The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1907-11-01

able experience and ability? They
may have taught Reading by the
alphabetic method, which to my
mind is not bad method; they may
have neglected language and culture
for the three RS, but they did not
neglect the moral phase of their
educational duties and were generally
found a leader in the community.
Now what do we find in many of
our rural schools? Is it not too
often the case that the teacher is a
girl or boy from fifteen to seventeen
years of age with no experience and
but little education-often taken
from the eighth, seventh orzeven the
sixth grade of some neighboring
school? It is bad enough to have a
teacher with experience and but little
education but it is worse to have
teacher with no experience and but
little education. This is not the
case in all of our rural schools.
Some of them have teachers with
experience, culture and learning that
would put to shame some of the
teachers in our graded and high
schools, but is it not true that on the
whole, the best rural teachers are
looking for positions in our city
schools? And who can blame them?
1t is sad mistake that anyone
can teach a country school espec-
tally if it is composed of small
pupils. 1t is not everyone who can
teach all grades we'll, superintend
the school, and, in many cases, act
as janitor and board member. 1t
may be true that. it is easier to give
satisfaction, but that does not
always prove. that a teacher is a
good one. rs
This brings us to the point where
we may we'll ask the question,
Why have not our rural schools
kept pace with the graded and high
schools?' To my mind, the reasons
are evident and many. In the first
place, closer supervision is main
tanned in our village and city
schools than it is possible under our
present system in our rural schools.
While the most of our County Sup
erintendents are competent men and
women, it is not possible for them
to give the proper supervision to
their. schools. The manner of
selecting teachers in our city schools
has undergone great change in
the last decade. No longer do
school boards sit down and go over
batch of applications, sometimes
numbered by hundreds, and in some
occult manner, make a selection of
teachers. Nor does personal pull"
and favoritism enter into the selec-
tion of our city teachers as at one
time. The most of our city schools
have very competent Superinten-
dent whose business and duty it is
to look up and recommend COM
petent candidates, and, after they
are selected, he is held in some
measure responsible for results.
How different in most of our
rural schools! One does not have
to be around a county superintend-
ent's office long before he will notice
members of school boards appearing,
with some sort of pitlful story ask
ing that some neighboring girl, who
is wholly incompetent, be granted a
permit to teach their school. The
pupils are small anyway and most
anyone can teach them. Then this
appeal is supplemented by the girl
and her father or mother, who has a
woeful tale to relate of how some
unfortunate circumstances make it
necessary for the girl to teach. If
this is not sufficient to melt the
county superintendent's heart, a
petition will probably be presented
to him signed by the neighbors.
Finally no suitable candidate who is
qualified makes application for the
position and the permit is granted.
And a repetition of the same thing
occurs the next year, unless some
offending boy has been spanked and
thus the teacher has incurred the
emnity of some influential parent.
The country schools have not
been alive to .-the, tendency of the