St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1889-02-28

then will present a certificate from
superintendent in some neighbOring
town. If Ihave endorsed, asI usual
| ly have, one or more of his certifi-
Gates, how can l justly refuse to en-
dorse this one? Why should | dis
tinguish against a girl from ST.
| .IOhnSbury in favor of one from out
side? On the other hand, by endors-
ing, | am favoring one rejected can
didate against all the rest Not only
| the county but each town will have
one gain under the new system of SUI
pervision. There will be only one
mans Judgment to decide the fate of
the schools in town, instead of the
Judgment of seventeen. And if ever
any human being needs sympathy,
encouragement and support, it will
be the first county superintendent.
He will need all the devotion of a
missionary and all the wisdom of a
Solomon. The problem is to take
up part of the worlds work, that
is a half century behind, and drag it
up in line with the rest And he will
find comparatively few trained teach
ers, and in many districts no money,
and very little public sentiment to
fall back upon. 1t has been suggest
ed by the public press that these lit
| tie districts might be helped by en-
listing the parents interest and CO.
| operation. 1t is a suggestion that
sounds we'll, but with everybody
busy and many of the farms taken
by people of an alien race it will
prove anything but an easy plan.
hoe o0,,a x,arxy c,,00+1,
ly and prOSperouSly in the Summer
vile and Union schools. The people
of Summerville are to be congratulate
ed that the same teachers have re
mained with them so long and that
they are so interested in and devot-
ed to their work tits not often that
four teachers can be found giving, as
they do, every thought to school and
pupils and trying every new method
that seems likely to succeed.
At the Union the teachers under the
lead oftheir principal have made some
attempts that have proved so sue
cessful as to deserve special mention.
A good deal of fault, much of it mer-
tied, has been found with the child
ren's handwriting. A united effort
has been made for Improvement in
this direction and already the good
results are very apparent.
Language work is followed cOur-
ageously in every grade and will
soon show equally good results.
The teaching of reading deserves
especial praise. The children read
intelligently and clearly, particularly
in the lower grades. Teachers in the
past expressed to me their dissatis-
faction with the reading, but the
fault seems now in fair way to dis
appear.
The spelling of the scholars is not
quite as satisfactory when | consider
the amount of time and labor given
to it by the teachers, but even here
most of the fault may be very justly
laid upon the English language.
The teaching of both English and
American history has been very fine.
The children have been encouraged
to follow outside reading and have
in most cases responded very hearth
ly to the teachers asking.
The committing to memory of
choice sentiments by good authors
has been Systematically practiced.
Nothing that has been done seems to
me better in its moral and refining
effects than this habit | have often
felt that the love of good reading,
hardened into a habit, would be of
more moral worth than any amount
of scientific temperance instruction.
The work in Geography has been
as good as in previous years. Map
drawing, using the prepared outline
maps, has been taught with good
success.
Grammar work has been faithfully
done. l welcome the introduction of
language work in all the grades, hop
ing that in time it will drive out
much of the grammar work in favor
of more practice in the use of English.
In Arithmetic the work is fully up
to that of previous years. The
teachers give great deal of time to
oral work, and while the results are
perhaps not perfect, one has only to
look back as | can, to the work of
five years ago to see what immense
progress has been made. New Arith
metics have been used in the lower
primary to the delight and improve
ment of the children.
Much of the improved work in
drawing is due to the fact that
drawing has now been taught in the
schools for several years and the
point has been reached where good
results are very apparent. Modelling
of simple forms in clay, accompanied
by teaching of those forms, has also
been introduced into the primary
school. An attempt has also been
made to show the practical results
of drawing by an exhibition of the
manual skill of the children. That |
was so well noticed in the papers at
the time as to require no further men
tion here. An attempt has also been
made to combine language and draw
ing work, that if pursued must pro-
duce very excellent results.
Some very good attempts have
been made at physical training.
Gymnastics and marching are COM
mon exercises.
l am very sorry that l cannot pre-
sent some condensed statistics as to |
number of scholars and their atten |
dance, but as the registers have not |
yet been returned to me, and some |
of the schools are still in session, it |
is impossible for me to do so.
Lest / may have been too severe
in some comments, will say for one
encouragement that | never go even
into the smallest school and see the
bright eager faces without feeling
that there is surely hope for the next
generation ofchildren. Someone will
solve the problem and make the
smallest school as good as the largest.
AM one u,hn LnnruS how much / |