Graham guardian., 1895-12-13
THE DUTY OF THE PUBLIC TO
THE SCHOOLS.
An Address Delivered to the Graham
County Teachers Institute by Prof.
L.V. Rosser.

public; End, the parents and guard
ians; 3rd, the children; 4th, the
teachers. Then the public is de-
fined to be the state, county, or
district, as body corporate rep
resented by its agents, the school
officers. Under this view the duty
of the public to the schools is
very extensive topic, and may be
sub-divided into many minor heads.
1t may be useful to mention some
of these. 1st. To provide suf-
ficient revenue to meet the neces-
sary expenses of the schools.
End. To keep the schools in ses
sion for a full term of nine months.
Sd. To employ full force of
competent teachers and none but
professional teachers.
4th. To provide comfortable
school houses with agreeable sur
roundings.
5th. To provide suitable school
apparatus and goods chool Libraries
of choice books.
9th. 1t is the duty of every quail
fed elector to vote at all school
elections and to see to it that suit
able persons are chosen for school
officers.
7th. 1t is the duty of every
citizen to encourage the schools
by visiting them frequently, not
only on public occasions but also
at any other time.
8th. 1t is the duty of every
person while in the presence or
hearing of school children to be
especially careful in depotment
and discreet in language, so as to
avoid setting an immoral or i'll
hammered example.
1t is greatly to be regretted that
The haplts OF many Of our people
in reference to the last named
| heading are such as to counteract,
in large degree, the instructions
IF the teacher in the school room
against the use of profane language;
but it is feared that the punypiping
Of the school teacher on this sub
ject would be like splitting against
the current of the wind, and that
the spray of his words would simp-
ly return to his own face to mock
him. 1t is evident that the chief
and most important duty Of the
public is to provide for the neces-
sary expenses of the school for a
full term of nine or ten months,
with a sufficient force ofcompetent
teachers. How far the schools of
Graham county fall below par in
reference to the length of the terms
(about one half or 80 per cent? is
matter of common notoriety and
general regret. But it does not
seem to be so we'll known and ap'
preciated that they fall equally as
low in reference to the force OF
teachers employed. This point
was plainly brought out under the
old apportionment law, which
counted one teacher to every fifty
pupils Of the census roll, and plain
ly provided that force of teachers
should be employed according to
that ratio. This law was repeated
ly and continuously violated all
over this county by employing
only about one half that number OF
teachers. Under the new law, as
under the old, the force of teachers
is only about one half the number
necessary. Fifty pupils by the
census roll gives an average daily
attendance for the term of not less
than thirty pupils. According to
the experience of teachers and by
the school laws all over the United
States, this number is an ample
supply of pupils for a teacher. II
thus becomes apparent that ouI
schools fall below the standard by
another so per cent or nearly so.
Then, rating the condition OF
our schools by reference to a pos
sible 100, as is customary with the
wheat and other crops, we are
forced by these figures to place
their condition at about 25 to 80.
If any one doubts the correctness
of this rating, let him only come
into the school room during the
first week of one of our five
months terms of school just after
a seven months vacation of forget
ting, and he will be forced to ac-
knowledge the correctness Of the
estimate. 1t is worth while to
notice while passing, that the long
vacation of forgetting is more dis
asterous to some branches of study
than to others. 1t is especially
fatal to arithmetic, the study of all
others most important for boys
Arithmetic is begun every fall
The close of the term leaves the
larger boys foundering in frac-
tions, if they are so fortunate as to
have gotten that far. The new
term finds them beginning where
they began the term before, thus
the treadmill works, term in and
term out, for three or four OF
even five or six successive years.