Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1896-02-13

Maryland attainments, but we must not rest
on our laurels, for prodielous work Is
being done In the South and West In estab-
fishing superior schools, and fine, comfortable
buildings; and now, as we come nearer home,
we find that our county compares quite
favorably with others, but better still, our
own little quiet village is finely equipped to
meet the necessities Of our community For
many years our common schools have been
considered as fine as any in the county, and
now our High School is we'll worthy of the
praise bestowed on it. Nothing will be
needed in the way of comfortable school
houses, when the building now in course of
erection is finished. Ever since our earliest
recollcctions we, as a community, have for
tunatcly been supplied with teachers who
desired the permanent improvement of the
of the pupils in their charge, and the present
corps Of Instructors. both in the High School
and common school, are no exception to the
past, but are most earnestly endeavOring to
keep abreast Of the times, and with the
full and hearty corporation of the parents,
our schools might attain degree of excel
the aim Of the citizens, teachers and scho 'ars
of Thurlnont, to raise the standard Of our
schools to the highest possible ideal so that
we may not deserve less praise IN the future
than we have been accorded in the past
Untiring zeal and noble aspirations will
produce marvellous results, the influence of
which will reach out through years to come,
and will be felt far beyond the limits of our
charming mountain home
NJ. B.F.
EDUCATIONAL CLIPPINGS.
Learning without thought is labor lost;
thought without learning is perllous.
One half the evils of the graded schools
would disappear if the number Of pupils to q
teacher was reduced to twenty five or thirty.
Next in importance to freedom and justice
is popular education, without which neither
justice nor freedom can long be maintained.
Teachers should not be Respondent because
their successes are hot chronicled in the
papers. Gods coin is neither gold nor fat
terry.
No man or woman is educated unless he
or she puts himself or herself more in touch,
more keenly alive, more sensitive to the life
and the need Of the time just around him.
So far as we can discover, the truest and
highest end of education is to enable US to
get the most and best Of life IN this world +,
and impart it to IS many others as we are
able.
Is not this an i'll of popular education, that
it distributes its hOnOrs according to the
show Of knowledge more than for substance?
Suppose we set up new standard Of educa.
tional success, stimulating, nourishing, alto.
gether another motive, teaching the young
kindly aspiration, that he who loves knowl.
edge most regardless Of show or honors, is
entering upon the truest education.
A man or woman who Is being educated
or is educated mounts into interest III every
day life Every particle of information he
or she gets is inspirations; it is new power,
it takes the drudgery out Of life, 1t inspires
the heart to do as did a young lady in Mich
igan, who, being much interested in social
questions at recess dicussed strikes and
labor NOV ements with her Irish and German
boys. She talked with big Irish boy one
day about why strikes were bad business
and by that talk saved two million dollars
worth of lumber on the river that night.
That boys father learned from Patrick the
lesson his young teacher had taught him at
recess
The education of youth must be under the
control of those who know what education
is. There Is no stimulus for awakening
mind like the contact with another mind
superior to it. There is no way to create an
ideal of a good aud useful life 50 powerful
as the contact with a high and noble charac-
ter. The safety of the State, therefore, lies
in the reform of common schools. and by
paying such salaries as will attract to that
work the best abilities. do not mean to say
there are not, in the primary and secondary
schools Of the graded system many excellent
teachers. There are. Wherever you find
them, you find as good as the system permits.
and you commonly find them intelligent
educators who are impatient of the system,
of its political management its prescription
of text books, its multiplicity Of studies and
its cram and examination features.