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

should be ashamed to feel that our
state stands 80 low IN the list Ia
illiteracy, and we should earnestly
seek the cause. II the fault lies
with the teachers the poor ones
should be weeded out and the rule
of merit in employment be faithful.
ly enforced How will directors
excuse themselves if they regard
any other rule2 If teacher persists
in his or her neglect to properly
qualify himself OF herself to teach q
school in the most eaicisnt manner
is it any charity TO employ that
teacher because he or she cannot
make a living in any other employ
ment2 Children are quick to con-
ceive likes aud dislikes. They would
be attracted to good teacher while
a poor one would depress their
spirits and drive them from the
school room. For either of these
conditions you as directors are
responsible. The duty of making
the schools attractive rests with you
if they are repulsive you must
assume the blame.
The direction of what is to be
taught is also a part of your duty.
In the younger days Of some of us
the three r. s we're considered the
essentials of an education. and the
teacher who was most successful in
imparting these rudiments was look
ed on as fully satisfying all the
requirements, and as being able to
start the youth on the beaten road
and conduct him to its terminal on
ths broad confines of the world of
labor and strife. superintendent
Schaffer in his report just published
very aptly says, "for many minds
the primary purpose of the school
has been obsoured by the agitation
in favor of nature study, manual
training and the forms of instruction
which point towards specific voca-
tions-" The primary purpose of
the schools is not and never has
been to train for any particular
occupation or business. Common
schools are simply intended as
preparation for happy living, they
simply lay the foundations on which
broader and higher culture may be
built. A boy or girl who goes oat
with the rudiments of reading. writ.
ing and reckoning we'll grounded in
the mind has the soil in which to
grow the flowers of life we'll ferti.
lized, and they may be produced
without detriment to the useful
plants. The adornments of the dress
may captivate and please the eve of
others, but they will not warm the
body Of the wearer. The non essen.
tials taught in many schools to the
detriment of the more important
branches, sometimes to their exclu.
sion, are like some of the wouldbe
popular breakfast stuffs which look
like sawdust and taste like medicat-
ed excelsior, Keely cures for the
food habit, so come of these so called
studies are simply the frills and
furbelows of an education which
unfit the child for the serious labor
of learning and create a distaste for
the substantiAls of an education. If
you are directors who direct. the
schoolroom should be popular
resort for you, you should know by
actual visitation what progress is
being made in studies, whether the
teacher is devoting his or her entire
ability and energy to the work of
the children, whether he
or she possesses the tact and judg.
ment to make the work most effect.
i've. In short you should feel your
full responsibility, You should
recognize your whole duty aud feel.
ing and knowing the importance of
your position you should devote
such time and attention to the
of your duties as will
furnish the minds placed Indirectly
in your care with the essentials of
common school education. You are
responsible not only to your fellow
men, but TO the rising generation
which viii soon take your places,
10 society upon which your acts
may exert deep and lasting in.
1uence, TO morality. which may be
or fettered by your conduct
md to religion the wide spread and |
benign Influence Of which may be |
iimmed or frightened as you may 1
administer your great trust as
directors having the charge and care
If the fundamental education Of |
hose who are soon to assume the /
'ares and burdens ofactive life, who
ire to take your places and mine in
shaping the destinies of their day
md generation and upon whom win
ievolve the solemn duty of advanc