Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-09-29
EpuCArE THE EDUoAToRS.

EDUCATE THE EDUCATORS.
II the work OF education has any sig
nifcance, It means fitting the child for a
useful career, whatever may be the sphere
1t Is called to occupy. The design Of the
public school system is, primarily, to aid
the poor of the country in elevating their
children In the social rank, by preparing
them in practical manner to Ill posi-
tons for which they would be otherwise
incapable. To be citizen of free re-
public, where no bar of rank or heritage
can prevent the attainment Of high po
sitlon, is not privilege to be lightly
priced, and such a citizen rlghtfully ex-
poets that the means to secure such ends
will be carefully guarded by the govern
ment on which rests the responsibility.
To ignore such trust, or to be careless
of the results of system, touches the
border OF criminality by becoming IA
grant breach of trust
That these remarks have not their ORR
gin in any spirit of petty fault-hnding by
patrons of public schools, but that the at
tention of educators is directed to this
subject, is shown by the following clip
ping from an educational journal;
The time will come when professional
man will be held as strictly accountable for he
quality of his work as a tailor, shoemaker or
blacksmith. If a teacher undertakes the cdu
cation Of a child, and he Is ruined by wrong
training, the teacher should suffer severely.
Boards of education should be held responsi-
BILE for those who are placed in charge of the
dest'nie5 of the young. 1t is one thing to
spoil costly dinner, an expensive dress, or u
palace, but altogether another to spoil a hui
man soul. Give teachers a chance to work out
results, and then hold them strictly responsible
for the results.
That teachers alone of ell persons en-
trusted by others with an important work
should be irresponsible, seems incredi-
BILE, and yet such is the fact. Year after
year one teacher occupies the same grade,
carrying the pupils to certain point,
these being advanced, If they pass exami-
nation, while the dull or idle are relegated
to their former grades. The human mind
is not machine. The marching and
counter-marching, the particular kind of
paper used, new class-books with old
ones unlearned, subjects topically consid-
cred, blackboard exercises, ETC., these
are not education any more than the sing
ing in false keys as time, which they gen.
orally practice, is harmony.
The teacher, superintendent or board
that fails to appreciate that to him is COM
mitted the care Of immortal beings, and
that the clay is plastic in his hands, for
good or for evil, falls far short of a Just
conception of the responsibilities Of the
position.
If public schools are benefit to the
poor, the thoughtful in more favorable
circumstances feel that such institutions
can be made boon to them as well; for,
properly conducted, every child stands
on his own merit, and his faculties are
qulckened by competition with those, who,
coming up from the strugglers for very
existence, have Intensity of purpose ana
keenness OF perception. There is no
reason why the public schools of Texas
should not equal those OF the older
states; but that they do not, is fact
patent to all wac have opportunities Of
comparison. Our school fund is ample
to provide capable men and women, and
1t is no part Of the public school system
that 1t should have an eleemosynary
teachers department connected with It,.
The public pay these instructors, and it
is their right to demand that
faithful and competent instructors
be called to fill the various offices
connected with the system. No
standards can be too high, no demands
too exacting Of those who assume to di-
rect the future course OF the youth of a
nation. The proper education Of that
class is subject of vital Importance in
every department of citizenship, and the
time is swiftly passing away when those
interested win remain silent II these trusts
are placed in the hands of incompetent or
irresponsible persons II behooves edu-
Gators Of every grade to rouse themselves
to this knowledge, and prepare them
selves by all the appliances Of modern ad.
vancement for the new era Of public
school teaching that is certainly dawning;
that will not delay its coming, but ad-
vance like the sun TO its full noontide.
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New Use for the Chestnut He'll.
ST. Louis Society Bale