St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1889-06-01

plan that may be suggested is that the
penalty for the non. pay ment of the tax be
liked at the forfeiture Of suffrage. Again,
no child m ght be admitted 10 the schools
who is not accompanied by the certificate
of payment of the pol tax. Bat this
would visit The crime Of the father on the
child, and it is not the purpose of educa,
ton 10 shut the doors of schools against
any one. AS most of those who do not
pay are non-property holders the State
might garnishee their incomes, but this
would be expensive to the State. Perhaps
the best method woull be 10 combine all
the suggestions.
PROF. JOSEPH V. CALHOUN,
principal of the Boys High School, deliv-
cred scholarly address on the "Relatlon
of Teacher and Parent" Where are we
to look for an explanation of this It lation I?
he inquired. Obviously to the part which
teacher and parent mutually play in the
education of children. But this work is
| on9 of the most trying thst can fall to the
lot of humanity. 1t must bagin early and
be most comprehensive taxing patience
and ingenious resource. IL is lengthy,
amending task. The parent by his love
and sympathy is by nature the child's most
capable teacher The first elements of
knowledge come from the mother 1t is
she who first opens the eyes of Intellect
and awakens conscience. But in the social
system education is at an early age taken
from the hands Of the parent and placed
where the action is higher and freer and
the movements and emulations higher
Soon the parent must turn his whole eff
forts to seeking the means for supplying
llfes necessities. and the education OF the
child must go to other sources. God as
signs the parent the natural teacher He
appoints the teacher the vice parent and
gives him all authority. The teacher is as
autocratic in the school as the parent is at
home. The transfer of authority is abso
Lutte within the bounds of prudence, and
the teacher must not be inte!fered with by
the parent. The child must not be retained
at home without the teachers permission.
| The teachers authority must be upheld,
that the reins OF government may lot be
relaxed before the insubordinate youth.
Therefore the teachers qualifications
must be many and thorough. Most neces
sary must he have virtue and knowled ge.
| That knowledge must be ready and wide.
| He must be one of tact and of a peculiar
Intellectual and moral character.
There are other and brighter phases of
the teachers life. Through all ages they
have been generally beloved and respected.
| What names in history are more glorious
| than the Seven Wise Men of Greece I?
Webster, Clay, Stonewall Jackson, Lee,
stand for. most among the men of recent
| times. The teacher empire is that of the
! highest order of t1ocks and his sceptie is
| brighter than that of emperors.
The address was followed by loud ap-
| plause.
COLONEL j. w. NICHOLSON,
| rrasident of the Louisiana State Univer-
sitv, who was absent Wednesday, was in
troduced He cong graduated the convention
on the excellence of its papers and the
enthusiasm shown. His experience he
gave was that the people must work
uperintenoents, teachers, pupils and pa
rents must work. They can only be led to
work by showing them the importance
al d necessity of work. He wished every
| superintendent to take this thought home
with HMM proportion as people are edu-
| cae1 arithme ticalIy, crime decreases geo
metricaily. If that is true it pays State
| to make the inves tment, irrespective of
other considerations. WhaImoney would
| Re saved from The criminal courts Let
the people and the general assembly know
/ this and let them feel its importance, and
there will be much accomplished in the
way of getting appropriations.
PROF. 3. G. COLE,
of Doraldsonville, La spoke on The
| Teacher of Youths in the Country-Sug-
gestiors Relative to Needful Training"
| The teacher of Louisiana, it had been SAID,
was underpaid, yet the average teacher
here is as largely compensated as the aver
sgs teacher in New York, Massachusetts
! or PENNSYLVANIA He did not propose to
| fully and completely answer all the ques-
tions attendant upon his subject Only
recently have the teachers begun to be
trained, and only recently is Louisiana be,
| ginning to emerge from illlteracy. de
went on to show in what the impro7 ement
must be and how the training is to be
conducted.
Hon. Warren Easton announced his
readiness to report as chairman OF
THE COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS.
Before submitting the report, however,
in behalf of Judge Gunby he wished to
invite the convention to meet with the
Louisiana State Educational Association in
Ruston on Aug. 8 and 3.
The committees report was read as fol-
lows:
Resolved, That it is in the opinion OF
this convention of the first Importance te
the successful operation of the pubic
schools in the parishes that comfortable
and adequate school building and school
room furniture should be provided in every
school neighborhood.
Second THAT we recommend that the
people Of the parishes avail themselves OF
the law granting the right to vote spe cla
tax for the erection of public buildings and
improvements to hold special elections in
their parishes, respectively, to vote specla
tax for the purposes of building the need
full school houses IN their parishes.
Third-TLat from the reports OF the
supe1intendents from the parishes we have
ascertained that great disparity exist IN
the length of time that the public schools
are maintained and kept open in different
marshes: that in some few they are limited
To three or four months, whilst In Others
thew are kept open for nine OF ten months
each wear. We are convinced that TINS
disparity is due in large tegree to the alo
extended TO the public schools from some
parishes through their police juries, by
which the Stale appropriations nave Deel
largely supplemented, whilst IN others nc
such aid has been extended. we thefe-
tore in order to establish uniformity
nrge mon the school boards, and through
them lie police juries throughout the
State to levy not less than MUS upon
the total property valuation Tor scnool paf
poses in all the parishes throughout 'he
State. ~.,
Fourth-That we find from he reports
If come of the superintendents that full