The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1924-03-06

matter of course, if they did not
learn. The habit Of failure was for
merly fostered by Maryland schools.
Supervision is actively concerned
with this problem of average chill
dren. Last year, Notwithstanding
certain corrective efforts, nearly co.
600 children in the counties (slightly
more than one-third) were older than
they should be for the grades in
which they were enrolled because
they had not been promoted regu-
larly; 10000 of these were retarded
two years OF more. AS a result of
this, many children were leaving
school before reaching the upper
grades, where those subjects essen
tial to the development of good citi-
zenship are stressed. Since the ad-
vent of supervision greater numbers
of children are graduating from the
elementary school and are taking
high school courses.
Whenever standardized tests are
given, the supervisors and teachers
take into account the ages of pupils
in connection with their performance
on the tests. In many instances pu-
pills have been promoted to higher
grade, largely on the basis of what
they were able to accomplish in the
reading and arithmetic tests. The
progress of such pupils is carefully
followed by the supervisor who also
gives aid and direction to her teach
ers in handling these special cases.
These promotions, as we'll as the Sc
curing of better attendance and the
development Of better teaching are
gradually reducing the excessive
number of average pupils through
out the State.
Y.
Physical conditions IN the schools
are much improved by reason of the
supervisors insistence.
Schoolroom conditions are fire.
quently bad in respect to ventilation,
lighting, temperature, seating adjust
ments and cleanliness. The supervis-
or is constantly alert to the health of
the school child, and is insistent that
teachers give more careful considera-
ton TO this important phase of their
work
In spite of the public boards of
health, public health nurses, and the
teaching of hygiene, the supervisor
often walks into a close, stuffy
schoolroom, with the windows shut,
the stove red hot, and every body
Obvious to the conditions. Some
times on cloudy or rainy day she
finds a class reading with the cur
tains nearly all the way down, the
class stands six feet from the win
dow. Sometimes she finds little chill
dTan seated at desks so high that
their feet cannot rest on the floor; she
finds larger children seated at desks
so low or so near the seat that they
must sit in cramped position. Often
cleanliness is neglected, the children
are unkept and untidy, and the
schoolroom is forlorn and disorderly.
Finding these certain obstacles to
health in the material surroundings
Of the school, the supervisors duty is
obvious. Her teachers may be teach
ing hygiene, but she insists that they
make practical application of it.
Furthermore, the child in school
sooner or later comes to agree with
what is going on in the school, how
ever much he may disagree at first,
because the power of silence, con-
slant, persistent suggestion is irres-
istible. Besides keeping school
house and its surroundings clean for
the sake of health, they should be
kept clean because of the suggestion
to the child's mind and the influence
of that suggestion on the child's fu-
ture. Supervisors throughout the
State are, therefore, untiring in their
insistence upon good physical condi-
tons in the school, because they rea-
lie that surroundings affect the
health of individuals, and that sur
roundings affect the ideals of indi-
viduals.
vi.
Teachers, from poorly prepared
beginners to those of experience and
superior merit, are benefited by SUI
pervisOry assistance.
Most supervisors have to deal with
teachers who differ as widely in ma
tive ability, in training, and in atti-
tude toward their work as do the pu-
pills in a one-teacher school of seven
grades.
The inexperienced normal school
graduate needs teaching experience
under competent guidance. She
knows what are the fundamental
principals of teaching and he has had
considerable study of and some prac-
tice to develop habits of skillful
teaching. The supervisor keeps her