The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1911-12-07

superintendents does not apply TO
the town boards. These boards are
patches on the educational garment.
OF . hue and color all their own.
They are usually independent Of any
restraint. And these boards. both
county and town. may select super
intendents who hare had some train
Ing for their responsible duties or
not. Just as they choose. What would
you say to eiecting an editor, lawyer.
preacher or teach superintendent of
health TO minister TO the physical
wants OF convicts, jail-birds and the
inmates OF the county homes? Or
what would be thought OF selecting a
teacher to act as Judge OF the supe-
rior Court or superintendent OF one
OF our cotton factories?
A Social Tragedy.
ut is a social tragedy that we Of
ten permit the selection of men to
supervise the work of teaching who
cannot possibly do the teaching they
supervise. poor as that teaching SO
often Is. They cannot even lead their
unframed teachers, however good
their intentions may be. This condi-
ton reminds me OF the Northampton
county applicant for a teachers GER
tificate who made a glorious failure
in spelling. But nothing daunted by
the failure the would-be pedagogue
said to the superintendent who was
conducting the examination: My
dear sir, you must remember that the
children will not know whether | can
spell or not, because, you see, | am
going to hold the book, not the chill
dren!'
And we have 200 different stan
dards for entrance upon teaching
100 county and 100 town superin-
tendents license teachers. But every
one of these men has different stan
dards and deals which guide him in
the licensing Of teachers. This is
simply another way of saying that we
really have no mental or profession
al standards for entrance upon teach
ing, which can be stated in plain
terms which all may understand. We
know that If one superintendent will
not license me I can easily find one
who will. At best, l am only a
teacher in spots. l may be teach
er saint in Murphy today, but &C
cursed in Manteo tomorrow. I may
be thought worthy of a monument
in Durham, but in Asheville I may
not be fit to teach at all. If l am SO
bereft of knowledge and pedagogy
that no superintendent will license
me, then can teach private school
And there Is no one to hinder or
make me afraid. Stop moment and
think. Teaching children may be a
private business in this State, under
no legal restrictions. But doctoring
pigs and cows and horses is not!
ct am not intending to say that
definite and uniform standards for
entrance upon teaching will solve all
our educational ills; but everybody
knows that our utter lack Of any tan
gible standards for entrance upon
teaching results in filling up our pro-
fession with unframed teachers, with
out skill, who come into competition
:, with those who are skilled, with the
, result that the skilled must teach fol
the wages of the unskilled majority
I use the term wages advisedly, be-
cause North Carolina teachers-most
Of them-are simply hired persons
who do not even have word to say
about what their salaries shall be-
this having been conveniently attend
ed to by the county boards Of edu-
cation and other school officials.
i And then we frequently require
impossible tasks Of the teachers we
;. do license. Only the other day the
daily papers carried the news item
that three teachers in one Of our
leading cities had more than ESQ
children to teach. 1t Is well known
that we have a ruling OF the State
!; Department Of Education that there
must be an enrolment OF IS chill
! dren before two teachers can be en-
! ployed, If State aid Is given for a
four months school. So 1t happens
that in more than half the counties
of this State one teacher must at
tempt to teach as many as IS chill
dren in seven grades, If it is demand
ed of her. And everybody who cares
/ to know will find many teachers
everywhere who have seven grades to
teach, and who must, in addition, Of
J, ten try to teach some high school
; subjects, imposed on them by the
local school officials.
i "And now again let me emphasize
the fact that we have no efficient
method OF making new teachers in
this good State and that those we
do make are often surrounded by
conditions which render real teach
ing sheer impossibility. Under no
circumstances ought any teacher be
required to teach more than 35 chill
) dren In three or four children in