The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1906-02-01

County?' which was begun last fall by
the Garrett County Teachers Associa-
ton, came to a close last Saturday, when
the judges awarded the first prize of
$500 in gold, to Mr.. F. E. Rathbun,
Vice Principal of the Oakland High
School; second prize of $500 to Miss
Marion B. Leary, teacher of the Red
House school; and honorable mention
was given Prof. J. C. Beahm, Principal
of the Accident schools. Those who re-
celved their prizes have been given the
money, and are proud of the recognition
which their success has brought to
/ them.
/ This contest should be of great bene-
/ fit to the teachers and to the scholars of
our schools. The subject of Grammar,
which is one of the most important
with which our students come in contact,
by this rivalry. has been brought promi-
| nently to their notice All the students
and teachers should study these papers
and take from them the points which
may help them in the study Of our Ian
! guage.
This is the first contest of its kind
ever held in Garrett county. It's sue
cess was assured from the start, when
many of the teachers began to make
inquiries and to submit papers. If the
Teachers Association continues to
arouse interest and to help the teachers
to present more ably the subjects which
they handle, the schools of our county
shall certainly be greatly benefited by
this strong organization. There are a
| few teachers who have not yet allied
themselves with this Association, but
it seems that if they were to do so,
they should be helping the educational
! work in this section.
Mr.. Rathbun, the winner of the first
prize, returned the money he had thus
won to the Association. 1t, in turn, US
ing this money for the purpose, decided
to have published Immediately the three
| successful papers in booklet form, to be
distributed gratuitously to the teachers
and scholars of the schools. They will
be ready for free distribution the first
| part of next week.
Below are published the successful
papers in the same order in which the
awards were given:
Why is it that the student has no m
| terest in the science of Grammar? 1t
is largely because he cannot see any
thing of value which comes from the
study Of language Why is it that the
student hasIsuch great difficulty in IN
derstanding Grammar? The reason for
the pupils inability to comprehend the
subject is because it is theoretical is
abstract. Every teacher of English is
brought face to face with these two
conditions, and his success as an in
structor in language depends largely on
how1well he shall overcome these feat
ures. 1t is the purpose of this paper to
try and suggest ways by which they
may be partially removed.
The difficulty which the student eN-
periences in not being able to under
stand the theory of Grammar may be
lessened, if the teacher will make an
effort in every lesson to carry the alb
stract principles of the science, over
into the common sense, concrete world
Of the pupil; to carry the unknown over
to the known. The method for doing
this should be by Mechanical De-
vices" l defer explaining this system
until after shall have tried to help the
teacher to overcome the disinterest of
the student, brought out by the first
question and the answer thereto.
The students can be awakened to the
value Of Grammar in two ways, the
second Of which will be found the more
effective The first method is by an
extraordinary effort on the part of the
teacher while speaking, to use always
the very best English. The student
will admire and from admiration to imi-
tation is but a step. The other method
to make the students feel the need of
Grammar, is by correcting the errors
they make in their speech, when asking
questions, in conversations, or in recit-
ing. Everything should be stopped
when a grammatical error has been
made, and the student should be cor
rected at once. From this prominence
given to correct speech, there will fol-
low the idea that Grammar must be of
value, that there must be something in
its principles. If incorrect English will
not be tolerated, the student will make
extra efforts to speak correctly. From
these efforts will come good habits, as
well as the idea that there may be
something in Grammar after all If
this awakening can be given the stu
dents through pure diction Of the teach
er and through the correcting of errors
in their speech, then the disinterested
attitude of the students will be replaced
by an ardent enthusiasm for thorough
study in the science of Grammar.
The methods propose by which the
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