Graham guardian., 1895-12-20
THE DUTY OF THE PUBLIC TO
THE SCHOOLS.
An Address Delivered to the Graham
County Teachers Institute by Prof.
l.. V. Rosser.
continued from last week.

the duty of the public to employ
none but professional teachers. A
professional teacher is one who
makes his or her living by teach
ing to the exclusion of all other
occupations, and is in the business
for life. If he is good teacher he
is fit for nothing else and would
starve in any other calling. The
Jack of all trades is as much a
jack in the school room as else
where. Now, with the school
running for only half a term and
with one teacher required to do
the work of two, bow can pro-
fessional teachers be had or kept?
The question carries its own
answer. 1t is generally conceded
that the employment of inefficient
teachers is the greatest of all
educational waste. "By putting
an unqualified, unframed and un-
skilled teacher into the school
room, the precious years of child
hood are wasted like water; the
swiftly fleeting moments are gone,
like water split on the ground" "
This waste cannot be reckoned in
dollars and cents. Who can es-
tlmate the deprecated condition
of our schools from this cause!
Besides the various other require
ments placed upon the teacher, it
is said that he or she must possess
a sufficient degree of social culture
to afford the pupils desirable ex-
ample IN dress and bearing. This
requirement carries with it the
right on the part of the teacher to
a sufficient compensation to main
tain himself in a decent and re-
spectacle style of life. A school
for only one half the standard
term necessarily means only half
pay. The professional teacher is,
therefore, forced by necessity to
engage in unprofesslonal work,
and thereby loose interest in his
calling and become untitled for it;
else he becomes antiquated in
attire, slovenly in appearance, and
isolated and unsocial in habits.
For the purpose of encouraging
immigration, obtaining statehood,
and the like laudable objects, we
are accustomed to hear the con-
dition of our schools set forth in
glowing colors. For such pur-
poses this extravagant praise may
be, to some extent, pardoned; but
let us not deceive ourselves. If
we would improve our faults we
must first ascertain and acknowl-
edge them, at least to ourselves; not
to do so is the common character
istic of bigotted ignorance. 1t
cannot be denied that our people
feel and take a conmendable in
terest in the public schools and
willingly pay enormously high
taxes to support the schools; nor
can it be questioned that our laws
provide an excellent system of
public schools-on paper. The
chief drawback and the one which
is at the foundation of all our
short comings is the lack of suf-
fcient funds. Our school laws are
framed on the theory and basis of
an ample supply of revenue; but
their practical application is ham
pered by shortage of funds of
from fifty to seventy-fve per cent.
This discrepancy between the
theory and practice of our school
laws is the chief defect of the
system.
With the tax rate lowering
around the high-water mark of
four per cent, the question of pro-
viding additional revenue becomes
q veXed and difficult one, and has
begun to attract some attention.
But the other problem, how to
economize and apportion a short
and insufficient fund so as to make
it go fartherest and do the most |
good to the greatest number, a
matter of the most vital importance
lnder existing circumstances seems
lot to have come sufficiently to the
'front.'. II is an old adage that
here is strength in union. The
application of this principle is no
where more needed than in our
public schools. Six teachers with
l50 pupils can work to much
greater advantage and at much
ess cost to the public, when all
5hese pupils and teachers are col
ected together under one roof into
one school, than when they are
scattered into as many separate
schools as teachers. What man
With any business sense would
Undertake to do any Of the freight
ng of the ella valley with six
separate one-horse wagons In
tead Of with one six horse wagon?
The principle applies equally as well
o the management of our public
chools. True, the one teacher
chool, like the one-horse wagon,
has its place, and in its place is a
necessity, but even then it is a
.OStlU naonScitxy. yhila ont Of Tie