The Mena weekly star., 1910-02-24
Mare Objections Answered

been off red since our last article
 .e oublished. We take them mn in the order received, as fol ,nw>. w "Your plans would make :, necessary for the district to own a dictionary and some other sstsrenees, would they not? Our a,rsctors are not in favor of going to this expense.
 Ii the plans bad no other merit .han that of ind ducing the teacher n desire the use of the dictionary ;u his school, then 1t is worth wbile to put them into use at once When competitive exami- ualions are taken up with a course of study as the basis of all the work then will the clamor come for an academic dictionary. in s,,me cases, tor the unabridged. These books are not in the schools because they are not sincerely de- maud ed by a persistent teacher.
 II can't use course of study in my school because my pupils are not far enough advanced to understand 1t.
 The course should be made for the teachers use and not for the primary pupils to try to handle. If the writer means that he has others than tue primary division he will not find more opportune time to begin the use than now; the probabilities are that without course the same conditions will obtain many years from this pe- 5iod. Why not give this school all the possible opportunities to he found? The very best we can find is poor enough tor our chil- dren. Give them everything of an encouraging nature.
 My attendance is too irregu- lar and fitful tor the use ot course of study. l can't use it."
 Since this objection comes from several teachers we answer all un- der this question. It is quite likely that eighty per cent of the schools show much irregularity in attendance, why? What is there to create an enthusiasm and love for the school outside of good teacher? What can be do under prevalent conditions with out some aid from without? Can he get this aid from the average patron? Evidently not; where can be get it2 From the course of study which demands thorough b and conscientious work from both teacher and pupil, which tests each months work, which shows the pupil just where he stands, which shows the teacher where he stands in comparison with other teachers of the neighborhood, which leads the pupil on and on until he gets into the high school, somewhere, etc.
 ''l told my pupils Of your plans and they all said they thought the old was the best. They said they did not want to write upon paper so that others would see
 This teacher still further said in substance, that it would make too much work for the teacher and since his school was opposed to it he did not think he could use it. To be sure, all schools will oppose it where the teacher is opposed as in this case. The school eyer shows the pulse and temperature of the teacher; if he IS progressive and aggressive his school will be so; if he is indiffer- ent and lethargIc his school catches these by contagion; if he IS ambitious to give his school the best of everything 1t will meet him halfway and show im- mediate results.
 My school is too poorly grad ca to put a course into use. What IS the trouble, we asked :" VI have too many classes, I have three third reader classes, two fourth reader classes and 1 don't know how many first and second reader classes; 1 have three class es ir geography, a half-dozen in arithmetic, four h history but none in grammar" etc and thus ne went on enumerating until we nad counted forty. seven classes. AS this was an oral conversation upon the streets of Mena we sat town upon the door sill of a bank ana tried to show him that it was ms fault in making an uugraded scnool of graded one; we sue ceeded in getting him to admit mat the child was in the grade where he belonged when he first catered the school, that he would never get out of line with a good eourse except by the errors of the teacher, that the teacher alone was to blame for the conditions wnicn he has named. While hs uid not commit himself iu any way ne closed by saying, "thers may be some he1n In q rorrea, ,,