Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1908-10-21

University OF South Carolina.
Paper Number Six.
Observation-Disclosures
Change of Teachers.-The frequent
change of teachers is constant break
and clog in the progress of the
schools. 1t robs them of anything like
an upbroken course Of work and fix.
edness of policy. Every new teacher
introduces some new feature into the
work of the school-perhaps a good
feature in itself, yet no better than
what it displaces. 1t requires read.
justment to install anything new, and
the time and friction are q loss, unless
the change is decidedly for better.
Generally. speaking, our best schools
are those which have. the fewest
changes in the teaching force. It re-
quires at least one full session for a
teacher to become acquainted with his
patrons. By becoming acquainted
with patrons for more than mere So
cial knowledge of them. I mean an
appreciation Of the tastes and their
ideals and their ambitions. and a
knowledge Of their peculiarities, if
you please. Until he understands
these he is not in q position to serve
them and to lead them, and teacher
who can not lead is of but little force.
Not until after a teacher has taught
from four to six years in commun-
ity is he prepared to give it his best
services. Yet how few teachers re-
main In one school three years.
Some places change teachers every
year simply because they have acquir-
ed the habit Of doing SO. Like any
other bad habit, this one grows upon
people. The trustees and the patrons
frequently realize that their school ie
far inferior to some other school, and
rush to the conclusion that they need
change Of teachers, when the truth
is that they have already injured their
school by too many changes. Have
any of my readers ever seen pupil,
or an entire class set to work in the
same place, in arithmetic for in
stance, at the beginning of each of
three successive sessions-eaeh time
by new teacherY Is it probable
that this would have been done by
any one reasonable teacher teaching
the school the three sessions7
This evil Of change reigns'-in the
town and country schools alike. have
in mind one, town in this State which
had six principals in eight years.
Change was the only remedy it knew,
and it believed in heroic doses. A
great many rural schools rarely have
the same teacher two years in sue
cession. Many Of these changes, in
both town and country schools, are
due to the neighborhood jealousies
and quarrels already discussed. Many
a community has its chronic critics
Of the schools, who are dyspeptic by
nature and sour by habit. a teacher
never satisfies them longer than one
year. They know all about schools,
and their own children are paragons
Of perfection. IL any teacher finds
.ane nff these children anything but a
paragon, straightway there is trouble.
To listen to these disgruntled fathers
and mothers with their tales of woe
requires patience and grace. In their
eyes there is but one remedy-change
teachers. Not two months ago !
heard man not fer from sixty years
Of age declare that he intended to
"break up" the only school in his
district, unless the trustees dis
missed the present teacher . 1t had
never occurred to him that perhaps
the trustees were in the right. Such
man is in small way an aharhcist.
In some instances fault finding and
dissatisfaction are unwittingly en-
couraged by the board Of trustees.
The board, either ignorant of its
function or disposed to dodge an un-
pleasant duty. asks the patrons to
elect the teacher Such course Is
an invitation to division and the dis
appointment consequent to defeat,
and will inevitably bring about dis
cord. What is the board appointed
for, if not to manage the school by
lessoning the occasions for discordf
A good many towns make 1t rule
to employ only Young inexperienced
teachers, and at the end Of each
year drop those who have failed,
keeping the more successful ones un-
til they have become really service
able, then let them go because the
trustees and the people are unwill-
ing to pay for good teaching at par
value. Some places boast that their
schools are the gatewy to the promo
ton of their teachers. This may be
a credit to the school, and discredit
to the people. 1t is not ereditable,
if the people are simply letting eff
cient teachers pass out from their
schools in exchange for crude, mex
perience, because the latter is cheap.
A few town school boards are
given to the indefensible habit Of
advertising every year for applicants
for position in the school, when the
board does not intend to elect single
new teacher. The King who marched
his army up the hill, then marched
it down again, did no more childish
thing than these boards do. The
thing is not only indefensible, but it
is hurtful to. the school, unjust to the
teachers and dishonest to possible ap-
plicants. What meaning does such
advertisement convey to every teach
er in that school, no matter how eff
icient she may be7 When the teach
ers ask for its meaning, they are
told that it is only matter of form,
and that they need not be concerned.
L.. ,,,o, v,loxy