Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-10-16
OUR COMMON SCHOOLS.
Some Of the Disadvantages With
Which They Contend.


cussing the difficulties under which the
common schools of South Carolina are
laboring, the subject Of the present
paper being Change of Teachers:
The frequent change Of teachers is
a constant brake and clog on the
progress Of the schools. 1t robs them
of anything like an unbroken course
Of work and fixedness of policy. Ev-
cry new teacher introduces some new
feature into the work Of the school
perhaps a good feature in itself, yet,
no better than what 1t displaces 1t
requires readjustment to install any
thing new and the time and friction
are a loss, unless the change is de-
cidedly for better. Generally speak
ing, our best schools are those which
have the fewest changes in the teach
ing force. 1t requires at least one
full session for a teacher to become
acquainted with his patrons. BY be-
coming acquainted with patrons I
mean much more than mere social
knowledge of them. I mean an ap-
probation of their tastes and their
ideals and their ambitions and a
knowledge of their peculiarities, II
you please. Until he understands
these he is not in a position to serve
them and to lead them and a teach
er who cannot lead is Of but little
force. Not until after a teacher has
n q N q
community Is he prepared to give 1t
his best services. Yet how few teach
ers remain in one school three years.
Some places change teachers every
year simply because they have ac-
quired 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 is far inferior to some other
school, and rush to the conclusion
that they need a change Of teachers,
when the truth is that they have al
ready injured their school by too
many changes. Have any Of my read
ers ever seen pupil, or an entire
class, set to work in the same place,
in arithmetic for instance, at the be-
ginning of each of three successive
sessions-each time by new teach
er? Is 1t probable that this would have
been done by any one reasonable
teacher teaching the school the three
sessions?
This evil of change reigns in the
town and country schools again.
have in mind one town In the state
which had six principals In eight
years. Change was the only remedy
1t knew, and 1t believed in heroic
doses. A great many rural schools
tLA w
years in succession. Many Of these
changes, in both town and country
schools, are due to the neighborhood
jealous!es and quarrels already dis
cussed. 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. If any
teacher finds one Of these children
anything but 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 I heard man not
far from sixty years Of age declare
that he intended to break up" the
only school in his district unless the
trustees dismissed the present teacher.
It had never occurred to him that
perhaps the trustees were in the right.
Such a man Is in a small way an
anarchist.
In some instances faultfinding and
and dissatisfaction are unwittlngly
encouraged by the board Of trustees.
The board either ignorant of its func-
tions or disposed to dodge an un-
pleasant duty, asks the patrons to
elect the te.2her. Such a course is an
invitation 20 ,livision and the dlsap-
pointment cons, G mt to defeat, and
will inc Htably bring about discord.
What is the board appointed for II not
to manage the school by lessening the
occasions for discord?
A good many towns make rule
to employ young, inexperienced teacn-
ers and at the end of each year drop
those who have failed, keeping the
more successful ones until they nave
become really serviceable, then let
them go because the trustees ana tne
patrons are unwilling to pay for good
teaching at par value. Some places
boast that their schools are the gate
way to the promotion Of their teach
ers. This may be a credit to the
school and discredit to the people.
It is not creditable If the people are
simply letting efficient teachers pass
out from their schools in exchange
crude inexperience, because the lat
ter is cheap.
A few town school boards are given
to the indefensible habit of advertising
every year for applications for every
position in the school, when the board
does not intend to elect a single new
teacher. The king who marched MS
army up the hill, then marched 1t
down again, did no more childish thlng
than these boards do. This thing Is
not only indefensible, but 1t is hurt
full to the school, unjust to the teach
ers and dishonest to possible appli-
cants What meaning does such ad-
vertisement convey to every teacher
in that school, no matter how efficient
or faithful she may be? When the
teachers ask for it's meaning they are
told that 1t is only matter OF form
and that they need not be concerned.
Great big grown business men play
ing like children! Then what ABOUT
the innocent strangers who make bona
fde applications in answer to what
they suppose is a bona fide advertise
ment, only to be informed that 1t Is
mere form? What teacher with any
regard for ethics would apply for one
of these places, If he knew that no
vacancy existed and that the incum-
bent expected reelection? Is the board
playing a game in diplomacy? Does
Il intend to see II 1t can secure bet
ter teachers, but If not, to re-elect the
incumbent? Such game would be dis
honorable. If school board wishes
to change teachers for any legitimate
reason it has a perfect legal and NOR
al right to do so. But the change
should be made in a manly, straight
forward manner. Let the board frank
ly tell the teacher not to ask for re-
election. declare a vacancy, then ad-
vertise for applications-if that Is the
best way to secure teachers.
Teachers themselves must bear their
part Of the responsibility for so many
changes. There are some teachers
who ought not to expect any school
to keep them longer than one year.
The captious sometimes called spir-
ited), the eccentric, the frivolous, the
giddy and the ignorant ones may ex-
pect to float about like driftwood.
Then there are some teachers VINO
have an incurable mania for becoming
birds of passage. I once knew
teacher to resign her work to go else,
where on the ground that she had
been in her present position three
,,aors Then there is that class or