The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1912-12-31
THE CITY BELONGS TO THEM

4 ocaIa welcomes the school teachers
of the state, who are assembled in |
their annual convention here this
week.
Next to medicine, teaching is the
most honorable and useful Of the pro-
fessfons In no other nation of the
world has it attained the full measure
Of honor and usefulness that it has
reached in America, and while Florida
lags somewhat behind few of her
sister states in the support she gives
to teachers and their work, on the 9TH
er hand she is sufficiently ahead of
others to occupy a prominent place on
the list
The Florida teachers are here to
have a good time. but the meeting Of
the association is not entirely a festal
occasion to them. They gather also
to give and receive instruction, by
comparing experiences and listening to
the advice of their sages. Teaching is
a progressive profession-the teacher
must study constantly to remain use
full, and it would be well for the pub
lie school patron to remember that not
a little of the money paid the instruct
or of his children must be paid in turn
to higher instructors in order to keep
the teaching he pays for near the mark
of the greatest usefulness.
Teachers, like the men ana women
of any other calling, naturally know
what is best for their business. It is
their right and their duty to advise
the body polite of the needs and faults
of the public school system and to sug-
gest improvements and remedies. The
Star hopes this meeting of the asso-
citation will suggest to the Legislature
any measure that seems good and ne
cessary to its members, and doubts NOT
that the law-making body will heed
the advice.
The public school system of Florida
is good, but it might be better The
great body of the teachers are INSULT
GENTLY paid. They receive only mod
crate salaries for the eight months or
less-genera1ly less-that they teach,
and the remainder of the year must fol-
low some other calling in order to
make both ends meet. Every public
school teacher should be well enough
paid to enable him or her to devote
vacation time to study and recreation,
in order that the work Of the next term
could be more efficiently attended to.
1t is no use to say the state can't af
ford it. Public money is wasted on
less necessary things, and economy in
the right place would furnish the
means for justice in this one.
Public school education should be
compulsory. Tt is the right of the
child to receive an education; every
one who grows up ignorant is clog
on the state or a menace to it. Pa
rents who are unwilling to send their
children to school should be compelled
to do so; those unable should be aided.
There is much in the school system
of this state that needs amendment
The small schools in the weaker COM
munities are not as well looked after
as those in the larger ones. This is
owing to lack of means, but here the
state should help and make the advan-
tages uniform. The state is paying inn
mense sums for higher education
which is accessible only to a few This
should be stopped; the state should
look after the foundation, and let
those who are able look after the SUI
perstructure.
The course of study. is burdened
with too many unnecessary branches.
Things are taught in our public schools
that should be taught only in private
schools, and by those who desire to
learn them. It begins to look like our
high schools exist only as thresh o1ds
to colleges, with the result that thou
sands of boys and girls drop out be-
fore the grade is reached. The hours
of study are too long for the weaker
children or the children of poor
parents. We do not refer to the
studies in the school room, but
those that keep the child bending
over its books until late at night at
home. The multiplicity of studies and
the cost Of books lays upon parents a
financial burden that many of them
are unable to meet, and many of the
studies are not only unnecessary, but
are almost or entirely forgotten in a
few months after leaving school.
Teachers, like the men and women of
other professions, cannot help looking
at the world from their own stand
point, and many of them unconsciously
feel that they are bringing up boys
and girls to be teachers, instead of to
I'LL every other calling under the sun.
Teachers deserve all honor and the
full help of the state in their all-im-
portant task. And like all the rest of
US, they also need a little admonition
from the outside, which the Star now
offers them with its good wishes, be-
ing at the same time perfectly we'll
aware that they will not pay any
great amount of attention to either.
CALL FOR CHAMBLISS