The Kennewick courier. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1905-1914, 1912-02-09
MEET
IN THIS CITY
s,hool Directors Of County Listen
to Instructive Lectures at
AlLDay Session
Continued from Page One)

mo their duties. He believes IN
making the school life so pleasant
.h.t the children will want to come
to school and believes that it will i'll
onlv be short time until there Will
10 no further necessity for a COM
n,,lsory school law. He spoke
briefly of the rapid strides in ad-
vsncement which had made in edu-
cational fields in this state and said
that twenty years ago there was not
. biph school building in the state
like Kennewick's.
After the adjournment OF the
meeting at noon, the directors and
.ho;r wives were invited to take
dinner at the Kennewick Hotel
with Miss Jones.
During the afternoon session, Mr..
Dewey discussed the employment OF
the teacher, stating that he believed
that this was the chief and most
important Of the duties of the di-
rectors. He summed up the quail
6cations needed by a teacher as
health, education, sympathy, good
personal habits, adaptability and
personality. He urged directors to
retain teachers from year to year
whenever possible, pointing out that
there was period Of adjustment
whenever change was made. Pu-
pills devoted part of the time to
studying the peculiarities of the
teacher and the teacher was like
wise obliged to devote considerable
time to becoming familiarizod with
the capacity of each particular pu-
pill. This mutual waste of time is
saved by unemployment of the old
teacher. DR.. Dewey commented
very favorably upon the fact that
1900 of the 5000 Washington teach
ers attended a summer school last
year in order to make additional
preparation and more than 300 more
attended the National Educational
Association at San Francisco. He
urged especially that the directors
carefully investigate the qualifica-
tons and training of applicants and
stated that the rapid advancement
made by the schools of Washington
was due primarily to the fact that
the teachers Of today are better
than those Of decade or a genera
ton ago and expressed his apprecia-
ton OF the cooperation of the d.
rectors in securing this result.
MIR. Showalter in his discussion
OF improvement of Rural School
Work" voiced the popular senti-
ment OF the day which is distinctly
In favor Of redirected education.
Life would go on just the same if all
the artificialities of the city were
doneaway with butthecountry andits
products must be permanent, since
the basic elements of existence come
from the soil. Since the very foun-
cations OF civilization is entailed.
'here Is no greater science than agri-
culture and the intelligent training
OF young men and women to create
things with their hands. Mr.. Show
walter said, I'VE believe in the les
sons OF Nature in developing a child's
mind" He thinks that the system
OF conhning children to their desks
'or SIX hours day is fast passing
away and that the routine of the
Jay should be varied with work in
'ne fields and in manual training
anu domestic science departments.
.Ae liad little to say in favor of Lat
III and subjects of like nature and
says that the thing we need to teach
'ne children is practical knowledge.
among other statements relating to
' ', advantages of rural life, he said
'nat the city was too artificial for
!, Joys and girls and that the place
''F !nem was in the country.
MIR. showalter says that the great
eS' corrective agent for the disciplin-
lug II. OF lncorrigibJe children, 50 far
:, is hard work. He saws
'na' most children are not naturally
Sau' Out that their evildoing is SIM