The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1912-01-30
DON'T LIKE The
PRESENT SYSTEM

Bismarck Tribune: The editor of
The North Dakota Lumberman does
not k some of the things about the
educational system in the state and
speaks right put in meeting. He has
the following to say in his January
issue of The Lumberman:
Imitation has been characteristic of
the past decade and it has gradually
invaded every field and has gained
momentum every year. Imitation
means ~distension, increase beyond just
value, the state of being pulled up,
pretentiousness M conceit. In other
words it stands simply for democrat
~ization. In the sphere industrial and
commercial imitation will in due time
produce a crisis, or corrective period,
and the process Of reduction to safe
and Inc conditions will be both eff
fective and inexorable. In the edu-
%cational sphere, however, it is more
difficult to cure this distension and in
crease beyond just value. The field
has been discovered to be uncommonly
rich for exploitation by the charlatan,
the buffer Inc the ~notoriety hunter,
because people generally entertain a
strong regard for education and be-
cause they have been found willing to
part with their funds in it's behalf
without conditions and almost
thoughtlessly.
OF 55S applicants for examination
at West Point, ITO only passed and
those who failed were deficient in
subjects in which a good common
school should provide thorough in
formation. This speaks volumes
which ought to arrest the attention of
thinking people. 1t is possible that
~mediocrity has taken possession of
the teaching profession and that no.
toriety hunting is of greater import
ance than quiet devotion to work?
When teachers and professors now
meet, they no longer try to learn
from each other the best methods of
teaching, writing, reading, arithmetic,
history, geography and languages, nor
consider how to promote the interest
Of backward pupils, how to study
those who appear bright, to improve
text books, to devise improved meth
DDS of discipline. and so forth. Each
one now has a hobby entirely foreign
to these subjects, and Of course he
must ISddE a. paper vi ILilS uOpDys AL
a recent meeting of teachers at Fargo
some things were said which almost
pertained to the profession. but by
far the larger part of the ~utterances
were entirely irrelevant. There was
only one man who had the courage
to speak plainly to the point. This
was Mr.. Taylor. the state superintend-
ent of public instruction, who is en-
titled to the thanks of the public.
Our common schools instead of be-
ing made a subject of prime impor-
lance are being Disseminated against
in favor Of a so-called high school
which in the light of serious consid-
GRAFTON In some cases appears to be
almost a farce. Our public school
fund, instead of being used for the
common school only al the constitu-
ton directs, is being diverted through
numerous illegal channels. principally
for the purpose Of creating positions
for an increased army of incompetents
who like to teach but not to work.
We know that schools in large
cities have to meet problems arising
from conditions which do not exist
anywhere in North Dakota and we
might, therefore, also know that
time and money spent in initiating
the larger city schools in those par
ticular lines are a waste. The per
capita cost of teaching our children
has risen more than 100 per cent dur-
ing the past seven years Ia some Of
our towns. Al wouId~be distinguished
educator recently started a campaign
for making 1T illegal to teach more
than thirty-two pupils In one
II is not long ago that very excellent
results weee obtained by good teachers