The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1894-10-25
EDUCATIONAL COLUMN.
Home and School.

by educators as beginning either In |
September or October. Schools and |
school work are most prominent now.
The mind at this season OF the year
turns naturally to the question OF ed
ucation. 1t is OF the first Importance
that there should exist between the
homes and the schools relations cor.
dial and sympathetic. 1t is difficult
TO make parents understand how
closely the progress OF their children
Is related to the parents attitude to
wards the school, If the schools and
teachers are matters of indifference to
the parents, they usually are to the
children. II the schools and the
teachers are subjects of Importance
and interest to the home, the child
feels this, and new impulse is given
10 his interest in his home. With all
the discussion OF education in our day
1t IL still to largely matter Of books.
Parents are apt to feel that books end
reports represent education, when, in
actual fact, the most important factor
is the teacher Books never made q
scholar, and reports never made
profession. The book in the hand of a
wise teacher should be a means to an
end. Too often the book Is an eud.
A little girl, whose school was about
to be changed, said the other day: al
hope the new teacher will be like Miss
-" mentioning the name of one
OF the teachers in the school she was
TO leave, "Why?" was asked. "0h,
because Miss - made everything
80 interesting, There isn't any use of
my studying arithmetic unless the
teacher likes arithmetic" The child
had struck the very heart of education.
1t is an impossible thing for any
teacher to teach who is not interesting,
and to be interesting she must love
her work. 1t is rather difficult for a
teacher to continue interesting if Tie
public accepts her plssively, and il
she il made TO believe, because OF the
attitude Of that public, that her busi.
ness is TO sit in chair and hear chill.
dren recite. But il the teacher ID
made to feel that the public recognizes
in her or him the prime factor in edu
cation; that character as we'll as book
knowledge has place in the schoo
room; that personal appearance il
not a matter of indifference tha
manners have legitimAt field, that
they are, in fact, object lessons to The
ten, twenty or sixty children in tn,
school room, the teacher is forced t
a new understanding of the public
stations OF teacher.
1t is only as the public (Which il
this case means the parents OF The
children) knows the teacher in he
surroundings, not through the tele
phonic comments Of the child, but b,
actual study of the teacher in tb,
school room, that the latter will b,
kept to her highest standards. Oh
the other hand, she can not maintain
her position If she is made an objec
OF constant and severe criticism. 1t i
impossible, except from the teacher
standpoint, to estimate the value Q
friendly comment and judicious re
straint OF expressions of disapprova
In the presence of the children whe
at home. There can be no antagonist
between the school and home this
does not destroy the value of th
school to the child. There should
no partisanship for II the teacher
unfit to teach, the parents shoul
know it and remove the child at ono
from her influence. II the child
allowed to remain under the contrc
OF q teacher, that is tacit acknow
edgement OF the teachers fitness O
the part OF the parent, and he is mo
ally bound, in his attitude towards th
school and teacher and in his conve
sation, to acknowledge the latter's fl
ness. Adverse comment on the teacl
or, with continued attendance OF th
child to classes under that teache
simply shows the unfitness of til
parent for his relation to the chill,
To sit calmly at home and CRITICS
the system OF education and do notl
Ing to modify ito comment on th
unfitness OF q school au let the chill
attend it, is a mark either ofignoranC
or OF wickedness. No parent is |
busy that he can not find time,
least once in three months. to call o
the school and manifest his intere
in the education of his child. M
long since, in one Of the magazine
there was an article on the publ
schools OF New York, in which ill,l
trations were given OF one scho
house where, in all the rooms, arti
cial light is required all day. Thl
school is monument to the absolu
ignorance or indifference, or both.