The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1907-11-01
DELIVERED FINE ADDRESS
AT MEETING OF TEACHERS
Prof A. P Ritchie Superintendent of Bemid Schools md
President Of Association Principal Speaker at Meet
ing of Teachers at Cass Lake Today.

was delivered this afternoon by
Prof. Richie, superintendent of the
Bemidji public schools, at the meet.
ing of the North Central Minnesota
Teachers association, which is be.
ing held at Cass Lake.
1T is meet that the people en-.
gagged in any vocation and repre-
senting similar conditions come to,
gether for the purpose of discussing
topics which interest them. Northern
Minnesota has problems of her own
to solve in the educational as we'll
as the physical world. We have
conditions to meet as. we'll as prob,
lens to solve in this section of the
state that are of minor Importance
in other sections. Especially is this
true in this abnormal commercial
wave that is now sweeping over our
entire land. There is demand for
every boy of Is and for every girl
who is able to handle the dish towel,
at almost fabulous prices. The de-
mand for help in the mining regions,
in the lumber districts, and the
farming communities has never been
so tempting to lure the youth from
our schools as at the present time.
Take these conditions together with
the natural tendency for boys and
girls to drop school, with the natural
surroundings and picturesque beauty
of our country-our lakes that are
unsurpassed for beauty in any part
of the world, our forests, composed
of vegetation from the meanest herb
to the gigantic tree, all bid the
youth welcome. Is there any won
der that boys and girls drop school
work. Not withstanding all this,
where in the history of our country
do you find any communities where
education has been so rapidly
diffused and brought to the front as
in Northern Minnesota? Where on
the face of the globe will you find
villages from five to ten years of age
supporting State H. S. accredited to
our own State University and to
almost every University and College
in the U. S.? We have High Schools
in this section of the state whose
course of study and equipment for
research would put some of the
colleges of so years ago to shame.
With all this to our credit, is
there no room for improvement?
Yes, there is still room. The millen-
ium has not yet appeared and as
long as our educational system
stands, educators will be striving to
better conditions. Great strides
have been made toward the goal,
and yet the goal is as far as ever.
Indeed educational work may be
likened unto education itself, when
the harvest of one field is reaped it
only opens the gates to another
whose harvests are greater by having
reaped the former. Yes. it is like
unto space itself. We may learn
much about our own little sphere,
but where is the end of space? We
may and have learned much of edu.
cational truths but who dares set the
goal beyond which we cannot pass;
I believe that the general quail.
fcations of teachers, the equipment
of our buildings in our cities and
larger villages will not suffer in com
parison with those of any Other
section of the state. I am not sure,
however, that our rural schools car
boast of so favorable a condition
Prof. Kennedy of the North Dakota
University said in a lecture al
Crookston, last fall, that he did not
think that the general conditions o.
our rural schools had improved one
bit during the past forty years.
At first, I thought this statement
drastic and far fetched, but the more
have reflected upon the statement
and studied the conditions of ou1
rural schools, the more I am inclined
to think it is so. At any rate, the
rural schools have not kept pace
with the graded and high schools
Let us look at the condition of ou1
rural schools from twenty to forty
years ago. Is it not true that the
teacher of the rural school then, il
the majority of cases, was man OF