Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1908-12-23
The Trouble With the Schools.
(Anderson Mail.)

paper by Prof. William II. Hand have
interested me greatly, and | wish to
say just few words on the subject
Of "Who Is responsible for the inefii-
cheney Of the present system of pub
lie schools?" from the patrons point
Of view.
l am delighted to note that the
public mind has grasped the fact
that the school system is failing uni
versally to meet the requirements.
When we recognize this as fact
we can surely arouse ourselves suffi-
ciently to find remedy
Like Prof. Hand, / place the re-
sponsibility with three classes, but
my classification differs from his.
| The teachers, the trustees and the
| patrons Of the schools are undeniably
responsible for the failure of the
educational efforts of to-day.
In the first place teachers regard
! their duties and responsibilities with
| remarkable Indifference. They are
| content to do the least possible
amount Of work that the law per-
mits, losing sight entirely of the
blessed privilege Of arousing the soul
Of the young to seek noble things. In
nine cases out of ten they enter
school work as Il stepping stone to
some profession. Their ambitions,
their hearts, thci brains, and their
energies are conferred in that pro-
fessiOn and school work IS second
AIRY COnSideration-oXc on pay
day. The course Of study is narrow
and incomplete, because, We are told,
there is time for no more, yet the
| fact remains that days still contain
| twenty-four hours, and that teach
| crs work fewer of these hours than
any class of people receiving like
compensation. The old-fashioned es-
scntials, reading, writing and spell
| ing are omitted after the third and
fourth grades, while geography,
grammar, arithmetic and history are
alternated--a thing unheard of in
good old timcs--all for want of time.
The pupils of the schools are idle
half their timc-and this. ! believe
accounts for the abnormal growth of
crime among the young. In some
places, they tell us boastfully, that
children are required to study four
| hours out of school. How stupid a
child must be to need four hours to
prepare the three or four lessons a
day expected of him. If child is
the least bit difficult to control he is
expelled; but the parents pay the
tax and the teacher gets the pay.
We need to copy our Western
States in this particular, for ont West
a teacher who fails to control his
pupils and finds expulsion necessary
Is dismissed as unfit for the work,
and most properly so! If a child is
tardy by the fraction OF minute he
Is sent home for the day-but the
teacher gets the pay, though he is
not always punctual himself. Now
don't you realize that il the teacher
had to forfeit the pay for these alb
Sest pupils, he would find more eff
cient way to punish tardincss?
1t Is quite true that high schools in
many places are maintained at enor-
nous cost to the taxpayers, and that
pupils from these places go to col
leges in great numbers, even when
they must enter preparatory classes.
1t is uUe likewise that the parent
patiently pays the college expenses
and the high school taxes when he
prefers to keep his boy at home.
Why? Because if that boy was kept
in the local high school until his
head was white with age he would
not be prepared for the freshman
class of first-class college. Not
that the boy is stupid, but the high
school curriculum is entirely lacking
in the requirements of college
courses. This Is the reason parents
do not support the high schools, and
colleges have been forced to meet the
urgent necessity by establishing pre-
paratory classes.
Trustees are to blame because they
accept the Office without considering
the responsibility, without interest in
the work. and without being willing
to give time and thought to it. They
employ teachers without making any
special requirements OF them. Every
school should have local curricu-
lam, arranged to meet the needs of
the greatest number Of pupils and the