Newspapers / The State’s Voice (Dunn, … / Feb. 1, 1935, edition 1 / Page 1
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Issued Twice a Month VOLUME III. DUNN, ft; C., FEBRUARY 1, 1 Subscription Price $1.00 a Year NUMBER 2 THE FIFTH IN THE OF SCHOit ARTICLES. It is much easier to diagnose the ills of the schools than to prescribe remedies. The schools are bespecked with inferior intellects and the products of poor teaching. Those unfortunates, themselves without thorough understanding of the texts and the underlying principles, cannot lead their wards into a mastery of them. JBegin with the very numeral scheme itself, and there are hundreds of teachers who do not, I believe, un derstand the decimal system. Digits means fing ers; ask them what number in our system would have been written 1,000 if people had had eight fingers instead of ten; or twelve. Next take the English language. There was a teacher of Eng lish in a city high school only a few years ago who had no idea in the world as to what the Anglo-Saxon language is, and seemingly didn’t know how to find out till he saw me and asked, though the school itself must have possessed some kind of encyclopedia, or certainly an unabridged dictionary. Many a teacher could not account for the ilie’s in “the more the letter” to save her life. Anglo-Saxon furnishes the key. Yes, it is easy enough to see that there are enough poorly equipped teachers in the schools to spoil, in great measure, the product of the whole system. But the question is how to discover and get rid of them, and, next, when eliminated, where to find fit material to replace them. Time to Return to Examinations. The answer to the first is easier than that to the second. The present. scheme of certification gives no 'issu'rance at*all that' the teacher is .whose jrobool T woman • his utter ignorance and warned'-him to go to work; how he did that very thing;.how I insisted that he should raise'the standard of his school despite the insistence of the pupils and of the parents and his successful fight to that end—successful at least in a great measure. That man was worth saving to the schools. He had native intellect, but had utterly lacked competent early training, and as an athlete at college had merely managed? to get passing marks—whether by work or by grace, I shall not endeavor to say. Anyway, though he could not write a page of correct Eng lish, he was elevated to' the principalship of a school of considerable importance.. But he Jias redeemed himself. Many a one in his plight could not have done so, simply because of a lack of gray matter. And many a one does not have the good fortune to fall into the hands of a friend sufficiently capable and candid to show him his short-comings as well as to recognize and ac knowledge his native ability and good horse-sense. Nor would every one when his deficiences had been laid bare have had the grace and manhood to acknowledge them and to set about in earnest to overcome them. If all ignoramuses could be discovered and be thus forced to educate themselves, it would be well. But it was a mere chance that I discovered the deficiences in this case. Hundreds go undis covered, and a great part of them lack the brain and the character to redeem themselves. Let the Ignoramuses Be Weeded Out. It is evident, then, that the only way to weed out incompetents is by means of examinations. Yet it is not necessary to make such examinations a stupendous burden. The quality of an appli cant’s mind and the thoroughness of his under standing can be gauged in a very few minutes. If the principles of arithmetic and algebra, of Eng lish grammar, the outlines of American history, geography, and so forth, have not Btuck m his mind, and if he cannot write coherent and ooT' rectly worded English, you may swear that he has never thoroughly comprehended the principles; whether from lack of brain or of competent i*£ struction. Ask Hon. Walter Murphy (“Eete Murphy) to tell you how quickly he discovered the utter ignorance of a graduate of a Nort Carolina college, and- therefore privileged for, certification as a teacher * in North Caroling The young man desired to know hoisr $0 about to get into the TEJ. S. consular service. With the best intention in the world to help him, Mr. Murphy discovered in a natural conversation that the fellow didn’t know there is such a country as Argentina. The further revelations of ignorance were of such import that Mr. Murphy’s advice was first to learn geography and history. Yet that ignoramus could have entered the school room and if his personality was pleasing and the grades given his pupils high enough (as they al most assuredly would be), he could gradually rise to a principalship, and that despite the fact that we have apparently an excess of supervisors. Ex amples of such appalling ignorance and of an as tounding unconcern for the interests of the stu dents are not too difficult to find. .But a few state school inspectors can no more detect them than the score or two-score highway patrolmen can dis cover and arrest all the violators of road laws among nearly a half-million car drivers. I guarantee that, the majority of the incompe tent, from the scholarship point of view, can be eliminated by an examination comprising a very few fundamental questions, such as not to tax the tnemory of details but to explore the quality and caliber of the mentality and the comprehen sion of fundamental principles. Foolish to Grab at the Shadow and Lose the'Bone. It seems utterly foolish for the state to set up requirements in the way of an expensive educa tional rigamarole—one that necessitates higher salaries to repay the investment—and then not to assure itself that applicants for teachers’ posi *tiop8 haye the real thing |H^ItnQt the mere shadow necessity to assure that teachers of primary grades have knowledge' of more advanced subjects.- H.e is-in a.measure right in his assumption. It is not necessary for any teacher to be a bachelor of arts or a doctor of philosophy in order to do high grade work in even the high schools. But a lack of knowledge of fundamentals is prima-facie evi- _ dence of a lack of adequate mentality and of a lack of interest in knowledge itself and for the sake of itself. Therefore, the examination of all teachers should include tests of clearness of knowledge of underlying principles in the fundamental subjects, and that of none extend to memory of useless de tails. At Clinton and at* Lumberton, the -first grade teachers are not college women, but each has held her place for more years than either might like to have numbered. The Clinton teacher, who never attended a summer school if I mistake not, has been a boon to the Clinton children for forty years. Yet she should not.be afraid to at tempt the kind of examination I have in mind. If she doesn’t know that there is an Argentine Republic, if she cannot, spell and write a correct paragraph, I should say let even Miss Mamie go, or in Lumberton, let Miss torment go. But there would be no danger—both ladies have native abil ity both learned what they pretended to learn. Yet, in case of a college graduate, it would not hurt to discover if her comprehension attained to the principles of college subjects, since that would be a further test of her mental caliber and her interest in knowledge for its own sake. Only those who love knowledge can be counted upon to make others love it.* " Fitnessr Tested By Results. Misses Ashford and Norment have held their places in the Clinton and the Lumberton school against all comera-fiimply because they have long ftgo proved themselves as fruit bearers. The elim ination of /incompetents from the scholarship stand-point would still leave it necessary for the new teacher to prove herself with respect to char acter ani ^acting ability. For while no one can teach what he does not nnderstand, it is not everyona who has the ability to_ teach effectively wbat#;4^ understand ^hepgh such one is not themen$ce%e ignoramus is. Character AU-Impprtant Thie character ’ test, is is important as the ■ ' test. Yo» it m agbt always possipie " ■ ' of conventions \ and sordid sin. Yet a young woman or a young man who has not learned the wisdom of Paul’s in sistence that the disciple should avoid the very appearance of evil has too little common sense, too little regard for his or her own reputation and for the example set before children in their forma tive period, to be. allowed to hold a position as a teacher; Sometimes a woman is so virtuous her self that she is not aware what the following of her example in the disregard of conventions means to the more easily inflamed. Somebody should counsel such, and if she persists in riding at all hours and doing other things that provide the oc casions for ruin of the weaker sister, she is not needed in a school. The true teacher, like PauV will take no pleasure , in eating meat that offends the weaker brother or sister, or causes her to of fend. Of course’ the teacher is human, but she should *be a human of the finer sort. She has her rights, hut if she maintains her right at the risk ot becoming a menace to adolescent youth she is too thoughtless and selfish to'hold a teacher’s job. Moreover, the teacher who contends for the right to be out all hours of the night at parties and on gay excursions is placing her right above her duty to the children. Nor is it mere disre gard of conventions that too often results from the freedom assumed by the modern woman. Within two hours I can visit three Schools in w'hich teachers, to my own personal knowledge, have been guilty of downright immorality—and I have come by such knowledge without personal \ investigation. ' I say it is hard, practically impossible, to dif ferentiate between the sinful and the thoughtless. I^- that case, ‘ safety lies, in eliminating every r4eacher • who doeS.mot the appearance of evili” Drinking, in man or woman, ehouldhe^ att’ insurmountable - bar tq a Teacher's position. Pay According to Service Rendered. Supt. Jlolland,' of Jones county, suggests that - no permanent certification . be awarded the be ginner. Let the certification be for- only one 1 year, within which his or her ability, tactfulness, morals, and regard for'the conventions may be demonstrated. But who is to discover the short ages ? Principals, inspectors, county superinten- • dents now fail to find'them. When this final test has been completed and a teacher has proved himself or herself of sufficient caliber, teaching talent, industry, and of good moral repute, then you have one who is not 'a menace to the very youngsters she is engaged to lead into the ways' of knowledge and. righteous ness. Then pay her, and pay her well, for you may be sure she will be worth the money. The present system sometimes permits the best teacher in a school to draw the least pay. In a certain town a young woman who had, attended college in other states—two colleges—was found lacking, according to the calculations of North Carolina school officials, something like an hour of having the two years of college credits which allowed at the time a certain salary scale. Though - she'was conceded to be so good a teacher that she was made principal of the elementary school and held the position for years, she drew a smaller salary than the other teachers. She could have taught almost any of the high school subjects and well at that, and as a fifth-grade teacher she was as efficient as if she had been a Ph. D. Yet the salary scale took no cognizance oi real anowieugw and efficiency. And she was so little concerned * about the inequity in the salary that .she took no step at all to secure the hour credit which would have raised her salary but not have improved her ability to teach those fifth-grade pupils. The Low-Salary PeroSd Has Proved Teachers. x It is fallacious to say that the children in the Horth Carolina schools have suffered a five- or ten-million dollar loss each year during the low salary period. The size of-the salary has affected the quality-of the work of no real teacher in the schools. In fact, the low pay has been a real test of the character of thousands of teachers. I have asked several county superintendents if they hay® noted any deterioration in the work of their - •• c ; {Continued on Page Two) !
The State’s Voice (Dunn, N.C.)
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Feb. 1, 1935, edition 1
1
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