Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1886-12-23


Fr.eai Editor: As 1t viii soon be tlalr
for >caool authorities 10 br making arrange
mems for another wear Of sohao! WORK, |
thlnk. N view OF ,oar having ono, zen per
>onail, interested IL school w1.k inst may
ask for luie Column IN Your valuable pa
per IN which to 81, a few words m regard to
The matter Of grading QUE common schools.
! know what my neighhor and even some o.
N, fellow teachers IN say: On. Il j, I'M
practicable. il cannot succecd IN countr,
schools" contend. Mr.. Editor, that i, IS
practicable TO grade country schools. Nv
IdeA Of grading Them TIA, bern some; hipg
Iar the following. II seiec: two or ;hree
ot the most central hoa>e> IN He town, for
tie location q graded schools, Tor lie
cas- Of SCHOLARS which -h.u attend nat
VAL be called the graded ssh.,oi.' f.r Of
course IN small towns there y i.. be- bat tao
c.a>,v, Il scholars: those over io.rircu OF
perhaps lGel,r. j: iii -.enlN advanced IN
toe graded, aud The TEST ~ What might o,
termed Il m Xed school without the eyIs of
mixed SCHOOL. Tie distance 10 wax TO
s4ca central points cannot be an objection
b-cau>-. when our towns have High schools,
scholars r-acn the school from points much
further distant than undor the pan Of which
| have spoken. Let tie test for entering
such a school he 50 that il VII. include
about two-itth- OF the scholars IN town for
which an Appropriation Of one half Of the
Ia sney raised for sch Dol. shall be made. a..
the txp-n--s for teacher Of tbs grade viii
be mach mor- than aill he need, d for this
lover grad. | hear some old fog, remark
1T wi.l ruin We can hardly pay our Tax
e. now =" Let Us figure little and see
Mr.. Gruu,b'er: H. our large ungraded
schools VT have to pa. teachers from forty
10 fcrIy-f,e dollars per month, Many Of
the teachers u the ungraded schools would
be f4r better qualified 20 teach The grad
ed schools, and far as have I'd ked
with teachers. they woalI be glad 10 teach
Them, wi,n the same nr less pay. Then We
should have class Of scholars winch could
be taught with better results bv female than
BY ma ( teachers, and the best could be OBJ
ralued for about one-h4if the price paid 10
mae teachers.
Then lei Us sum il up. We should have
three schools in town. giving the larger
scholars the advantages of good teach
ers, large classes and competition among
scholars Of different districts. Thus We
should have three things. bringing about
results which could not lie obtained by large
scholars mixed up in district schools with
scholars Of all ages. By lurIng good female
teachers OF male teachers that could he OBJ
tanned at reasonable rate. We could have
nearly the same amount Of school in the dis
trlci schools and have the other schools al
most clear gain without the outlay OF any
more money than is ordinarily raised. The
benefits to be obtained by such movement
would be countless. Teachers that can
teach physiology, physics and Latin well
and then take class Of A. B. c. or grade
little higher and teach them both success
iaiiy are, as for as my experience is con-
c-Tned. clsssed with such men as George
Washington and Daniel Webster, that is,
dead men. 1t is a well-known saving in bus
mess that If man has too many irons in
the fire some must burn. If a teacher can
not make a specially Of teaching some
grade OF scholars, he will have something in
which be will not be enough interested tic
make il hardly worth the time it takes to
teach Ii. Happening into a school where
have been pupil myself. and where you
Mr.. Editor, have welded the pointer,
found one of our best teachers engaged in
trying to solve the problem of how to teach
successfully sixsy-two scholars in an ungrad
fu presume W. TIC u
still engaged on that problem, for with all
his abiit, be had not solved the problem a
that time. With sixty-two scholars, with
over thirty recitations and the work neces
sary to keep IN order an ungraded counrr,
school, how much solid work could teache
do for each scholar with an average o.
eleven minutes to each class and twelve o.
fifteen il each class? Il is a welI-knowr
fact that no scholar should 60 out of a elias.
ithout making some kind Of recitation
Less tran one minute for the scholars reci-
tation and explanation by the teacher seem
to he something that is needless in a neigh
borhood where they have money enough fol-
the necessary amount of graded and un
graded school that would be required, but i
is the plight in which We find all our lsrg
districts. SHERMAN S.