The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1912-07-18

to consider the question of organic
alton.
No school is in so great need CT
careful organization as is the one
teacher Rural School. The teacher In
the city school who has but one or
two grades to teach may get along
quite well with very little system,
as she has a large amount Of time.
but with eight grades and one room
1t requires that every moment Of
time and ounce OF strength be used
to the very best advantage II the
work required Is done in anything
like the manner which the in
terest of the child and the communi-
ty demand.
The new course of study sent out
by the state greatly aids the teacher
in this work, though II will require
care and thought TO adapt 1t IN
many cases to the peculiar conditions
found. But whatever you do. do not
say to yourself, at is not suited tn
my school, so l will go on in my own
way The great curse OF our schools
has been that everyone in the past
has followed pretty much his own
way, and as a result we have not
been getting anywhere.
IL any one teacher ever kept a
school for as long as eight years, 1t
might be all right for some of the
pupils, II the system followed by
others were disrcgarded, but is that
ever the case? On the contrary 1t is
the exception for a teacher to re-
main more than three years in the
same school. This condition demands,
then, that each teacher know Just
have done, so that his work may fit
upon what the child has already done
Under tho old plan of loose grad
ing and lack Of system it was often
the case that under one teacher the
End grade child knew nothing CT
writing and little of numbers, while
under another two years of fair
work in both Of these subjects had
been done. When these teachers
change places. or their pupils move
into other districts you see how
things are mixed. In Reading the
child of the unSystematic teacher is
Ord grade, while in writing, numbers
and language he is first As a result
he must stand still in one subject,
or slight others, either of which Is
likely to result in discouragement
and finally dropping out of school.
A still greater difficulty is going
over" the book too fast, with the
result that the next teacher finds
the pupil weak, and SO "starts at
the beginning" again. The child s
discouraged by this and loses inter-
est and finally STAYS at home TO
help Pa"
Now, at the beginning of your term
you may stop all of this evil, and If
YOU" means every one We will
soon have conditions changed.
There is but ono way to do this.
Stick TO the Program and Course o.
Study sent you by the state as If IL
were a question of life and death, for
that is Just what 1t is. life or death
mentally, perhaps physically and
spiritually. to your boys and girls.
The program provides that all classes
and all children shall have the time
and attention which they deserve al
lowed them. The course of study lays
out the work from primary TO the
end of the Common branches in
such divisions as to allow fairly thor
ough work to be done by taking a
division or grade each year and this
prevents taking the same thing
second time. For example, look at
the outline for reading in the fifth
grade. Five lessons are assigned for
each month. VIII you follow the out
line? You may say, as l know that
many do. That is not enough" Just
think of 1t. Five lessons for twenty
recitation periods Of 20 minutes each.
When taught my first school
could have covered" at the least
count twice that amount, and per-
haps four times. But how would
have done 1t? Just as you will, my
dear teacher. IL you do not follow
the program and slow up. II you do
the work thoroughly. you will come
nearer needing more time than more
material. The great sin of the aver
age teacher is going too fast. Let
Slow but sure be your motto. See
how much time it takes for you to
get ready TO read each lesson 10
your class SO that your presentation
will be a model and an inspiration TO
your pupils. You may not always need
to do this. but you must be able 70
do 1t. Then stay with the lesson un-
til each pupil can really READ 1T.
not merely call the words. In addi-
ton TO this give few of the less