Williams news., 1906-05-19
Home Educators Need Not App1y-Man
 Orders Gel the Glad Hand.

OfCefS SSd lQe Sldp I1dnp-
 We note with regret that Mrs Austin. Mrs. Douglass and Miss Beecher are to sever their connec ton with the local high school at the close of the current term. Never in the history of Flagstaff's schools have they been so ably managed as during the period of Mrs Austin's !, principalshir, in which time perfect harmony has existed in all of the classes, and the progress of the pupils has been a source of gratifi cation not only to the parents but to the teachers themselves. Ably | assisted by Mrs. Douglass and Miss Beecher. a standard of excellence has been reached, to maintain which will be a severe test to their suc- cessors.
 We heartily commend the judg ment of the board in the appoint ment of Miss Katherine Bullard, whom we know to be conscien tious worker and a teacher of some experience; but we cannot under stand why it should have been nec- essary to go so far from home as the state of Iowa for the other ap- pointee. This is certainly not compliment to our Normal school or to the Normal of Tempe, nor is it the slightest bit of encouragement to those of our home girls, who have plodded day and night to complete their course of instruction that they might after their graduation be called upon to fill just such positions.
 We could mention a number of young ladies, among the recent graduates of the Northern Arizona Normal, who through lack of va cancies in their home district, have been compelled to accept positions in the outlying districts, and now that there are vacancies at home are again forced to accept schools elsewhere by the action of the local board of trustees.
 It me.y not be advisable to ap- point resident young lady or gen tleman to position in the home school immediately after their grad uation from the Normal, but after they have served an apprenticeship of several years away from home, we cannot see how this objection would hold.
 Still, that was hardly the reason in this case; witness the appoint ment of Miss Bullard, who will not complete her course til next sum- mer.
 It would appear that teachers certificate from the Northern Ari- zona Normal carries no weight with the local board; and, if such is the case, how can the holder of it ask for employment elsewhere in the capacity of teacher? If experience has taught the board of trustees that the course at the Normal does not fit the graduate for his or her position in life, it is high time that such information be made a matter of record, so that the course of in struction in that institution can be graded to meet existing conditions; otherwise the grinding out of diplo- mas mechanically, which are not worth their face value, will continue indefinitely.
 If, on the other hand, the young men and women who have success fully taken the course of training, are competent, and we know beyond a doubt that some of them are, it behooves our school trustees to abandon the mail order business and patronize the graduates of their home institute.
 In filling the principals chair, it should be remembered that some of the young women connected with our schools at present are not only competent and possess executive ability, but that they are familiar with the local conditions and can do more to take up the work where it has been left off than can a stranger Again, they have strug gled along through the years of drudgery, studied day and night with the prospects of these very positions in view, and now, when promotion is at hand, are they to be told that their Ia bors are not ap preciated; that their course at the Normal was of no avail, and that they may be considered at another time? Such Encouragement makes drudges, not teachers.
 CITY BRIEFS.
 The base ball team under the | 1c al