The Somerset reporter., 1888-12-13
Somerset School Supervisor s AS
ISOLATION,

The school officers of the county have
recently instituted an organization under
the name of the Somerset School super
vi,or's Association. The membership l.
to include both past and present school
officers. supervisors and members OF
school committee. To the meetings are
uyitethall friends of education generally.
Judging from the success Of the first
meeting the organization IS destined Ia be
a powerful influence for good i'll the
country and the school officers IL other
couutie, will do well To follow the cN-
ample
The meeting was held nj Athens vii
lage, Thursday, Dec. 9Th The audience
consisted of both ladies aud gentlemen
from different parts Of the country Tho
meeting was called to order by the pre>i-
dent DR.. William Mclaughlin OF llar
mony. After the secretary had given hi
report of a previous meeting held at
Skowhegan for the purpose Of organll-
ing Mr. l. q. Win>1w gave an address
upon the Il ~ and Apusc Of TeNt
Books
The speaker referred To a question
taken from the query box at meeting "t
the Educational Association, What l.
the most common fault Of teachers. ane
claimed that the answer should be lhclf
failure to teach The tendency of many
of our teachers is to fall into state OF
legarthy to get into rnt aud To maxi
their teaching mechanical. They fail to
exercise original activity; tlcy fail te
make methods of teaching matters of
thought and practice, and 81 fail To teach
in gstF trft 4 ~ -
criminate use of text books leads directly
to this state Of affairs. The text book
affords a convenient proof of our indu-
lent nature To lean upon.
The speaker said he believed in oral in
struction to a far greater extent than ii
is commonly practieed. Its especial al
yantagcs are that it is economical of time
and that it j. more impressive and cilec-
tual. Text books should not be discard
ed but should be USED with discrimina-
ton. There are two serious objections
10 the most of our text books, They
contain too much and are too difficult for
the wants of our common schools. The
fundamental principles simply and thor.
oughly mastered are enough and much
more than is generally accomplished I'M
der the prevailing system.
The difficulties in the way are serious
and reform must be gradual The best
that school officers can do is 10 strive Is
awaken an interest in teachers, and to
govern the use Of text books by insisting
upon the omission OF difficult aud unim-
pOrtant portions.
At the afternoon session the subject
was taken up and discussed with great
interest, The positions of the speaker
were generally accepted and practical APP
plications were considered in detail SO
much time was consumed in this discus
sion that it was decided to defer until the
next meeting the paper which was to
have been presented by Dir, Mclaughlin.
The following resolutions We're unani-
imously adopted.
HeSoircd, That inasmuch as the dis
trict system of schools, which still exists
in large number of our towns, always
presents itself as the chief obstacle in the
way Of reform and improvement, we
hereby earnestly request that the Legisla-
tnre shall by statute make the town Sys-
tenn of schools compulsory.
ReSoird, That our legislature is re-
quested to enact law providing for a
uniform system of school supervision
and that wc recommend system proVid-
ing for a choo committee of three in
each town. aud making it the duty of the
three to choose one of their number to
perform tn active duties Of supervisor.
1t WAS voted to hold the next meeting
at llarland the last Thursday in March.