Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-11-15
MAKES PLEAFOR
BETTER TRAINING
IN OUR SCHOOLS
Institute Teachers Hear DR..
Henderson Give Sound and
Patriotic Counsel

IF this nation is to take the high
place we hope for. every schoolboy
and girl must understand that all life
is not safety. but that the first prin-
ciple is service. To really have life
in the board sense of the term you
must in a measure give your life"
With these words DIR. w. d. Hen
derSon, of the University of Michigan,
closed his address this morning be-
fore crowded house of Dauphin
county schoolteachers and many
Harrisburg citizens who were drawn
by the exceptional impression this
veteran school expert has made upon
the public since the institute opened
last Monday. In other talks DIR.
Henderson has been so instructive,
eloquent and entertaining that he is
compared with the late Henry Houck.
and his discussion to-day on Dollars
and Sense in Education" was regard
ed as his masterpiece.
The institute gathered to-day for
its lectures in the auditorium of
Technical High school, where after
devotional exercises led by the Rev.
S. Winfield Herman. the Steelton
school orchestra led the big audience
with America" DR.. Henderson has
been teaching schools for thirty
years. starting himself in n little
country school and he paid his re-
spects to that institution with no
particular commentator. He was
prea ching the necessity of taking ac-
count of the school child's body as
well as his mind.
Must Work Together
I'VE must work together, teachers
and parents. to bring the boys and
girls out of school strong as when
they started. ] myself went to a small
country school. No. it was not red
nor a white schoolhouse. 1t was no
color so far as l remember, rather a
brindle When / revisited it lately, 1t
was a frowsy place; frowsy yard I;
porch sagging, woodpile scattered.
There were two pictures in the room,
a sign for a tobacco and one for a
new kind of automobile. The children
were frowsy, and so was the teacher.
She. the teacher, sat with her back
to the school, and 1 remember her
costume did not quite come together
in the back"
DR.. Henderson with passionate en-
phasis called for buildings that would
insure health, light, proper ventila-
ton, Then he took a turn at the quail
ity of teachers and did not mince
words.
Many schools are taught by per-
sons" he said. who ought to be
chloroformed or done away with,
som chow. The same judgment should
be used in picking a schoolteacher as
businessmen take in picking man
ager. Imagine Detroit appointing a
city superintendent for one year. 1t is
life work; no man can do service
with a single-year appointment.
DIR. Henderson blamed the parents
of the nation for their lack of inter-
est in the children and in schools
Parents should teach their children
obedience. This is the first requisite to
help out a teacher. Then the moth
er and father should keep close track
of boy or girl out of school, and not
blame the schoolteacher for his OIL
her faults. So many parents fail to do
their part that / would have the
teacher take more account of the
child's body. He should be told how
to breathe, to brush his teeth, how
to Alow his nose, how to take care OF
his ailmentary tract, thus saving a
lot of doctor bills. and how to enter
room without knocking over the
furniture"
The Michigan educator closed with
a few patriotic sentences in which he
stated that fifty members of his uni
versity's faculty are serving in the
war and 1900 students.
other speakers to-day were DR..
Mahoney, Prof. Koch, Mrs. Fetterolf,
DR.. MacFarlane and Miss Lillian
Johnson.