Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1908-10-22

an unDroKcn 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 1T displaces. 1t requires read
lustment to install anything new. and
the time and friction are a loss. unless
the change is decidedly for better.
Generally speaking. our best schools
are those which have the fewcst
| changes III the teaching force. 1t 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. mean an
| appreciation of the tastes and their
| ideals and their ambitions, and n
knowledge OF their peculiarities. if
YOU please. Until he understands
these he Is not i'll Il position to serve
them and TO lead them. and n teacher
who can not lead is of but little force.
Not until after Il teacher has taught
| from four To Sin years in a commun-
itI is he prepared TO give it his best
services. Vet how few teachers re-
main in one school three years.
Some places change teachers every
year simply because they haze Sculir-
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 is
far inferior 20 some other school. and
rush To the conclusion that they need
n change of teachers. when the truth
Is that they have already injured their
school by too many changes. Have
any of my readers evei' seen n 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 scssions-each time
bv new teacher? Is it probable
that this would have been done bv
any one reasonable teacher teaching
! the school the three seSsions2
This evil of change rcicns in the
town and country schools alike. I have
IN mind one town in this State which
had six principals in eight wears
Change was the only remedy it knew.
and II believed in heroic doses. A
| great many rural schools rarely have
| the same teacher two years i'm sue
ccSSlon. Many of these ,hanges. in
| both town and country schools. are
due To the ncighhorhood iealousies
and quarrclS already discussed. Many
"A community has its chronic critics
of the schools. who are dvspeptic 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 paracons
Of perfection. If any teacher finds
one of these children anything bnt a
paragon, straightwav there is trouble.
| To listen to these disgruntled fathers
and mothers with their tales of woe
requires patience and grace Tn their
eyes there is but one remedv-changc
! teachers. Not two months ago I
heard man not fnr from sixty wears
| 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
n man is in small way an anarhc;st.
In some instances fault finding and
dissatisfaction are unwittinelv en-
| coura@ed by the board of trustees.
The board. either ignorant of its
function or disposed TO dodge an I'M
| pleasant duty. asks the patrons TO
elect the teacher. Such n course is
| an invitation TO division and tho dis
| appointment consequent to defeat.
and will inevitably bring about dis
cord. What Is the board appointed
for. if not TO manage the school bv
lcssoning the occasions for discord7
| ~ good many towns make IT rric
to employ only young inexperienced
| teachers, and at the end of each
wear drop those who have failed
I keeping the more successful ones un-
| ll they have become really service
able, then let them go because Tho
trustees and the people are unwill-
| 'ng to pay for good teaching AK par
value. Some places boast that thcir
schools arc the gatewy to the promo
''on of their teachers. This NAV be
\ credit 10 the school. and Il discrcdi'
TO the people. II is not creditablc.
II the people are simply letting eff
| clcnt teachers pass out from their
schools IN exchange for crude mex
perlencc. because the latter is cheap.
a Few town school boards are
! gwen to the indefcnsiblc habit of
advertising every wear for applicants
Tor position IN the school, when the
'oard does not intend to elect sinclo
rew teacher. The king who marched
his army up the hill, then marched
1t down again, did no more childish
thing than these boards do. Thc
nng IS not ONLY iniofcnsible. but il
hurtful 10 the school. unjust TO tho
"achcrs and dishonest TO possible ar
Fra"ts What w~1a;nr zoos su
advertisement convey to every teach
| or III that school, no matter how ef-
hciont she may be7 When the teach
rFs ask for its meaning, they are
told that it is only matter of form.
and that they need not be concerned
Great BIG grown business men plav-
ing like childrenl Then what abont
! the innocent strangers who make