The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1913-06-14
Promote. Promote.

One war cry of the year all along
the line is sure to be Promote"
A pupil left over next June will
have to be accounted for by the tea
cher in most of the cities of the
country and in every country school,
even in one of the leading states.
This will not apply so much to
the first and second grades, of course
as to the grades after the child is
once started in and adjusted to his
school course.
A sixth grader, for instance, who is
not passed on TO the seventh must
be strictly accounted for. Why was
he not promoted?
"Out sick for three weeks" That
is no excuse. There is no three
weeks work that child cannot be
set right on by a little attention, or
a good deal of attention. on the part
of the teacher. md she is employed
to do just that thing. You can teach
anybody to stand by and see ma
chine run so long as ii goes all right.
A trained machinist is employed be-
cause he is needed when things don't
go right
Can you run your automobile?' /
asked a man who owns a fine ma
chine. "Oh. | could; can If 1t
goes right, but l should have to carry
a chauffeur to fix it up when any
thing goes wrong, and so ] let him
run it," No man can run a machine
in the true sense till he can do any
thing that is needed when it doesn't
go right.
A teacher who can run a class by
side-tracking and putting back every
child who is out a few weeks, who
doesn't catch on to the work, who is
slow, who is careless, who blunders,
isn't worth the oatmeal that starts
off the day, not If her best scholars
are stars"
The question is. not how fast a
chauffeur can sprint his machine on
clear track, but how skilfully he
can avoid obstacles, can get through
crowd, can get safely round a
sharp corner. So the value of a
teacher lies, not in what she can do
with the boys and girls who are
ready to steam ahead, but what she
can do with those who are in the
way of the speed of the class, who
are slow, or disinterested.
A young friend of mine took
course of lessons as a chauffeur. He
had good training, had a love for
such things, studied faithfully, OBJ
served carefully. His course was
complete. He had done every stunt
required by the school, and applied
for a license. The examiner came
and rode in the machine with him.
They took a turn about the city in
its busy streets. ran out into the
country for a dozen miles, went
over a country cross road. came
but just before reaching the garage
a woman driving a horse lost her
head and didn't know what to do
next and the young fellow lost his
patience. No harm was done.
Nothing was said by the examiner,
but the license didn't come. The
fellow was so sure that he had
shown off admirably that he de-
manded a reason for the refusal. AL
though not called upon to explain,
the good-natured man called atten-
ton TO the closing incident. What.
you withhold a license because of
that fool woman"
NO. but because of the way you
acted because of her. You lost
your head also"
Teaching school is no longer
holiday excursion. II is no longer the
running of a machine when all goes
well. II is no longer to be tolerat-
ed, this losing patience because Of a
fool boy" who loses his head. Teach
ing school consists in knowing what
TO do when a boy loses his head and
Obstructs his own promotion. There
are teachers who know what 10 do
in such cases. and only such are in
demand. only such will be promoted.
only such will be long continued in the
work. Promote. promote, or be able
to say: Nobody could have gotten
that boy ready for promotion" and
the chances are that the superinten-
dent knows full well that Miss \
would have had that boy ready for
promotion.
Promotion does not require that a
nurf1 F~nur al "a. - - - -