The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1918-04-06

teachers employed, we would have
more. We would have them paid
more, so more men could be employed.
Too large a proportion of teachers
are women, and this explains the
drift into pacifsm and mollycoddlism
that made our country the spitrag of
Mexico and Germany for so long. A
woman teacher is an absolute neces-
sity to a child. She is best for the
smaller boys and should accompany
the girls to graduation. But boys
over ten need men to guide and infu-
ence them-men who can sympathize
with and lead them in sport as we'll
as study. We do not think we have
too many women teachers, but we
think we should have a great many
more men.
We maintain, however, our posi-
ton, that teachers have no special
grievance and are not entitled to-
special sympathy. They are doing
about as well as other people-bet-
ter, for the state doesn't keep up nor
NAL schools to improve the profcien-
cy of young men and women in other
callings. If teachers think they are
not making enough money or they are
working too hard, they are like all
the rest of us-they can go at some
thing else.
Altho Mr. Crimson wrote a rather
lengthy article, he did not touch of
one of the our most important points
the number and cost of books. He
can have some more space if he wants
to try to reconcile the school patron
with an average family to paying
three or four hundred dollars for
school books.
T. We are going to close this by Civ
ing the following opinion from one
of our citizens who has had college
education and who. has also read deep
and wide and had lot of experience
with human nature We do not entire
ly endorse it but it expresses quite
faithfully what we have been, hearing
and reading about our public school
system for the last score of years
reading, by the way, from some of
the most noted newspaper and maya
zine writer's in the country. He says:
/
an education consists of an accumu-
: lation of facts, etc. Education is a
igrowth, and like plant, the mind re-
I quires only few simple elements to
make it strong. Teaching is a correla-
Tive word and implies learning; the
mind must take up and transmute
into the brain fiber the thoughts and
principles taught, and not merely car
} ry around like baggage conglomer-
ate mass of facts and fancies.' 1t
| seems strange that to develop phys
ical power all men advise, and exper-
fence teaches, that a simple but strong
: diet is best; while, when it comes to
the mind, the majority of teachers de-
: sire to feed the mind up on all the
| different things that can be found or,
: the face of the earth. A great many
teachers have not the minds to teach
the simple but strong studies, there
fore they introduce into the school
room some light and fancy study
| that, perhaps (not necessarily true)
they had some knowledge of and could
get by with. This has consequently
brought into the school room all the
varied things that are taught Caught
att in the. public schools. You can
educate man in one line and he is
broad; hence a learned doctor, lawyer
: minister, statesman, engineer, scien,
/ fist can all meet on the high plain
of clear thinking, good reasoning and
: must l say it, common sense. Under
4 the present system. in the small time
a that the average pupil has, his time
f is scattered over more than he can dc
thoroughly, and like farm that is
t half titled, his mind is weedy anC
:, grassy. In a footrace we strip the
n contestants, but in the race of life we
let our schools load our boys ano
girls up with stuff they will never
c need. / am in favor of liberal educa
0 ton, but that should come after the
0 public schools. If the public schools
S will teach boy to read, mean reaC
n Understandings, he will get the lib
Y eral education on his own hook il
5 after years. A real taste for gooC
e reading, thoughtful reading, will bt
: of more real worth to a boy than the
whole of the other stuff they give hin
j now"