The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1915-06-12

EDITOR EUREKA SENTINEL:
Your Deputy Superintendent of
Schools is again in Eureka, having
practically completed the tour of in
spection of the schools of Eureka and
Lander Counties. He has been de-
layed by storms and bad roads and
has found many of the schools not in
session.
Most of the rural schools have al
ready closed on account of shortage
of funds. However. if the matter
of protested payment of taxes is adj
justed before the next regular APP
portionments are made, the money
that has been withheld this school
year will be apportioned with the
July moneys over and above the
! regular July appointments.
Your deputy wishes to comment
upon the conditions confronting the
teacher in the average rural district,
and to offer some suggestionsf for the
betterment of school conditions
therein.
The rural teacher should have
more privacy than is usually allotted
to her. She should have quarters to
which she may retire for the purpose
of correcting papers, mapping out
the school work of succeeding days,
and for study and self-development
along educational lines. If the
teacher is compelled to do her home
work in the living room of her board
ing place, she must contend with too
many disturbing influences to secure
the most satisfactory results. The
rural child can make as much noise
as the city baby. The pipes and
tobacco on the farms are sometimes
as rank and offensive as in the town
homes. Discussions of family all
ments, diseases of stock, condition of
weather and crops, hard times,
events and occurrences of trivial i'm
portance-to all of these the average
rural teacher must pay a forced
~politeness. Such discussions obvious
ly divert her and interfere with the
progress of her work.
The rural teacher becomes a mem
Der of the family with which she is
boarding. She may not object to
washing and wiping dishes. She
may derive pleasure out of tending
to the baby. 1t may be a source of
happiness to her to braid Mary's
hair or sew a button on Johnny's
trousers. In toto, she may delight
in making herself generally useful.
School authorities may not object to
these activities as long as she does
not neglect her school duties. But
the teacher should have anook where
she may be undisturbed when her
school work demands it.
There are two remedies for the
betterment of these conditions.
First, a teachers room should be fur.
nished with a work table and be
properly heated, and be set apart
for privacy. This room should not
be a runway for all members of the
family. Second. a small house
should be set apart for the teacher.
This house should be comfortably
furnished. Teachers sometime:
change boarding places on account
of unsatisfactory meals, and such &
move often engenders trouble anG
hard feelings. If a teachers house
could be equipped with a kitchen
stove and a few cooking utensils
she might avoid the indigestion
which may result from too much
salt pork and soggy biscuits. While
the average farm wife is the besi
cook in the world. there are excep
tions. Indigestion produces inef
fciency and the pupils suffer from
the teachers digestive arrangement
Few rural schools retain a teacher
for more than a year or two. Con
slant change in teaching force low
ers the standard. The only way tt
hold teachers is to provide proper
quarters and to make their stay
pleasant and profitable.
These suggestions are made in &
general way. Not all the conditions
confront every teacher. Some teach
ers may not come in contact with any
of them. Some homes are so pro