Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1901-05-29
EDUCATIONAL MEETING.
The Teachers and Members Of School
Boards Have On Interesting
MootInH.

/
o'clock by Supt. Fink. Mr.. W. c..
Miles of the Kandiyohi school read a
paper on SIN school and out of
school," He said that the country
teacher, being unhampered by rules
and courses of study, should make
special efforts to teach the pupils what
would be of value to them in their
work, and not compel all to follow
one course. A general discussion fol-
lowed, in which the keynote seemed to
be that the schools ought to pay more
attention to utilitarlan ends than is
now the case. A good character with
q mind trained to do thorough work
in whatever was undertaken is what
the teacher should aim at.
The afternoon session opened with
the following paper by Henry G. Han
son on "School Boards from Teach
er's Standpoint
| In every undertaking, whether great or small
some system OF organization is necessary to
make it success. Every organization must
have head, In the school district the board
Of trustees constitutes this head. They are
placed there by the citizens OF the district and
| to great extent are responsible for the max
ing or unmaking of the school. In order to do
their duty they ought to be qualified for their
position. We hear great deal OF aualifica-
tons for teachers, ministers, lawyers, and bust
| ness men, but We seldom hear of qualifications
| for school officers. Educational qualifications
| are useful but not essential. The most import
| ant is INTEREST. If school officers have an in
terest in the school their duties become easy
! o, that more interest were taken in the work
| OF the school, not only by the officers but also
by the parents and friends OF the school. How
much easier the work would be both for teach
| ers and pupils il they knew that those about
them were really interested in their work.
| Granting now that the officers are interested.
how can they most enectually help the teacher
| make the school a SUGGEST
To begin with, there must be cooperation
between the teacher and board. "Co-opera-
| ton is the key to success" "A house divided
| against itself cannot stand" II teacher and
board are pulling in different directions, or one
party is doing the pulling alone, there is sure
to be friction. Mutual confidence is therefore
| an important element.
To make school success it must have not
/ only good teacher but full supply Of text
books To send children to school without a
proper supply Of text books is like sending a
lot OF men with an overseer to gravel pit with
out furnishing them with shovels. We have
happily dispensed with the old method, by
which each teacher could discard the old books
and order a new kind according to his whims
Under the free text book system it is the duty
OF the board to supply the school with books.
And yet under this splendid system we often
| find the school hampered by meager supply
OF books. When new books are needed for
the coming year they ought to be there on the
first day of school, not six or ten weeks later.
A good plan is for the outgoing teacher to make
a list of books needed, and then the board
| could procure them during summer.
What has been said in regard to text books
may be applied equally well to the supply OF
| good maps, charts, seats, and other things
| needed to make good school.
! Another way in which the board can help
the school is in the matter OF a good library
| What an advantage the child whe has access
| to good library has over the one who has
nothing to read but dry Reader. With the
proper opportunity and suitable books a large
mai ority OF our school children would become
interested in books and general reading. Very
few homes have an abundance of books suit
able for children. If we have no library let
US get one, not necessarily large at first, but
well selected, and make small additions to it
! from time to time to keep up the interest. II
a child gets interested in pure and choice liter
aturte there is hope that he will grow up use
| full member OF society,"
Again their help and guidance would be
much appreciated in making the schoolhouse
as much like home as possible. Our children
spend from five to eight months of the year
for six to ten years in the schoolhouse. There
they are to receive an education not only from
books, but in social, moral, and sometimes
spiritual lines as well. Ought we not to make
those environments as enivening and elevatne
as possible? How often we find in a commu:
nifty where the farmers are prosperous and
have beautiful residences, big barns, and nice
yards, that those same people send their Chill
dren to school in a dilapidated, dingy old struct
ure which seems to have been suffering fol
want of paint for the last ten or fifteen years
At LONE We paict our houses, scrub our floors
adorn our walls with pictures, and clean w
our yalds so as to make as tidy an appearance
the fitting up of the room where our young are
sent to have their characters moulded not onl,
for time but to some extent for eternity. Al
extra coat of pant, q whitewarh, an occasiona
scrubbing of the floor, cleaning up of the
school grounds could be done in q short while
and with very little expense, and many schoo
room would undergo transformation simply
wonderful How much more careful in thei
oil,
much more interested in their work. There arr
schoolrooms in this and other counties whose
very appearance tends to make the children
untidy and careless in their habits. Not thai
school boards are to blame for all of this, but
they can remedy some of the things and al
the annual school meeting they can lay the
matter before those who have the power t.
remedy it. There is nothing that will beauty
the school grounds more than grove of shade
) trees. OF course that means more than put
ting few sticks in the ground on Arbor Day
The grounds must be fenced, plowed and cult
waited and taken care Of through the year.
In every distri we find parents who ar,
very negligent about sending their children t,
school. The teacher may alleviate this t.
! some extent by notices, visiting, coaxing, ETC.
but ii the board would step in more enectiv,
work could be DONE
> Lastly, the officers ouget to show their intel
> est in the school by their actual presence il
the schoolroom. II they would make an occa
sional call, talk over the work with the teacher
say few appreciative words to the pupils.
> it wonld stir them all to greater activity.
|, In closing, let US remember that We as teact
! ers and school onicers are and ought to be one
that We have q common aim, and thatno trivia
one-the training of our boys and girls fo
manhood and womanhood, the mOlding of tn
characters of those who in . few years fro,
now are to put their shoulders to the whe<