The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1911-08-03

The Books in Public Schools
Cost a Much As Tuition in
Some Private Schools

Put Confrxl of the ~~Iaa.sas fIaek
to the Coun.ie~--Put.llc >~rhoc.l>
Contracted
Editor Caucasian We fecl il slgge~
II 10 say tew things about gA1tc
schools. coatyas;ed. We got most &c
Anow II public schools. Ne hare
taught several q them Hence. be-
l.eTe we know ~hat such = school Is.
or should be We know shat i means
20 children. We have experienced
what perplexities the teachers have
10 battle With
Then. there vas not so much red
tape as now. Each teacher was ex
pected TO adopt his own rules 10 meet
conditions as be found them. thus
putting his own personality into his
work. He was not forced 10 teach
by proxy; was not forced TO adopt
the rules hundred down 10 him which
too often are not practical He VAS
employed by men who knew him and
the conditions-men who had the
best interest OF the school al heart.
Order and Progress" was the mot
TO Of every teacher who appreciated
his work more than the salary he got
II the teacher did not keep order"
and make the children behave and
learn"-as they called it-he would
have to seek work elsewhere The
result was, children learned more in
four months then than they do nov
in six or eight months:-we mean in
books. They didn't learn one-tenth
then, to what they learn now, things
that they ought not TO learn.
And the books didn't change so of
ten. 1t did not take so many pencils
and tablets. Parents could easily fur
nish the children with books, states.
etc, and have something left for
shoes, clothing and rations. Even
the poorest parents could get books
for their children. Books could be
handed down from child to child, and
poor children could get books given
to them.
But it is not so now. We will give
a few reasons. Public schools have
pool of partisan politics. They have
been taken from the people, and put
into political machine, whose head
is located-not in the school district
but in Raleigh. It's believed this
machine is more concerned about per-
petuating itself than it is about the
good of the schools, or welfare of the
children. This machine, as it is hand
ed down from Raleigh to the counties,
is not so much a servant OF the peo-
pie, as it seems to be the boss of the
people.
This machine practically employs
the teachers. 1t tells them how and
what they must teach. And it's rul-
1ngs change so often, that teachers
become simply students themselves
under the machine. The present-day
teacher teaches in a great measure
by proxy. Teaches not the school he
presides over, but the one in the i'm
agination Of some officials-men who
do not know anything about the local
conditions surrounding the schools.
Many are teaching now who never
/ went to an "old field school," They
are young and inexperienced. We feel
sorry for them. We feel more than
sorry for the children and parents.
Such teachers must first learn before
they can teach. And it will take them
several terms to learn. During this
time the children are the losers Most
of them, about the time thew Iaarp
to teach, get married, or go into
some other business, and quit trying
to teach. Then new teachers must
be employed to learn the business at
the expense of the. taxpayers and
! children.
The old-time country teacher. who
/ farmed in summer and taught in the
winter, has not been improved on
any. They have quit, and young men
and mostly young ladies, have taken
their places. One result is, children