Daily Kennebec journal., 1906-03-10
The kennebec Association
Meets in Augusta.
Over 200 Enjoy Busy Session
at the .State House.
Interesting Speakers Reception by Gov.
Cobb. ..-0fficeTs Elected.

y
over 200 they enjoyed profitable ses-
sions. morning, afternoon and evening.
If was called the annual meeting Of
the EenncDec county Teachers ASso-
cation, but as n matter of fact il was
tie first meeting held since October.
1902, when the association met at the
came place. At thrt lin" Milton +.
button Of this city was president OF
the associations and he president elect
ed for the following year WAS r. T. WY :
man, then the surrrintejld Of schools
of WaIrrVille WHO has since left IN"
state. The officers allowed the organ
i:atiOn to indulge i'll q three years
rap and last November . meeting was
held at Hotel North in this city 10 put
The association on q new footing ana
give it another lease Of life. The
chairman If tha reorganization commit
tee was Principal &. +. Cook of the
Cony High school Of this city and this
committee has done thu. work resulting
in yesterdays lars" and successful
meeting.
The morning session was held i'm the
hall of lhe House Of Represent i;itiN"%
which was filed to It's utmost capa"ity
with many in the galleries and others or-
cupying the chairs Nhch We're brought
in to fill the space in front of the 80 ats.
AT 1929 Principal Cook called the
g;.tht ring 10 order and Hon. {. =. Hich-
born, mayor Of Augusta delivered an
address OF welcome. ON behalf OF tht
| city he gave til" teachers cordial
welcome ard expressed his appr, cation
| of the great work in which they are
| IlaborinC with such zeal and N such
| a spirit Of self-sacrifiCe. lie deploreh
the inadequate pay winch our teachers
| receive, q pay which If SO small that
many are constantly leaving Maine
| tor other states. while most of the
Young lady teachers are ready to leave
teaching for the equally hazardous sea
of matrimony. In closing, Mr.. fiich-
born paid high tribute to tho faith
| full and efficient work of State Superin-
tendent Stetson who was present at
| the meeting.
| The response to tEe address Of well
| come was iy Mr. Stctson who re espnnd-
"a briefly and fi,tinsiy to the words Of
welcome sponkcn by the mayor. and
then proceeded With an Informal talk
TO the teachers which proved 10 be one
of the most delightful and inspiring
features Of the day. No particular
lsubiect was announced, and, as Mr..
lStetSon said, both the introduction and
IcCnclusion We're cut off. What was
left. however. proved To be a most
l1lactical and helpful talk which was
lmuch appreciated. Mr.. Stetson first
ltook up the matter of recent extensions
l g ;,l, h,,,
suited in overlooking the schools with
lwork along lines which are not prach-
lcal. The blame for this is only In a
small degree upon the teachers. 1t Is
Imainiy the fault Of people with fads
land of various organizations ard bod
lies There should b q process uf elm
Iuation For instance, there should be
la distinction between number work an'
larithmGtic; TIE former should not b.
given before the third grade and the
latter not before the fifth grade. II
the study of geography the worl
Ishould begin with the school room an,
Iyard, the town. county and State, in
Istead of learning 50 much that is no
So about Africa. Muck more attention
ISIould be paid to loca! history. Man,
lIranches now attempted should he Gu
out and in many others more attention
should be devoted to mastering the es
ls.ntials The second point dw"lt upoi
Iby Mr.. StetSon was that many teach
crs go too far IN the matter Of doin,
Tie work fer the pupils instead Of max
ling the pupils do 1t for themselves
IThis is largely the fault Of parents VIII
lexpect too much Of the teachers Tn
Ithlrd point brought out by Mr.. Stetso
Twas the need of dealing more with in
ldividual pupils rather than with school
! lor classes az 6 whole. There are tw
lclasses of pupils which have no plac
lin the public schools. and yet they ar
frequently found there, the mental
incapable and grossly vicious. Thes
tsEould De In no institutions. Their
are four other classes of pupils foun
> in every public school which should b
dealt with according to their individua
needs. the hookist children, the artist
children. the physical children, an
those who may be ella assed as cranks an
freaks. The bookish children are rret
Y well cared for by the present method
Iof instruction; the artistic children gt
toe little individual attention and ar
too often buried Under textbooks an
given small opportunity to develop tn
IIoetic, artistic and musical instinct
within them. Mr.. StetSon made
strong plea in behalf of these childre
L mute. inslorious Milton" in whom Ii
u tie possibility of the great geniuses
1.-THE future. Then there are rhysics
children who should be put to doin
things with their hands and engage
liz work which will absorb the over
- flowing energy and industry With
= them. In this connt ction, Mr. Stetso
tod some interesting stories Of his oil
servation at Tuskegee The last elias
OF pupils with which the teacher ha
to deal are those crarks and freak
of whom a few are found in near]
every school. Here is an opportuni,
for sympathy, kindness and gent
Treatment and an effort to reach the,
upon the most approaChable side.
Il The next speaker Of the morning So
sion was Supt. D. L. Bowman
{ waterville, young man well known
Augusta, as he was for some time
Z law student In the office of Heath