Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1914-03-21

4 S1lu III part JIidU the pTUbltIfiS ol thC
/ elementary schools might be classified
/ in brief as follows: First, curriculum;
/ second, discipline; third, the teacher
! Cor from the teachers standpoint, the
1 superintendent. The first problem
arises out of our inability to agree as
/ to what an elementary education is.
| The object of the early schools was
stated that learning may not be
buried in the graves of our fathers.
but later view is a training for a
! life work. An education consists not
merely in the acquisition of facts but
also the discipline of the mind. II
religious OF industrial education is
lacking in the church, home or else
| where everybody IS likely to turn to
the school for the filing of the need.
Changing conditions of daily life in
the home release in measure the
boy or girl from many of the duties
of the boy or girl of the past genera
ton and the placing of duties has
fallen upon the school, in measure.
Beside the acquisition of facts by the
pupil is the discipline or training of
the mind to keep at thing until its
completion. The problem of the cur
riculum is to provide opportunity for
the pupils to work and it must offer
opportunities to work for things that
are the most useful in life, or in other
words the school should furnish the
means TO live well as well as to be
producers. Just how much arithmetic,
grammar or history should be given
is matter of individual judgment,
but Prof. Mallert stated that he be-
lieved that the child should be given
as much If not a little more than they
were able to do.
Discipline is a serious problem in
every school system and for this
there is no problem like work. Boys
and girls should be taught to do
things not because they like to do
them but because they ought to be
done The drudgery of the school Will
be done by those who do the drudgery
in the home so that the teachers
problem is with those who do none at
home.
The third problem, the teacher. can
be solved by the teacher alone, and
the power of solution depends upon
herself alone The teacher who IS
likely to give the superintendent the
most trouble is the one whose persons
atty has not been developed; who is
timid and lacking in confidence. The
teacher should develop the power of
the initiative, for a superintendent
likes a teacher with progressive ideas.
Miss Ella G. Quinn
After the address of Prof. Mallert
the High school chorus sang But the
Lord is Mindful of His Own" very
nicely and this was followed by an
address by Miss Ella G. Quinn of the
Washington Normal school, on First
Aid" Her address was of much in
terest and her talk on the use or
bandages illustrated by actual use.
At o'clock the convention re-as-
sembled in general session and short
business session occurred in when
the following officers were elected for
the ensuing year: Pres, W. O. Her
sew of Oakland: Vice Pres, A. N.
Sanborn of ,Waterville: Sec. and
Treas, Miss Alice M. Richards of
Gardiner. These together with Geo. f..
Paine of Nassalboro and c. M. Per-
kins of Waterville comprise the ex-
ecutive committee. The committee on
resolutions reported and the resolu-
tons presented were unanimously
adopted. = ~
Hon. n. C. Morrison
The last speaker of the convention
was Hon. H C. Morrison, state SUI
perintendent of public instruction in
New Hampshire. His subject was
Il Liberty Under the Law in Educa-
ton" His address follows;
Liberty Under the Law in Education.
The public school system of every
American state is an instrument OF
government Wherever the constitu-
tional right of state to levy taxes
for the support of public schools has
been brought in question, the courts OF
last resort have with substantial
unanimity said education may lawfully
be maintained at public expense since
such maintenance is for the safety or
the commonwealth. The founders of
our government saw clearly that the
great democratic experiment to be
tried on this continent must rest its
only hope of success upon the intelll-
gence of the great mass OF citizens.
1t was said then, and the statement has
been again and again reaf1rmed, that
you may govern an Ignorant people
but only an educated people can gov
ern itself The public school system
of this nation, in law. in the spirit OF
our institutions, and in the convictions
of many generations of Americans, has
as its sole excuse for being, the eleva-
ton of the general level of intelligence
of each generation to point COM
mensurate with the needs of a society
which is constantly increasing in COM
plexity. The principle which / have
stated is more profoundly important
today than it was when the founda-
lions of our government we're laid.
1t has been said that at each presi-
Dental election something like 10 per
cent. of the total vote cast is the vote
of young men who have come to the
voting age since the last presidential
election. The students who are at
tending our high schools today VIII
certainly hold the balance of power in
this State and in every state at
period no more remote than the be-
ginning of the next decade; and the
balance of power in the subsequent
decade will be held by those who are
now children in the elementary schools.
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