The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-01-28
4 plea for the school Examiners.

PIca for the scuOol EfdmncIs.
Editor of The Times-Dispatch:
s;ir-To those who know the worry
of the inspectors and examiners 81
the schools of Virginia. and have
tried 10 keep in touch with the educa-
tional progress in the State within thu
past four years. these gentlemen need
no plea.
To the teachers, the subguardians OF
the children of our Commonwealth. tina
idea OF the non-rctcntion OF the exam
liners seems utterly prcposterous,
Without them, the Department of Pub
lie instruction and tho schools over
the State would be seriously crippled.
They are levers upon which the sys-
tenn turns. They go through the coun-
ties. carrying out the plans laid down
by the Department of Education. Civ
ing personal supervision to the schools,
acting as guiding hands to the SUI
perintendents, inspiring teachers and
pupils 10 better work. getting the CO.
operation of patrons. Too much praise
cannot BIO given them. To abolish them
would be to strike sledge-hammef
blow to the schools.
| If there are any teachers who want
| them abolished, they must be of the
class too indolent to do the neces-
sary work now requisite to receive
| good certificate. or TO make the proper
| preparation for good school work.
Teachers of Virginia, try to keep up
! TO the high standard marked out for
!; u.s. We need not to know Just what
we teach. for then we'd soon fall to
the level of the pupil. We need to
| know five times as much as our daily
| schedule calls for. We teachers, who
| have been teaching these twenty years
| or more under all sorts OF regimes.
are. under the examiners, learning
| how to teach better than we dld IN
| tho years that are gone.
| With tho silver threads coming IN
lamonE the gold, we can't turn schools
girls, put on short dresses and &c TO
| one of the new nortnals, or even wei!
| to the old one to study the art OF
pedagogy. neither do we wish to he
! retired az injurious to the schools.
| We want to teach, we want to put
| forth every effort to do 1t well. We
4 need the examiners to show US our
errors. to Joint out a better method to
inspire, to encourage, to cheer US on
| our way.
The sclf-conAdent young teacher.
who has just won his or her diploma.
world with the knowledge to be diff
fused. needs, and will need, these In"
spectors more than they now realize.
| We all need careful supervision. We
future citizens of our Commonwealth.
1t is impossible to paint the future
that may await the boy or girl under
our charge. We teachers have no
Easy task in training the child. not
only for life, but for eternity. We
tremble at the consequences of a false
step. We need our trustees, our dr.
| vision superintendent, our examiners.
our State Superintendent.
The teachers of Giles and OF Cray
son may have lowered. In imitation
of their mountains, SO high that they
require not the services of these gen-
tlemen, but we Of East Virginia, not
having reached such phenomenal
/, heights, ask for their retention,
A Gentlemen of the General Assembly
of Virginia, If you care fig for the
educational uplft of your State. for
the bctterment of your schools. give
< your vote for the retention of the
examiners, who arc doing most difl-
! cult work at very small compensa-
ton. Remove them. and a rapid de-
clension will be evident In the schools
1 the efficiency of the State Superintend-
ent will necessarily be decreased five-
fold; the whole machinery of educa-
ton will be thrown into confusion.
} Think on these things.
4, A COUNTRY TEACHER.