The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1914-04-23

can be traced.
A man may be profound scholar;
he may be educated from the ground
up, and from the apex of marble
dome down; he may be rightly emit
tied to wear ali Euraphes train of
letters and degrees behind his name:
he may be veritable tower of scho-
lastic wisdom, and yet not be a ca
rable teacher. When the American
public wakes up to this fact, and
realizes that it is entrusting the flu,
ture welfare, not only of the indi-
vidual, but of the nation. in a large
part to someone, anyone, who can
pass a two penny mental examina-
ton which it's final analysis amounts
only to test of memory; then will
the frills and fads, the faults and
foibles of the present day school be-
gin to disappear.
Many Bright Minds
But to get back to my subject.
While the requirements for teachers
are very lax, it must be admitted
that the rural schools produce mar
velous results. Look back through
the pages of history and you find
that large majority of the conspic-
uoue figures named in the annals of
the nation, came from the soil, were
educational in the rural schools.
Take from the lists of the promi-
nent men of today twenty names at
random and you will find that ma
jority came from the soil, and Sc
cured their primary education in the
rural schools. The explanation is
not far to seek. | believe it lies in
the practice of individual instruction
which still survives in our our rural
schools. though it has been merci-
lessless flouted as unpracticable and
therefor rigidly suppressed in the
in the up-to-date urban schools. In
the rural school, where the pupils
range in number from 4 or 5 to so.
and in age from years to 20 years,
and where the circulum covers
everything from A, B. G, to algebra
and civics, classes are necessarily
small, seldom numbering more than
twelve, often only one or two.
Thus the apt pupil is not hampered
by the requirements of a large body
of other pupils not SO quick, and
thus, too, the pupil who has special
aptitude in one or two brar ches is
not under the necessity of holding
himself back in these in order to
keep with the rest of the class i'll
other branches. 1t is not infrequent
to find one pupil studying with the
18th grade arithmetic class, the 4th
grade history class, and perhaps the
9Th or 9th grade geography and
grammar classes. His special incli-
nations and aptitudes are studied
and encouraged; he takes an interest
in his work because he is allowed to
do his best, and not curbed in to the
pace of some other pupil. Nor is
this in any way detrimental to him.
He may not advance so rapidly in
one or two studies, but his average
of achievement is far greater than it
could possibly be under a strictly
graded system.
The Teachers Troubles
But while the school is, in a way
of speaking, rosy path to achieve
ment for the pupil, it is far from be-
ing that to the teacher. After hav-
ing passed his examinations, or hav
ing failed to pass them, and secured
permit to teach) his real troubles
begin. His first school will not, in
all probability, pay him more than
$35 or $40 per month for the school
year of eight months. Board and
lodgings will cost from So to SIS per
week, and often may not be secured
nearer than from one-half mile to
one mile and half from the school
house. II a teacher requires trans
portation TO and from school in bad
weather, this is usually charged for
extra. The teacher must build and
tend the fires in the school house, as
we'll as attend to all necessary
sweeping and cleaning during the
school term, or else hire it done from
his own salary.
The classes, as l stated before,
range from kindergarten to high
school subjects, and. especially dur
ing the winter months, many of the
pupils are frequently young men and
women of from seventeen to twenty
years of age, none too readily amen
able to discipline. These details are
not of so much importance in the
age of the male teacher, but they
loom up large before the young wo-
man or girl who is herself just out
of the classroom. To start out at
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