The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1902-07-22
NEED BETTER TEACHERS AND COM
PULsORY EDUCATION.
C~lodhoppsr Concludes His Talk On tn Edu-
~oational Problems that Confront
Our People.

ClOdhoppsr Concludes His Talk On tn Edu-
oational Problems that Confront
Our People.
Cor. of The Progressive Farmer.
In last weeks Progressive Farmer
I discussed the ta1ation feature of
our school problem For first of all,
Ne must have adequate taxation.
mrrER FnAoHERs
In the second place we want train
ed professional eachers-teachers
Who know what to do and how to do
1T. Nothing is farther from the truth
than that anybody Ear teach school.
II is not enough that a person has a
good education, he must serve an ap-
prenticeship at the business. No one
win contend that the study of law
qualities q man for the practice OF
medicine. The doctor viii not claim
that his knowledge of medicine fits
him for the practice of law. 1t would
be equally unreasonable to say that
proficiency in either law or medicine
would make a man a successful teach
er. Nothing but experience united
with a natural tact or aptness, can
sVer make the real, skilfm teacher.
INCOMPETENT CRITICISM OF TEACHERS
However, the teacher must submit
to be criticised by everybody,-and be
told Just how to teach by each and all.
Lawyer, doctor, preacher, farmer, me-
ehanic, loafer, all join in telling the
poor fellow what to do and how to
do It. Are these persons really COM
petent to criticise the real teacher in
his work9 IF I were a doctor and my
patients were in the habit of critising
me, telling what and how to prescribe
how much calomel in this, how
much rhubarb in that, and how much
quinHne In the other, l should be
tempted, I think, to quit the profess
sion and leave my patients to the
tender mercies of Dufy's pills the rest
of their lives. But teaching is the
only vocation that has to submit to
everybody's dictation. Almost every
me-, it seems, either knows how to
teach himself or knows exactly how
to tell others how it ought to be done.
Yet how widely do they differ among
themselvesi This man is dissatisfied
because the teachers discipline is too
severe; hat one grumbles because it
Is too lax. This one, is displeased be-
cause his children are confined too
long; that one, thinks school should
be in session from z to u, and from
1 to 5 o'clock; and so on ad infnitum.
These facts emphasize the impor-
lance of employing only skilled pro-
fessional teachers t. successfully meet
these varied difficulties and make the
schools a success in spite of them.
MORE THOROUGH SUPERVISION Is
ESSENTIAL.
We need not only a larger school
fund and trained professional teach
ers but a more thorough supervision.
The same teacher would do much bet
ter work under an active energetic
supervision than without it. A knowl-
edge of the fact that his work was to
be examined and criticised by a COM
petent critic, graded and compared,
would stimulate him to greater effort
would cause him to make use of
every available means of self-improve-
ment in the art of teaching.
THE ATTENDANCE PROBLEM
But if we had a school system that
was perfect in every other respect,
it would necessarily fail to accomplish
its purpose without the attendance of
the children, subject to it.. The most
active and competent officers and
teachers could not carry out the high
aims and objects Of the best school
system, even with millions of dollars
at. their command, unless they could
secure the regular and full attendance
of the children. This they cannot do
under existing conditions. Every
teacher Knows upon what frivolous
excuses children are frequently kept
out Of school. Every tSach6rs report
and every school; register shows that.
in almost, every district there are
some children that do not attend
school at all; and that there are many
who are not regular in attendance.
This condition has prevailed in the
past. and it sn prevails, to an alarm
ing extent. And the SCHOOL officers