The leader., 1904-07-09
EDUCATIONAL BUREAU
Under Direction Of KATE MARKHAM POWER
institute Conductors Assigned.


The superintendent has just made
his assignment of institute conduc-
tors, who will, during the month Of
August, visit the various counties
Of the State and hold from one to
four weeks institutes with the teach
ers. A day viii be fixed, for a popu-
lar rally, the trustees, board Of edu-
cation and patrons of the schools
will be invited to meet with the
teachers, to discuss current educa-
tional questions. The University
Normal has been in session since the
18th of June, with an attendance
of about three hundred teachers.
The primary teachers school viii
opened at Columbus last week.
A faculty of specialists has
been articu1ated by DR.. Arnold
Thompson and Miss Florence Of
Chicago. This will probably be the
strongest school for primary teach
ers ever held in the South; work
will be done by specialists selected
from the best training schools of the
United States. The railroads have
given rate of one fare for the
round trip.
Superintendent Whitfield was
asked in regard to the importance of
the county institutes that are to be
held this summer in every county
in the State. He said:
think it is of the greatest impor.
lance to the schools of the State, and
hope that the teachers generally will
avail themselves of the opportunity
they have this summer for. lettering
themselves for their work. Probably
the greatest educational need of the
State is better trained teachers. 1t
is quite noticeable that those counties
where the county superintendent have
always required the teachers to at.
tend institutes, the educational senti.
ment is better and they have better
schools than have those counties that
have been careless in regard to then
Institutes. do not think that train,
ing counts for so much in any other
training or profession as it does
with the profession of teaching. The
human mind is the highest and most
complex of all Gods creations, and
those that have the direction of the
education of our children should be
required not only to be well grounded
in scholarship, but should also under.
stand those great principles that I'M
.derlie human development. Within
the last few years the prominent
teachers of the country have given
a most careful study to the education
al theories and schools of the past
that the teachers of today may have
at their disposal the hest that has
been worked out, in any age and
country. This matter has been print
ed in books and in this age of great
competition it is necessary that the
children should not be experimental
with by ignorant teachers, but that
those who presume to teach should
know what has been worked out and
tested
In the county Institutes, where the
terms will be as much as four weeks,
large amount of textbook work will
be done.
The teachers of Mississippi have a
peculiar responsibility on them at this
time. The State has very largely in.
creased its appropriation to the COM
mon schools, great many counties
and towns have levied taxes to sup
plement what the State is doing, and
the people will expect that this great
expenditure of money will result in
having much better schools. believe
that our teachers in the main realize
fully this responsibility, and will EN-.
deavor to better prepare themselves
for the work that the teachers can
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