Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1889-05-23
Teachers Certificates rs. Salaries.
WHO HAS AUTHORITY TO GRADE cERTIFl
GATES?

WHO HAS AUTHORITY TO GRADE CERTIFI-
GATES?
1t will be seen that the board of exami-
ners have the sole power to grant or with
hold certificates and TO grade them accord
ing to the applicants. Upon these certificates
the salaries of the teachers are based and
they are the warrants by which the teacher
obtains his school,
The responsibility of the examiners is
great-greater perhaps, than they have here
toiore realized They have need to exercise
great care and caution in the use Of their
authority. There is little room for extreme
leniency or fayoritism in conducting their
examinations. They hold in their power
the best interests of the public schools Of
the county and the great possibilities of the
children of the county. Under these cir
cumstances, they would, doubtless, be glad
to come up to the full measure of their du
ties and do all they can to retain good teach
ers in the school work and improve those
that do not come up to the standard. But
how to do this aud yet be just to all, both
the experienced and the inexperienced, is
what they would learn.
SUGGESTIONS.
1t cannot be denied that a person may
have a competent knowledge of a subject
and yet not be able to impart that knowl-
edge, in an Ineligible manner, to Others,
owing to the want OF an ability to express
his meaning clearly, and if such one
should engage in teaching, he will fail for
want of fact. This is one of the qualities
in an applicant that the examiner should
try to bring out in order to comply fully
with the requirements, Ito examine each
applicant as to his competency to teach read
ing, &c"
Please observe that it IS his Competency
to teach" and not merely his possession of
the requisite knowledge of the subject. 1t
is this oversight of the true object in exam
lining teachers that sometimes leads to the
adoption of questions that test the memory
of the applicant but fail to discover his ca
pacity for teaching, or the use of "the how
and the why" in his answers.
HOW TO DO THIS.
The examinations need not be more diff
cult than formerly, but let the questions be
so worded as to bring into exercise the rea-
son and judgment of the applicant rather
than memory and, in the solution of ques-
tions, require the reason Tor each stepin the
process to be written out. If the latter are
omitted, give no credit for the solution.
Give no credit for partially answered ques-
tons or where the meaning is obscured by
uniutelligible explanations. Make no al
lowance except for mere clerical errors.
Have the questions on each branch print
ed on separate slips and give out one of
these at a time, apportioning the time TO
each subject according to the amount of
writing and thought it will require to an
swer the questions upon it.
Let the penalty for giving or receiving
information during the examination from
another applicant or from text books be
forfeiture of the examination.
Let each applicant realize that he has
reputation to maintain and let him regard
the examination as a test of fitness to teach
aud not as q farce that must be yearly gone
through.
There are now nine subjects to be exam
ined on and if ten questions are continued
to be given it will hurry the applicants too
much to get through IN one day, hence, 1t
would be better to give five questions on
each branch and frame them so as to bring
out the reason and judgment of the aPPli-
plicant more than his memory Of what the
text books say.
THE ADVANTAGES.
This course will compel the teachers to
study and teach the subjects more aud de-
pend less upon what the text books say.
Hence, they will become less slaves to the