The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-01-13
Better Teachers Needed.
Tt. Gaines (Ga.) Recorder,

@Ns G1tlfS1 N1a.J ESeSoIueEs
 Better teachers are needed (and we would have you lay especial emphasis on the second word of the sentence) in Georgia. President Branson of the State Normal College has been successful in securing the necessary support to estab- lish the summer school for teachers at Athens this summoar. 1t Is said that Il will now be possible for one thousand teachers to get an average of six weeks training in the arts of modern methods Of teaching" Well, this may be all right so far as fitting them for a position in which they can draw a salary. but will 1t it them to teach? The so-called mod ern method, Is to our mind, very far from giving a practical education. It enables child to run over a vast lot of books. and skip over many things our daddies thought essential. but does it turn out the well filled cranium of a Webster?
 A sample-only a few days ago we were out in a section of a county where the old Blue Back Speller is still used, and taught by this old fellow of the old school were entertaining some of their city cous- ins, who had come out to enjoy the fresh country air, and eat a country Christmas dinner. We thought this fine opportu- nity to see how the youngsters were progressing, so we lined up half a dozen, three from each school about the same age 6 years), and gave each book to read from. The city chaps read very creditably. and the country tenows seem- ed a little embarrassed when their time came. and in a laborious way they man. aged to pull through. Then We tried them on spelling and the way those country fellows turned down their city cousins was amazing. Not in one single instance was the city child able to spell word missed by a country child. and scarcely a word was spelled wrong by the student of the old Blue Back Speller; of course only such words as one would reasonably expect a child of that age to spell were given any of them.
 Next we selected four, two from each school, and in this case all were the same age. between the ages of 15 and l6 years. and we selected thirty-six words of everyday use. but words which are ire Quently misspelled, and of the thirty six words one of the country taught girls spelled every one on first trial correctly, and the other spelled all, but failed on two the first trial. Of the two city taught girls one missed twenty words and in some instances was given three attempts, the other missed eighteen.
 Now we do not know that 1t Is neces- sary to know how to spell, but we think 1t is. In figures the results were very sentatives, while the country boy who had not progressed much over half as far as the city boy, did remarkably well, decidedly better than his competitor.
 Now, then, tAlS brings us 10 the point we were after. It is in our opinion wrong for a teacher to take his class and att tempt to teach 1t as if every mind he is trying to mould was cast in the same pattern Each child has its individuality, and If taught along this line will progress and accomplish something in the way of storing up knowledge, but if this individ- uality Is lost sight of, the child may progress in his books, but when the end is reached no more impression Is found on his mind than if they had been filled with blank pages. This so-called modern method is nothing more nor less than making a lot of minds force themselves to travel in the same groove, regardless of individual traits or individualities. Of course we do not wish to convey the Idea that each cid is to have separate teacher, or even a separate hour for reel tation, but we do say that child should not be forced to keep up with the most apt in the class just in order to say at the end of the term that the class has spun through a maze of books. Many instances we can call to mind in which the dullest boy in the class mas shone the brightest star in mature years all be- cause he learned well what he learned. We need teachers who will recognize these facts, and while they are not mod ern, none will gainsay they are practical.