Evening star., 1935-02-15
Some Observations
On Teachers Ratings
To the Editor OF The Star:

Is IL not COnCelVaDle LElaC the very
perfection of our teacher rating de-
vices may prove q monster to crush
us, or at least to befuddle and cir
cumvent our best laid plans?
1t is true, perhaps, that the simple
alternative satisfactory" and "uhsat-
isfactory" does not grade. and that
the five grades IF, @, VIC, e and
ES" need not be, as charged, "vicious"
per Sc, admitting they are, as all grad
ing must be, discriminatory" The
| danger is, however, that in a multi
plicity Of factual items the machine
become a dictator instead Of a tool
There is nothing on earth SO final
| so inexorable, so devastating as a
mark. From It there is no appeal
The Supreme Court of the United
States cannot alter 1t. A Jury of IL
good men and true cannot recon-
mend mercy.
Now we have inventions to record
split seconds in time and note with
| unquestioned accuracy hundred-thous-
andths OF an inch in space, but I
have the hardihood to assert that no
human intelligence can evaluate the
| difference in teacher ability or stu
dent ability between 749 per cent and
rs per cent, and when on that differ
ence hinges the honor Of promotions,
plus the calling necessity for money,
| one is going to have a situation sub
Versive of the fundamental reason
for all schools and disastrous to the
vitality essential principles Of public
| education.
On a teachers rating sheet for 1880
we note 81 factual points or items on
which a principal must rate his
| teachers: l. Teaching Efficiency, sub
head; technique Of teaching, subdi-
vded further into definiteness of aim,
definiteness OF procedure. skill in
questioning, motivation of work Sc
| lection, organization and presenta-
ton of appropriate subject matter
success in developing initiative, re-
sourcefulness, independent thinking.
establishment of points of contact
between school work and other forms
Of study; incentives for study
whether pupils are taught to test their
| own results, work comparatively with
teacher and classmates, organize their
| own ideas, persist in getting desired
results, have proper posture in class
2. Management OF the Room. six SUBJ
| divisions; management OF recitation
under eight heads; teachers personal
characteristics carries no less than 20
items to be marked. among which
are personal appearance, inspiration,
creative force. civic spirit, tolerance,
| high potential value, and, most amaz-
ing Of all, cheerfulness.
It Is unfortunate for the good Of
the service that this most obedient
| and reyerently respectful class of
public servants, who would have no
hesitancy In making the attempt to
| carry out the order look pleasant,
please" if lined up against a wall to
be shot at sunrise and who could
| cheerfully swallow the whole phar-
| macopoeia If they thought it would
| help, are at the same time woefully
deficient in defense mechanism and
might we'll take lessons OF their own
| pupils in the diehl-may-care art of
worry resistance. Said one Of these
sophisticates on an objective test for
los, Don't stop to think about right
| or wrong. You may hit half Of them
right at guess and you get Just as
| much for wrong check as you would
to leave it off while you are trying
TO make out what it's all about" and
this obliging information is capably
| followed by most of our irrepressible
young modernS, who don't, as a rule,
! give tinker's contraption about the
results Of these tests or the teachers
who pore over them with such tragic
consequences.
"If only the rank and file Of this
inestimable service might develop the
| fine discrimination of the CHEEKY
cherub who soothed an over-anxious
parent with law, we don't ha' finger
nails today!" If only the teacher
could forget the heavy, heavy hangs
over" and look for recognition Of her
| service, not in marks and postures
and flngernans, but in the response
] she Is privileged to earn from the
impress of her mind and heart, the
steady, wholesome growth in charac-
ter, thought power, self-adjustment
to life and its conditions, the inSpira-
ton and stimulus that permeate the
school room and the system from the
highest and most important to the
lowest and least significant.
Why not. indeed, let the community
be the Judge and in all seriousness
hang out the sign that one humor-
| ously posted among want advertise
ments: wanted, some one to mind
the children" For in the words of
Joubert: Children land that means
all of us) are more in need of models
| than Of critics. Cooperation may
work vertically as well as horizontally
and from the top down no less than
| from the bottom up.
ANNA I. COOPER.