. He also
strongly opposed the suggestion of abol-
ishing the recesses.
"A Recent Examination and Some Les
sons from It," by Principal Edward Co
nant of Randolph, Principal A. +. Leav-
enworth of Castleton and ID. j. Foster
Esq. of Burlington. Principal Conant' s
paper was an exposition of the necessities
and deficiencies of normal school appli-
cants, as deduced from recent eXamina-
ton papers of such candidates. The eX-
animation in question was held at the
| Randolph normal school and the papers
were written answers TO ten questions
propounded on each of the subjects, arth
| liCtiSt scoSidPhg Gnu
from the large percentage of fail
ures, Q out of II, to pass salts
factorily the examinations in those
subjects Mr.. Conant made his deductions
Normal schools, he sad, need some means
for testing the capacity of those who seek
admission, without certificates of com
potency. 1t has been proved by experience
that those least qualified. are the most
persistent to retain their standing. So
long as the Legislature does not protect
them by law, normal schools must protect
themselves. The first lesson drawn is
that the common schools fail to teach
well what is required of them.
They do not teach well Il knowl-
edge of the English language. The sec
ond lesson is that many of the common
school teachers lack the knowledge re-
quisite to teach. The third lesson is that
there is n lack of supervision, since most
of those who failed held certificates as
teachers. Another source of weakness is
the shortness of common school terms,
and the frequent change of teachers
| The discussion was continued by Princi-