The Medina sentinel. [volume] (Medina, Ohio) 1888-1961, 1918-08-23
Training Our Own Teachers
BY D. w. Pearce, County Superin-
N tendent

tendent
All enlightened people now agree
that one must be trained In order to
do any task well. We have fingered
long in SO regarding the preparation
of our teachers, especially our rural
teachers.
In the present status Of things,
even when teachers are trained, the
proper proportion are not returned to
the rural schools. Indeed, our rural
schools have been and are the train
ing and practice schools where the
novice spends her period OF probation
before being admitted to village, town
and city schools. In mnay cases they
were never on farm. They know
nothing of rural life. They, in word,
are not rural minded. What will be
their influence on boys and girls? OF
course not all boys and girls should
remain on the farm, but most OF them
should, and the atmosphere Of the
rural school should be distinctly rural.
Bows and girls from the rural dis.
tricts should be trained for the rural
districts.
We have for years been facing the
difficulties mentioned above, but these
difficulties are doubly great and
doubly hard to solve just now. we
are in an abnormal state Of affairs,
namely, the great crisis. The adult
population, in many respects, are be-
ing benefited by this war. Great and
imnortant lessons are being learned.
Both men and women alike are having
opportunities thrust upon them. Not
so. however, with the children. In
many respects for them, quite the OPP
posite is true. They are now to be
taught by less efficient teachers than
heretofore. For many years twenty
per cent. of the teachers have been
new, and now still greater per cent.
must be. The villages and cities will
take the best from the rural COM
munities. I, myself, was the sixteenth
teacher to begin work in sixteen con,
secutive years in a little red school
house in Indiana. This could doubt
less be duplicated in Ohio. In the
name of crucifed childhood, ! ask is
this right? =,
Scarcely any person today doubts
that a real education is the greatest
thing that parent, community or
state can give child. Today educa-
ton is not an ornament or a conven-
tion, it is tool and necessity. We
learn not in order to get along with
out work, but rather that we may do
more. Service is the watchword OF
the hour. Children are young but
once and not for long. Every hour is
important. Let us then be "up and
doing" that we may in this day give
to the children what they have a
right to expect, square deal.
Patrons of Medina county, do you
not believe that your children deserve
and should have just as good advan-
tages and opportunities for securing
an education as any children in the
land? The prime requisite is the
best teacher that you can possibly Sc
cure. With some allowance, as is the
teacher, so is the school.
Nearly everything or anything pays
better today than the school, but teach
ers' salaries are increasing more
rapidly than ever before. When these
abnormal conditions pass, wages in
EOsher Ines will fall, INIT not 10 with.
teaching. If viewed In the long run,
teaching today looks more encourag-
ing than ever before. Therefore for
patriotic reasons at present and per-
sonal reasons finally, high school
graduates who can, and who feel that
they have an aptitude for teaching,
should plan to prepare for teaching
next year.
The great state Of Ohio has enabled
each county to train teachers in a
local normal school, a county normal
school. We have such a school at
| Medina. It will be the pleasure and
duty Of all having to do with it's
operation to do everything to make it
efficient and hold it strictly to it's pro-
per sphere Of activity. To the people
of Medina county, I may say we are
facing a shortage Of teachers now.
Only the opening Of school will reveal
just what the condition is. But we
do know now that in one year from
now, it will be much worse.
This is an appeal for high school
graduates to enroll this fall in the
county normal school at Medina so
that at the opening Of school year
from now we may have a good num-
ber Of properly trained young people
ready to step into our schools.