Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-03-05

a&tcady and tactful education Of grow
folk in preparation for the now copd
tions We hope to bring about. 1t would be
Z calamity should the great public beno.
| faction offered by ono private citiSen fall
short OF the good he hopes to accomplish
| The Service Citizens realize that our COM
munitics need helpful course Of prepare
ton il the schools are to profit by thu
expenditure Of private benehcence o.
| public taxes, and every citizen who knoys
the needs Of public education in Della
ware should help in such preparation. SC
should voluntary organizations, such a.
the women's clubs, which include many
| Of the most intelligent and wide-awake
women in Delaware. We cannot assure
good schools merely by building SUBJ
stantial, tasteful and sanitary schoolhous,
es, necessary as they are. Lie Is marc
and practical matter for most persons IN
Delaware, and it is easy to equip COM
munity with school buildings and prcmis-
e. which it il not ready to use, and UNI
likely to maintain in permanently good
condition by taxation.
If the housing of our schools is import
ant, far more important is the teaching
We need to create such conditions that
teaching shall become a career, pro-
fession, not a mere vocation. Change OF
personnel is inevitable and in measure
good for the schools, but we need also the
element of stability. Above all we need a
change in the attitude Of many communl-
ties toward teachers When taught at =
little ungraded public school at Macdon-
ough, New Castle county, In the middle
seventies of the last Century, the school
house was a crude and comfortless place,
as il now s.-for it survives after more than
40 years Nevertheless, recall my service
there with the utmost pleasure and count
among my friends some who were then
my pupils. Ny memories are thus pleas
ant because kind families in the little
hamlet, doubtless at some inconvenience,
let me live with them, in comfort, amid
pleasant and refined surroundings, and
helped to make for the crude young teach
er an agreeable social circle. i hope the
present teacher at Macdonough Is halt as
happily situated, but | hear that IN some
of our Delaware communities, even IN
considerable towns, teachers are lonely
and sometimes i'll lodged. hear of women
in the public schools of Delaware who
never see the inside of any local home,
who are forgotten and neglected, as IL
they were mere aliens. Now the teacher
should he part of the local community;
should share in its social life, should know
the parents whose children attend the
schools Teachers have that status In
some of our communities, and the helpful
and kindly women of every community
should join 10 see that the teachers are
brought into proper relations with their
local surroundings. Delaware is not alone
IN this reproach; only few years since
wise and cultured Boston discovered that
it had a great population OF neglected
teachers and students, most of them
young women who were without social
relations, living as strangers TO the COM
of which they formed part. Sym
pathetic and intelligent women then set
about remedying this wrong, and thous-
ands of teachers and students have al
ready been cheered by their efforts.
Our Delaware villages can do much to
improve the social outlook of the teach
,rs, and unless it is improved, not even
better salaries, can avail to attract and
keep the kind of teachers We need. We
ire educating teachers for our public
schools at the Women's College, but the
better educated our teachers, the less Will
hey be inclined to bear the physical and
,ocial conditions of some communities, for
eachers thus well equipped for their pro-
essional work can find more attractive
conditions elsewhere.
EN-. Vallandigham.
Newark, March 3, 1920.