The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-06-08


 of the school at East Tallessee. He said that the average infiuepce of teacher Is far greater than most people reckon upon. He is with his pupils and patrons seven days in a week and if he is ambitious and sincere. he can have far more influence than the coun- try preacher Many communities have and no class singing. A wide awake teacher should not miss these oppor- tunities.
 The rural teacher often finds himself In contact with people who are rude and uncouth. but by proper labors he may make the community comparative ly cultured.
 The rural teacher. he said. should bring about a social relation between himself and the people. He should visit. as does a pastor, not only in time of trouble. but in time of joy.
 Tho teachers greatest advantage in the rural districts. said Professor Graves. Is that there are few tempta- tions for the young and the teacher can usually develop the mind of his pupils easily. The country instructor has great opportunities to practice and teach kindness to dumb beings and love of nature. Children may be taught practical botany which gives them fine foundation for later studies in this science as well as in geology.
 Professor Hildreath Speaks.
 Professor c. L. Hildreth of Fort Payne discussed other phases of the subject. Many teachers, he said. have an idea that intellectual training and moral training are separate and dis tinct. Immortality and vice are often found in the wake of these teachers. He deplored the fact that the ambition of country boys is always to enter business career in the cities and the fact that the teachers are not impress ing on the boys that manual labor Is as honorable as any other calling. On account of lack of work by country teachers in this field, he said, the coun- try is being stripped of its youth and the cities are being overrun. He be- lived that if the teachers did not inn Aress on the students the honor a farmer or mechanic can attain, sort of social oligarchy will result.
 The teachers. he said. have em- phasized the head too much and the heart too little. A person cannot be man simply by being walking library; he must also have other qualities
 Professor Hildreth appealed to the teachers to inculcate in the minds Of their pupils, the value of manual labor, the folly of the universal migration to the cities, and the social equality farce.
 He urged that industrial works be taught in country schools and that manual training be introduced every where possible.
 Discussed by Others.
 Professor R. E. Sessions of Jemison in discussing the subject emphatized the point that the teacher in the coun- try schools should recognize that his position is a position of leadership and that 1t Is his moral duty to take the lead. He Is better fitted for 1t than most of his fellow citizens and he should take the lead in all such matters as establishing lecture courses, school libraries and reading circles.
 He urged that the teacher pay not 100 much attention to public opinion but by work bring public opinion into his way of thinking If that way is right The teachers work must to an extent be evangelistic.
 Mrs. Sidney Jones of Florence. said that in many places. the teacher is blocked by local superintendents but the teachers should make an effort to reform his ideas and then form public ideas.
 Prof. Gleason of Gadsden brought out the point that school is not only a place for preparation for life but is a place of life itself in the nina ture. The country teachers. he said, should impress on their pupils the beauties and advantages of country life He showed how the Rural Free Delivery Routes. the rural telephones and the good roads had improved tine rural districts. Country life. he said, will contain all the good things of the cities and the teachers should impress this on their pupils.
 Dr. F. M. Peterson of Montevallo, nf yfarIr by the teachers outside of the school room. He denounced people using teaching as a stepping stone to some other work.
 Professor Oliver of Tallapoosa County, spoke for a higher standard of school teachers.
 Grading of Schools.
 "The Grading of Country Schools was discussed by Superintendent N. R. Baker of Mobile. He told of his first experience as a school teacher, when at sixteen years of age, he taught country school for S1 per day. He said he hoped he had been forgiven for his teachings of those days. He spoke of the old grading which began with "a-b-ab" in Webster's blue back spelling book and ending with in comprehensibility." Lasalle. French teacher, first conceived the idea of hearing simultaneously a number of children, equally advanced, and here graded schools started.
 A country school can be graded, he declared. The course of study should be explained to the patrons in order that the children can be graded sys- tematically. The more rooms to school building. the easier it is to grade successfully and therefore there should be as many large schools and az few small schools as possible.
 The small school, however, has the advantage, of hearing the farther ad- vanced grades recite. Graded schools make class spirit, furnishes incentive to the children to advance. gives the parents opportunity of finding out what their children are doing. Grad ing should be based principally on reading, he said.
 Superintendent Baker then made suggestions as to a seven grade ar rangement. He urged that teachers correllate as far as possible and to encourage supplemental research and experimental work among advanced pupils. In closing he said that 1t Is not wise to hold too rigidly to any fixed grades in a school Uut to use discretion.
 Politics in Schools.
 Prof. W. R. Harrison of Onion Springs. continued the discussion by saying that he hoped that the time would soon come, when trained teach CTS would be elected County Superin tendents in every county of Alabama. Under the present system. he said. there is no chance for organized ad- vancement. Twenty-seven counties