St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1895-03-30
THE PRESENT SCHOOL SYS-
TEN OF ST. TAMMANY.
POINTS FOR TAXPAYERS TO
DIGEST.
PART
PART I.

have had an inalienable right
70 select their own teachers, provided
they held certificates IS such, and
that there was N entente cordiale in
their selection; yet this privilege Of late
has in some instances been curtailed,
while in other cases it has been abr0-
gated.
As matter of course patrons, of
schools are averse to such GEAR
Reeds methods" and do not propose to
be dictated to by any board - to whom
they shall have for teacher, especially
when they are aware that the teacher
TO be assigned to their school ie in
in the full sense of the term,
and consequently public funds wasted.
The casual reader, the man having
no children Of school age, and Of course
not interested in school matters, the
transient visitor, who is unacquainted
with our wretched, obsolete, ineficient
and inadequate parish system, will, I
have no doubt, be surprised to hear me
use the word, s'incompetent." Yet
such is the case-it is an axiom-for out
side Of incorporated towns, and especi-
ally In our backwoods settlements, we
have teachers, not one or two, but by
the score. who are not only ignorant of
the drst principles Of pedagogy, but
who have not even the ability to spell
the most common words of their
nother-tongue, and English, you know,
10 their forte.
How can it be otherwise when some
Of our parish superintendent have not
even . common school educationS How
can they, in visiting schools, determine
whethef pupils are taught according to
NATIONAL and common sense methods:
How can they, as in duty bound, give
pointers and suggestions to their corps
Of teachers? How can they discrimi-
nate between . "Pestalozzi" and .
s'Squsers"? By examinations, do you
say! Readers, you are not in it. You
do not know the ropes. Twenty-Five
dollars monthly is Z sufficiently large
bait to justify "wire pulling" and in
our parish there Is about as much
spirit, zeal and honesty of purpose dis
played In these so-called examinations
- there 10 in our public road workings
they are . farce, . hollow mockery
and . foul blot upon the educational es-
cutcheon Of Louisiana.
Unless parish superintendent is an
expert as well - 4 critic in school mat
tiers, unless he is well enough posted
to frame his own examination questions,
unless he possesses more ability than
any teacher under his control, he 10
only q ngure-head, and under his lead
ership there is no progress, but retro
gression. The moment that questions
and answers for examinations of teach
ers (as now furnished by the State
Superintendent in book or pamphlet
form) are printed they are bound to be-
come more or less public property, for
favoritiem will make them 30.
Teaching is the science to impart
Very few persons are born
te achers and are able to grasp the TO
quirements of the school room BY in
tuition. A teacher may know ever-so-
much, he may be . walking Encyclo-
poedia Britannica, and yet be q poor
A successful teacher must be
, good manager, recognize the pupil
and not the parent, . disciplin arian
without being martinez, and above all
must possess the knack Of imparting
the knowledge he possesses.
Our superintendent claims that we
have too many teachers. Herewith en-
closed please flnd specimen copies Of
head lines written BY some. An examiner
might gather up . car load Of, them
the parish.
THE following are . few Of the SAM
pies, without the bad penmanship:
CAT any depo On the line"
''Be diligence in al your work."
"We are travlipg home"
s'To life eturnal whare it, etc,"]
Our ungraded primary country
'chools can only be taught successfully
~ experienced teachers. tits an eyre
yious error to suppose that because So
lnd-so can read and scribble, that ipso
tacto, they are qualified to teach. Itis .
thing to hear 'sour children do
not know much and almost any one can
each them" The fallacy of ouch
il obvious, It Is 1.-THE blind
eading the blind" The foundation Of
IL laid in the primary grade.
Z the same is defective the whole struc-
;ure will be faulty. In the best schools
# the North the primary grades are
aught only by experienced teachers or
seekers having . record, and not by
lovices.
Punctuation-ths Foundation Of our
value Of which ought 10 !
Y in the minds OF children, commenc-
ne with the First Reader, is never
aught in our backwoods schools. Yet
! single comma once cost Z loss Of sew
nal millions of dollars to this common
wealth.
As . rule, webster's spelling book,
u "blae book, the white elephant Of |
VI progressive teachers-is still exten-
lively used. Webster - . spelling
'ook has had it day, and has been SUI
'erseded by far better spoilers, such q |
aansell's, Reeds. etc.
A few years ago . number Of intelu- |
Ient observers Europe has been ahead
u us In this respect for over half Q CEN
ury) announced that the memorixinx |
4 words-many Of them meaningless
. immature minds-and the ornl rene.
atto0 Of letters and syllables compoe.