The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1886-06-05
"A farmer in Lyons, N. Y, found a
me gold watch in hay-loft where 3
tramp had slept without permission.
COUNTRY SCHOOLS.
Tho Thing Needed to Mako Them Entirely
What They Should BE.

Tho Thing Needed to Mako Them Eutireiy
/ What They Should BE.
| The National Bureau of Education
has just issued very interesting trea-
tise upon rural schools. their progress in
the past, and means of Improvement in
the future. 1t places great stress upon
the fact that the rural schools should
be mate as efficient as possible They
furnl,h obstruction for more than half
the school population, all the formal in
struc;ions that they ever receive. The
type presented is familiar one:
"A school composed OF s..h6 lars of both soy.
e. lhnSing IN studF anywhere from the prlnl-
er 10 EUCLID, housed in Se;iiCol hcusc OF bpt
one room and I'rertd ID WITH one teacher
upon whom devclYcs all the instruction AMI
q Sc pine POSI- by The tea. her rh7necs every
TERM probably no s-st .natic record of srltd-
res. 'scs or IroSress is Kept. and each
teacher takes up the WORK as il roth nr la
gone beIore and ends as If nothing were IN
loIow. The teacher MAJ be Il person o. ex-
ccteut edhcation- wise, consc eutioas, firm,
loving ana VERSATILE: many such there are
ana tneir WORKS do Praise Them; buta school
may be favored IA tins respect one term and
the next rxlss into the caar-e OF = c3lIow
youih, crude girl or man or a woman of
interior mind and harsh, unSymYathetic ma
lure who. for q cons derTit on makes ION
iuF'oh worse cOfltOtt. u 81 ellfic intel
IcctS; VI supervision t.icre is little of inspec-
ton less, ANA OF st lndarJs OF sc ioI..rship aud
lests OF WORK Fone but those the teacher has
W.T. enough to supply"
This picture, while il may be Grawn
too harshly to correctly repryse t ox-
cept Dnal instances, is cagt4inly truthful
IN the main. Many of the bcst aud
greatest minds IN this sou0try started
tue Foundation upoa VIII h thei, fame .,
bu ld5d IN tle country school, the lit
tie red school-house' dear to the heart
and celebrated in soag and speech; but
that the poSsiliiit; OF the rural school
are susceptible as a rule to great ina
Proyement Is an uniothted fact. One
great drawback TO the ore. test success
OF the riirsl schools as cts-cational II =
tors is that the bcs, teachers have not
been obtainable. La 1881, in Rhode
Island, thirteen per cent. Of the teach
erS had only common-SchoOl educa-
tioa. In Georgia ont of 1928 teachers,
5000 were possessed of only limited
education. In all the States it has been
| ditii nit to find canii4 tes for teachers
who can easily pass the moderate grade
required In Michigan, in 1881, the
State superintendent reported tat
/ twcnty-siX per cent. Of the applicants
/ ia led in the lower grade or first trial,
ami tat tWenty-one per rent Were una
! BIZ to stand the lie OF the final trial or
/ eX. inination. 1t is easy to see that there
! must be better tedchcTs before we can
/ have better schools.
! The normal sci ools are great helps n
/ improving the standard OF school teach
/ ers, but Cle normal school system is
now far from complete. There are
293, 294 school teachers in the United
States. OF course large proportion of
these are employed in unoradcd schools.
| There are SO normal schools in the
country, with an attendance of 10000.
As thirty PEI cent of the teachers are
changed annually, it is ca Y to see that
the normal schools afford bit small
part of the provision required for train
ing teachers. No doubt the small sal
aries usually paid the teachers Of coun-
try schools has a great effect in lower
ing the standard of the teachers obtain
able. Special training is needed, The
teacher who has a normal school edu-
cation can not be secured for the coun-
try school,. because his talent is better
paid elsewhere. To obtain better
teachers better salaries must be paid,
and there must be more schools for
the train ny of teachers. Communities
should take livel.er interest in
their schools, and aid their teachers by
all legitimate means in their power. 1t
is only by united action that the best
success can be obtained, and country
and city and county and State should
work together in harmony, with the
me high objects in view. Teachers
should not be the creation of accident
nor male by the forccbf circumstances.
They should be especially fittel for the
great work of education. Though the
common schools are among the proud
ests boasts of the country, Yet they may
be said to be almost in their infancy as
regards their possibilities. Teaching is
a profess on in itself, and requires apti
.ude and preparation as much as any
other.
There is hardly anything in which
time and money can be more proiitaaly
spent than in improving the eountry.
schools, in teaching and the methods OF
study, and it is to be hoped tEat far
mere attention will be paid to the sub
icct than is now the caSe.-Bartta9t0n