Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1894-11-10
THE PUBIC SCHOOLS


THE PUBIC. SCHOOLS.
The education of youth must be ur-
der the control of men who know
what education is. There is no slim
lulus for awakening mind like the con-
tact with another mind superior to it.
There is no way to create an ideal OF
a good and useful life SO powerful as
the contact with a high and noble
character. In the early and impress
sionaEle years these influences of SUI
perior intelligence and noble character
tell most. The awakening of the
mind is the most difficult The educa-
tor has. Therefore for the lowest
school are needed teachers of high Gull
tivation and high aims. And these
fine qualities will count for more than
in any other stage of the progress OF
the youth into citizenship. But this
superior ability must be paid for ade-
quately. The safety of the State,
therefore, lies in the total reform of its
common schools, by immensely
improving the character Of their
teachers. and by paying them such
salaries as will attract to that work
the best abilities.
The few remaining country acade-
mics are survivals of the old system.
Very few of these institutions have
resisted the popular demand to alb
serb them into the machine, and
make them the finishing shops of the
graded system, under the name of
high schools, and, of course, free
schools. Many of them were old
foundations, with traditions, having
a distinctive character as we'll as a
permanent fund. In these old acade-
mics were educated many OF the men
and women who have been most dis
tinguished in our day in letters, in
law. in politics and theology. They
had certain independent stimulating
life. Perhaps they had not the facili-
ties, the apparatus, the range of the
modern high school; they did not de-
mand so much, or rather not SO many
things, but they had quite as high a
favor of learning and culture, and
the education that they gave was a
training for life, for which those who
Experienced it always look back with
gratitude They had individuality,
and to lose that out of any educational
process is to lose something very val
liable IN experience and in memory.
The character and efficiency of the
academy depended almost altogether
upon the principal and the teachers
There were some good academies,
which had fame, and some poor, and
the same academy, changing its mas
tiers, and sterile and fruitful periods
Indeed, it must be admitted that the
usefulness and reputation of the AGA l.
envy Tor the seminary. as it was often
called) depended upon the character
and the talent for teaching Of its
masters-that is, upon the power Of
individual initiative. And that ii
should do so rests upon a sound theo-
| ry. The education Of mind depends
with here and there an exception, upon
the influence on it of a superior mind
and preparation for useful life de-
ponds also upon contact with superior
character in formative period. This
influence is not the property Of a ma
chine, though the machine has its
uses in training into habits of order.
method and routine. The teacher is
the only inspirer. If his personal in
fuence is lacking to the pupil, the
scholar may be passed along through
the whole graded system and finally
emerge from college with mind un.
awakened.
do not say that there are not in
tue primary and secondary schools oil
the graded system many excellent
teachers. There are. Wherever you
find them you find as good schools as
the system will permit. and you com
monty find them intelligent educators
who are impatient Of the present sys
tenn, of its political management. Of
its committees, of its prescription O
textbooks. its multiplicity of studies
and its cram and examination features
In the old academies incompetent
teachers reduced the school to lower
level often than poor high; but there
was always the remedy in the hands
of the trustees Of reviving the school
by raising the character of its teaching
force. And first rate school of this
sort always draws pupils, notwith
standing it costs more than the high
school. because every.intelligent par.
emit knows that the best thing for his
children is to pnt them under the in
fluence of virile-and sweet spirit
Charles Dudley Warner, in Harper.
Magazine for November.
j ODDITIES AND RARITIES.