Pike County press. (Milford, Pa.) 1895-1925, 1903-12-11
THE DIRECTORS ASSN


anu NOt UY COuUuteNt inb Nhtb ltuin
over which our Gag now floats.
Prof Dolph is strongly Of the opiu-
ion that in every instance Uncle
Sam has been a shrewd investor
and the farms he has added to his
domain have been in every instance
profitable investments. California,
for which we paid fifteen million
dollars, had in thirty years after
cessiou produced over one billion
dollars in gold and is now producing
it at the rate Of twenty millions q
year. Since the conquest of the
Philippines a large trade has grown
up with the islands, one of the ex-
ports being Manila, from which
ropes are made, which are supplant-
ing all other materials for the trans
mission of power. One rope having
recently made over $500 feet long
without a splice.
At the Tuesday morning session
Superintendent Westbrook took up
the subject Of uniform course Of
study for ungraded schools. He
said changes in teachers necessitate
regarding or classifying the school
aud as the new teacher has no record
of previous studies or the grade Of
she pupil 20 guide in 80 doing the
work, is often poorly done and the
pupil is put in the wrong Slasses.
Directors should adopt u form
graded course of study for use in
the county aud record should be
kept of classes and pupils 30 that
the succeeding teacher would be
able to begin the work intelligently
and properly classify the scholars
With a graded course there would
be an object for pupils to strive for
something to stimulate them to
complete the course.
Prof. d. L. Hover of Wayn e
county said examinations should be
the Test of promotion and that the
questions should be prepared by the
county superintendent. A record Of
these examinations should be kept
so that succeeding teachers would
be informed of the progress of the
pupils. Children using first and
second readers should be able tC
read in them just as we'll as the
teacher The reading part Of d
child s education should be thorough
On motion of S, d. Wells of Sho.
hola, seconded by w. T. Struble oi
Milford the matter of grading the
schools was referred to the commit,
tee on resolutions.
Compulsory attendance and how
it may be enforced was the topic Of
an excellent address by George r
Bull, Esq. This law has been II
force in some of the European coun
tries for many years, and thirty
states in this country now have il
on their statute books. Massaohu
setts, so years ago, was the frs
state and Penn sylvania the last, IL
1895, to adopt il. Irregular at
tendance of scholars destroys TIT
efficiency of the school, causes dis
turbance in the Glasses and impose
extra labor on the teacher. Mr.
Bull went into the details of tn,
law and explained its operations an'
the mode of procedure to enforc
it. The better way to enforce tn,
law is by making the schools at
tractive so that children will wish T.
attend and in this the teacher is tn
most important factor.
The law should be enforced witt
Judgment and care should be exer
cised not to impose its penalties oi
some family where it is almos
imperative that the child assist til
parents.
A discussion of law followed
participated in by g. A. Swepenise
who spoke Of the law regarding tn
assessmenti Of children of schoc
age and that the work which cos
the county from $3.50 to $500 a yea
should be carefully done
A. K. Ksllam Of Palmyra spok
on salaries Of teachers, aud though
that the s35 dollar minimum salar.
would be burdensome in sparsol,
settled districts He thought direc
tors should have a discretion il
amount of wages paid teachers es
pecially where schools were small
Tho salary should be graded accord
ing to the ability and experience o
the teacher. Capitalization wa
not feasible in all districts and som
would be compelled TO keep tn
usual number of schools open an
Of course pay the Increased salaries
His paper evoked some discussion
which was participated in by Prof
Hover who thought that centraliza
ton was the one way out and tina
in his county where it had beel