Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1912-11-20
State Teachers Elect.

| health laws and health officials"
| State Teachers Elect.
Public schools as an American in
! stitution were vigorously defended by
| P. p ClaXton, United States commits
! sioner Of education, in his speech be
| fore the members of the Wisconsin
| Teachers association at the Auditori-
um Milwaukee. Mr.. ClaXton was in
! tr0duced by Mrs. Mary D. Bradford.
1T has been charged that our pub
lie schools are failures, and l say to
you that they are not. Within forty
| years the public schools of this coun-
try have educated 90,000,000 persons.
/ They have made possible thu eldur-
| ance OF this republic
These same public schools have re-
| Guced the illiteracy of the nation from
| 70 per cent. to 6.5 per cent The iiiit-
| eracy OF the colored folk of the nation
| has been brought down from 50 per
cent to about 80 per cent. This is
wonderful testimonial of the schools
worth
An this has been done in the face
of an enormous influx of foreigners,
wEo had no preliminary education
whatever The illiteracy of these
same aliens has been reduced until at
! present it is only y per cent.
Il do not hesitate to say that in no
time in the history of the world has
any institution done so much good
as the public schools Of America du-
ring the last forty years.
Then we occasionally find the re-
vival of the old charge against the
high schools Time after time false
| percentages have been published in
/ this relation. The United States bu-
Teau OF education has found that p
| per cent of the children who attend
! the grade schools go on to high schol,
In San Francisco we are confronted
! with the narrowing fact that some
/ child has heard of Pericles and not
of Beveridge, and another case where
| Queen Elizabeth was cherished to the
| neglect OF Jane Adams.
7 say in reply to this, thai it is
| better for a child to know of Caesar
! than the men we read about in the
newspapers today.
| These criticisms against the public
schools are absurd, and if any of you
| teachers are Historically inclined, l
would say to you, calm yourselves
and go on with your good work. There
! is no need of fear when you can show
/ the splendid results that have been
! produced in the past
There is no education separate
/ from the individual There is no such
| a thing as an education. Education
! is a part of the individual Elemen-
! tary education cannot be done up in
! a package and handed to child. The
/ teacher should know, not only child
nature in general but the individual
| nature of her pupils. their ambitions,
| tendencies, and even their parent
( age
! Il firmly believe that the time will
| come when the time spent in school
| will be reduced to two hours a day.
| The teachers will spend the rest Of
! the time becoming familiar with the
real life of their pupils. They will
get in touch with their hopes, their
ambitions and their fears
The Importance of laying a good
foundation for ones character was
the main thought in a speech by Mrs
| n. K. Schoff. Philadelphia, given be-
| fore the Moral Education league of
the Wisconsin Teachers association.
FRIDAY afternoon in the arcade of the
/ Plankinton house.
! Other addresses urging the impor-
lance of moral education were made
by Jesse &. PAWS, principal of Central
| High school, Grand Rapids, Mich, and
| Charles McKenny, former president
of Milwaukee Norma school, now
president of Ypsilanti NorrSal college,
Ypsilanti. Mich.
! Upon motion following the reports
Of the committee on election. officers
AS follows were elected for the en-
suing year:
! President-John Callahan. Mena-
sha.
First vice president-Samuel Plantz.
| Appleton.
Second vice-president-H A. Seho
! field. Superior
Third ce-president-Mis Helen
( Martin. Elllhorn,
Treasurer-G. F. Loomis, Wauke
/ sha.
! New Lawmakers Young.
The next wisconsin legislature will
! be notable for the number of beard