Norwich bulletin., 1910-05-07
TEACHERS CONVENTION.
Eastern Connecticut Association Hears
Practical Papers and Addresses
Annual Business.

annual BUSINESS.
Between four and five hundred
teachers of eastern Connecticut came
to this city Friday and attended the
annual meeting of the Eastern Connec-
ticut Teachers association held in the
town hall.
The model schools on windham
street We're in session for an hour in
the morning for the benefit of the Wis
ltlnSf teachers and many members of
the association went to the school and
observed in the various classes.
At the forenoon session of the con-
vention the hall was filled, practically
all the seats. both on the floor and in
the gallery, being occupied. The con-
vehtion opened with music. the Wind
ham High school orchestra playing
two selections and the male quartette
of the school singing one selection and
responding to an encore.
G. I'll. Hobson of Norwich, president
of the association, was the presiding
speaker was Hon. Payson Smith of
Augusta Me-, state superintendent of
schools in Maine, whose subject was
The characteristics of a Good School.
Hon. Payson Smiths Address.
State Superintendent Smith said in
part:
.'The efficient school system must
serve the individual child. We have
been trying to educate in the mass.
Every child has his own individuality
Too much stress has been laid on sys-
tenn. We as people are spending
$40, 000, 900 for education, but last year
we found four times that for alcoholic
liquors. While this condition exists we
feel that the educational system has a
right to ask for more money. Wherever
there is a child to be educated the work
is not unimportant.
teaching in a small school an educa-
tfonal work. The Great Teacher knew
when he appointed his twelve apostles
the mass must be reached through the
Individual"
Needed Reforms in Arithmetic.
Miss Julia Richman, district school
superintendent in New York city,
spoke on Some Needed Reforms in the
Teaching of Arithmetic. Miss Richman
said:
What a child needs in life are the
four fundamentals-add multiple
cation, division and suhtraction-with
common fractions as they are used in
life. We laugh at the old fashioned
teacher who drilled all the time. To-
day we are grooming over the teacher
who develops and never drills I fear
we are looking too much to the process
rather than to the result. | think 1t IS
brutal to worry a child about process
when all he needs to get is the answer.
If you want a child to work in big
numbers, give them the big numbers
as numbers If you want a child to
numbers"
The convention adjourned shortly
after noon for lunch. About IT'S of the
teachers We're served by the Woman's
Relief corps in Grand Army hall. 9TH
ers going to is4tels and restaurants.
Annual Business Meeting
The annual business meeting of the
association was held at s1.30 O'Clock.
The following officers were elected:
President, John J. Maddox. Whitman
l. II rav.
DanieIson: secretary and treasurer, F..
]. Working, Taftville: executive com
mittee. ]. b. Stanton, Norwich, Miss
May DAWSON WiEimantic, Miss Ada
mittees are: On nominations, W. G.
Tarbox, Norwich, j. L. Harroun, VIII
limantic C. c. Spratt, Putnam; reso-
buttons, W. d. Tilson, Norwich. H. r.
Eaton, Danielson, Miss Miriam Skid
more, Willimantic.
The speaker of the afternoon was
DR.. William Herbert Perry Faunce of
Providence, president of Brown uni
versity.
President Faunce's Address.
President Faunce's subject was Eff
cheney in Teaching, and he spoke in
part as follows:
The normal schools of the country
have given us the 'shoW" of teaching;
the college has given us the what
The danger is that the normal body
may exaIt the formal side so as to be
content with superficial knowledge and
that the college in its devotion to lib
eral culture will disdain specific train
ing.
Here comes in the special function of
the summer sessions of our universe
ties; midsummer is the best time in
the whole year for serious study.
We must stand steadily against the
demand for swift results, since We
know that the essential in any edu-
cation is the lapse of time. The
schools must stand against the rest
lessness and impatience of our ma
tiona1 temperament, and insist that
wisdom is better than knowledge, and
that time is to the spirit of man what
space is to a tree-the essential of
enduring growth.