The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-02-09
FAIR PEDAGOGUES.
Annual Session of the Hud.
son County Teachers
Institute.
GETTING POINTS ON EDUCATION.
Mayor Wanser, Director Beach and
Other Celebrities Address the
Young Ladies.

Notwithstanding the storm, one OF the
worst all-around storms of the season, which
is making almost everyone miserable today,
the teachers and scholars of the public
schools throughout the county are partlcu-
larly happy; the scholars because the schools
are clesed and the teachers because they can
all get together in one place, listen to some
eminent efforts in pedagogy and then go to
Sorrow & Delays and tear those same efforts
to pieces as they dispose of the frothy char
lotte and the elusive eclair
The meeting of the fair pedagogues is
called ssThe Teachers Institute" and it was
held this morning in the Tabernacle. 1t is a
sort Of convention at which the teachers as
semble to receive ideas and hints upon their
profession from some of the best educational
sharpS in the country. 1t is safe to say that
every teacher in the county was present, and
handsomer or more intellectual looking
assemblage never filled the large building.
The galleries were crowded to large ex-
tent with school children who eyinced a
preverse inclination to run up and down
stairs at the wrong time.
The exercises began with singing by the
High School choir, and then the Rev. DR..
Cornelius Brett prayed. William II. Beach
of the Board of Education delivered an ad-
dress of welcome. He said among other
things
TRUTH THE FOUNDATION.
ssYou could not have missed the fact that
you were already welcomed by people
whose hearts are as large as this edifice. |
once heard Clinton B. Fiske welcome a con-
yention to our city and our hotels.
If you could stay here I would welcome
YOU to the city and homes of the most hospit-
able people in the world. / invite you to
visit our schools and breathe in the ozone
of education produced by their excellent
teaching. 1t is an honor to welcome you in
behalf the teachers of Jersey City, because
State Superintendent Poland and other
authorities have declared that the teachers
OF Jersey City are equal to those of any
other city in the Union.s
Mr. Beach then spoke of the great pro
gress which was being made in other cities,
and asked if in one city it had advanced as
it had in Boston and Philadelphia to that
height where examinations were abolished
as being Unnecessary He insisted that
teachers, to whom the citizens confded their
most precious treasures, should be equal to
the responsibility. The fundamental prin-
ciple of teaching, when rightly understood,
should be the truth, which is the funda-
mental principle of manhood to be incul-
Gated in the scholar. Character should be
the outcome of the teachers work. The
French had parable to the effect that if
YOU open a school you close prison, and if
you fill head you will not have to cut it off.
Mr. Beach said that was not true. Educa-
tion alone did not make character. A
teachers gifts We're as rare as those of a
poet All thorns should be removed from
her path, and she should not be overworked
or underpaid
THE TEACHERS APPLAUSE.
This sentiment produced much applause.
The applause of the teachers was peculiar
institution. 1t was shy futtering thing in
the beginning accompanied by sudden hum,
but it rapidly grew in strength and volume
until a storm of hand clapping spread over
the building. When this had subsidized Mr.
Beach went on
"You are entitled to the same respect as
the occupant of the pulpit or the member of
bar You must be a lover of manhood. You
must learn to appreciate boyhood and girl
hood"
He then told of boy of fourteen whose
father he was visiting. The boy invited him
into his laboratory" and asked If he would
like to look at his phonograph Mr.. Beach was
astonished to think that a boy of fourteen
could have constructed phonograph. But
there it was made out of an old soap box,
with pulleys and strings complete. Mr..
Beach listened and heard it sing Yankee
Doodle, and ''Auld Lang Syne, He call
ed his wife, amidst the laughter of
the young ladies, and she listened also, and
they both declared it marvellous
When they had expressed their admiration
the boy asked if they would like to see the
machinery of his phonogTaph. They eagerly
said Eyes" and then, the young genius
opened closet door behind the soap box
and showed them his younger brother sitting
with tube in his mouth running to the box.
Then the laughing Mr.. Beach declared that
notwithstanding this he could not but
admire the boy.
PROF. APGAR's CONDITION
When Mr.. Beach sat down the Rev.
George Houghton, D. D., of Hoboken,
County Superintendent of Schools relieved
State Superintendent Poland, WHO had been
acting as Master of Ceremonies, and intro
duced Mr., Poland, who responded to Mr.
Beachs address of welcome. He thanked
Mr.. Beach for his kind words,
and brought down the house by
saving that it was an unusual
thing to hear education SO intelli-
gently discussed by member of the Board
of Education. If Mayor Wanser would
thereafter appoint such men to the board, he
would take back all he had ever said about
the Jersey City Board of Education He
then spoke of the greater Jer-
sew CITY which extended from
Bulls Ferry to Bergen Point.
He said the standard of the teachers of Hud-
son county was as high as that OF any other ne
county in the country. He also spoke OF the
ten committees of ten each which were ap-
pointed recently from among college presi-
dents, principals of high and intermediate
schools to revise the course of study
in our schools, and recommended that every
teacher should read their report.
Among other things they have reported
arithmetic is not taught correctly in the
schools, and that that course must be
abridged and enriched Mr. Poland spoke
of the people who would address the insti-
tute and said: 49,
professor Apgar comes here loaded" He
was interrupted by a loud outburst of laugh
ter which showed that the young ladies knew
a Joke when they saw it,
.sWith maps and statistics,n Mr.. Poland
went on wnen the laughter had subsided.
Mayor Wanser welcomed the teachers to
Jersey City and said he wanted them to
know thatthey could alw ays depend upon
the head of the city government TO aid then
i Prof 4. W. Edison Of Boston, formerly
Superintendent of Schools in this city, spoke
ON 1.-THE Qualifications and characteristics
of q Good Teacher and DIR. NJ. g, Brum-
haugh. Professor of Pedagogy in the Uni
yerslty of Pennsylvania, spoke on ssCom-
mercial Geography"
This brought the morning session to a
close and the young ladies hastened out to
yet some lunch. A party Of them came 10
Washington and Montgomery streets and
were attracted by. the gorgeous front of
q well known saloon there. They hesitated a
moment. and then boldly sprang
the latch and walked in When
thew caught glimpse of the
interior they drew back hastily with a look
Of horror on their fair faces and quickly
withdrew. -