The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1890-07-10

are pretty soon set afloat about the
teacher which are not always the most
| favorable and sometimes the support
that should be given us by our trustees
is withheld. If theI teachers of the
present day punished as severely as our
fathers were punished duringitheir school
days, | am afraid nothing short of i'm
prisonment would be our fate. One
would sometimes be led to suppose from
/ reports that have been circulated, that
| teachers delighted in Furnishing a child.
Now, am sure, there is not teacher
present but will say that he feels the
punishment more keenly than the child
does. We have the school law on our
side, but of what use is that TO us if we
cannot enforce it? / would Just like to
ask the question here if any of the
teachers here present ever tried to en-
force section u of the school law on
Duties of pupils" which says, "Any
person absenting himself from school
except on account of sickness, shall for
felt his standing in his class, or shall be
liable to any such other punishment as
the teacher may lawfully infiict." AS
Tor myself, | have never tried to ell
force it for would be under condemna-
tion continually if did. l often think
there is no person who has "The charity
that suffereth long and is kind, more
than the public school teacher. We all
need this love in our hearts in order to
put up with the disadvantages connected
with teaching, and also that we may
have the influence over the minds of our
scholars that we should have. / think
the teaching profession a noble one,
one that we may all feel proud of, and if
we have our annOyances, there are a
great many things to be admired about
the profession. If we go about our
daily duties with cheerful dignity, kind
and gentle but firm discipline, with all
our actions prompted by love we have
the assurance that all things will work
together for our good.
In the third place l said irregular
attendance had an evil effect upon the
school. If a child loses, say only half
day, he loses great deal. That one
afternoons absence may be the cause of
his failure at an examination. When
certain work is to be gone over, and
there is only limited time given in
which to do it, it is very discouraging to
be compelled TO go over second time
what has already been thoroughly ex-
planned to the class; and it is not merely
a second time it has to be gone over for
the sake of absentees, but very often
half a dozen times. Now this causes
great delay to the remainder of the class.
When they might be making great
advancement, they have to remain idle,
listening to explanations that they are
perhaps tired of hearing.
You may think that | am making
pretty rash statement, when l say that
irregular attendance is an evil to the
community. But when we look around
us and see so many men and women who
would be ornaments to society, had they
received but common school education,
we are led to wonder at the indifference
of some parents as to the education of
their children. Making money seems to
be the main object of some people, and
if they have fair share of this worlds
goods, they think they have all that is
necessary. Now, don't think there is a
man or woman living-I mean one who
prizes an education as it should be priced
who would give up what learning he has
for all the money in this Canada of ours.
Most of the men in good positions to-
day were once poor, and acquired these
positions through constant study and
application to business. 1t is generally
the poorer classes that are detained at
home the most, and among them we find
some of the brightest pupils, who if they
had fair chance, might make Ryer-
son, Langster, John Mcdonald or
even Mcclellan. Now if we have the
causes of irregular attendance, we might
be able to give some remedies. Work
well prepared by the teacher who loves
his work and pupils, well-furnished
school-room and playground, visiting
parents, and if possible, showing them
| the necessity for regular attendance, are
| all means of help.
And, besides these which have limited
| at, writing notes to parents is remedy
which very seldom fails, that is if the
parent is interested in the child. An
| incident of this kind occurred last week
| in my own school, A boy remained out
of school every forenoon in order to drive
a butchers cart. | wrote note to his
father, requesting him either to attend
regularly, or else to keep him out of
school altogether, as he was getting so
| far behind in his studies that he was a
| great annoyance to me. The result was
that the boy has never been out of
school day since, and | received reply
| to my note from his mother, thanking
me for writing the note and saying that
his father thought he would be able to
| keep up with his class though attending
| only part of the time, but that he would
attend regularly in future. Another
remedy is that of putting in the news
papers along with the reports the names
of those pupils who have attended most
regularly during the month. have also
found the attendance much better in
schools where | have been furnished
with monthly reports to send to the
parents.
Now have not exhausted my subject
by any means, but time will not permit
me to say any more. L hope the time
may speedily come when such an inter
est will be taken in education that it
will be counted a crime to keep child
from school, except in very extreme
cases, meanwhile, let us take for our
consolation the words of Longfellow:
Let us then be up and doing.
| With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving still pursuing
Learn to labor and to wait"
-RidedU (OntdriO) Record.