San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1888-10-20
A TEACHERS TALK.
INDIFFERENCE At HOME is WRONG
FOR THE CHILDREN.

Parents Neglect or Lack Of Interest-Too
Much Is Expected of Teachers-Some
Suggestions Of value-Parents as visitors
In the Schools.
The one thing in teachers life that would
be amusing if it were not too often a source
of despair, is the remarkable statements per-
petrated by scholars For instance, one
young person talks in all seriousness Of IAN
illustrated sore throat" and thinks an inter-
mittent fever is something catching"
Another classes the "larynx" among the ami
mails of Maine, and declares the "hypothe-
muse" to be a huge animal peculiar to Africa.
Another is firm in the belief that the
weather bureau is an article Of furniture,
and cites as an example Of vegetable dyes
her countenance iuumined with the inspira.
ton that has Just come to her-'Diamond
Dyes" Still another jumps at the transla-
ton Of the French word 'cornen c'horn'0,
and announces in a certain festival "the cor
ners of the COW were gilded" Fancy the
establishment of a worthy friend on learning
that 1.-THE sect of Quakers was founded by
Guy Fawkes." The difference between col
lege and university has been illustrated as
follows: "Young men go to Harvard college,
and young women go to Wellesley college,
but both go to Boston university"
These mistakes were all made by high
school scholars, varying in age from IA to IL
years, and in ability from the brightest to the
dullest. The stories are all very amusing,
and can be mstched and distanced by teach
ers and by parents who remember stories
brought home from school by their children.
But do the parents who laugh over their
anecdotes and over English as She Is
Taught" ever think that the fault of such
blunders is not due entirely to the child, nor
entirely to the teachera Do they ever think
that many bull like the above might be
prevented by little care taking at homea
A hard working, faithful scholar of good
ability asks ''if it wasn't Alfred the Great
who invented the cotton gin" She would
never have asked that question if her father
and mother had taken the trouble to make
their general conversation in the house of
some interest and instruction. Would the
weather bureau ever have been mistaken for
a chest of drawers if curiosity about "Old
Prob" and his coworkers had been stimulated
and then satisfied The cry is an old one,
lack of interest ut home, but it is none the
less cry that demands attention. Too many
parents select schools for their children, seel
that they are properly clothed to go to them,
SOuolOtl uOuc 1ucl
teacher must do the rest
Now, in the first place, this is much too
hard on the teacher. The time she can de-
vote to each scholar is limited, and she is but
human in capacity Your son may be boy
Of but average ability; he needs to have the
preparation of his lessons superintended as
well as their recitation Or he may be clever
but careless, and that fault must be attacked
in every act of his life and at every hour of
the day. The five hours a day in school
won't cure him. and until the circus comes
again he will call lynx larnyx and hip
popotamus a hypothenuse. Or, he may be
quick to learn, but lazy and unwilling to set
himself about his tasks. He cannot be cured
Of that fault by his teacher working unaided.
Parents ought not to ask teachers to do what
they cannot accomplish themselves, or expect
the few opportunities of the school room to
surpass those of the home.
Then, again, this indifference at home is
wrong for the children. They do not take
the stand III their classes that they should;
their powers of thought are not developed;
they cannot apply themselves 20 their work
and concentrate their attention; they are
not stimulated to read out of school Take,
for instance, the habit of thinking. The
teacher lays before her scholars certain facts
with which they are all familiar, and which
illustrate some point. She asks them to
make a similar general statement drawn
from their knowledge of those particular
facts. You may be very sure that the an
swers will come chiefly, If not entirely, from
those who have parents who talk to them on
the questions of the day, and the great ques-
tons of all time, and who thus encourage
thought in their children.
Again. take the matter Of reading. A
teacher may recommend a book, may give
an account of its author, and by describing
its connection with and interest for the work
in hand, try to induce the pupil to read it.
But she cannot go to the library and get the
book and put it into the pupils hands. There
is where the work of the parent should sup
plement that of the teacher. Let him see
that the book is brought into the house and
let him excite interest in the reading by
having it read aloud or by reading it with
his SON
Visitors are not always desirable in a
school; they are sometimes hindrance to
the conducting OF a recitation. But there is,
certainly no excuse for a parents not visit
ing the school where his children are taught
at least once during the year, and there is mo-
teacher who would not feel pleased rather
than annoyed at such a manifestation of in
terest. A high school teacher carrying on
twenty-five recitations a week states thatl
during the last school year not a single csll
WAS made upon her room by parent. This
is not an unusual statement, and it merely
illustrates the lack of interest of the average
parents whose average children fill our aver
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