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Letter to Editor
May 23, 1879
The Holt County Sentinel
Oregon, Holt County, Missouri
What is this article about?
Letter from J.R.P. criticizes school directors for neglecting resources like blackboards and maps, akin to farmers skimping on tools, urging better support for teachers to foster children's potential. From New Point, Mo., May 15, 1879.
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OCR Quality
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Full Text
Hints For School Directors.
ED. SENTINEL:—I enclose an article copied from the American Journal of Education. What it states is a shameful truth. Will you please publish it?
J. R. P.
TOOLS TO WORK WITH.
Every thrifty, intelligent farmer in the west and south will see to it that teams, plows, harrows, and all other necessary implements are furnished the 'hired man,' that a profitable crop shall on the farm be secured. He works for this result, but he knows that this can only be accomplished by right beginnings; hence no care or expense will be spared to get the seed deposited in the well-prepared soil under the most favorable auspices. The workman is of course furnished with necessary tools.
This same intelligent farmer now has just been elected a school director in his district. He has children to send to school, who possess powers and capacities which only need to be developed to insure intellectual eminence. Yet this intelligent farmer—the school director, the father of children whose infant years are full of promise—proceeds, at the proper time, to make diligent search for a 'cheap teacher,' which having secured, he is too apt to consider his duty discharged and himself exonerated from further care.
The walls of the school house are barren and unsightly. The teacher, having no tools to work with, is unable to interest or instruct the pupils, and his time, as well as theirs, is nearly wasted. Is it not time to turn over a new leaf? To make our school houses beautiful outside, and attractive inside! Let them be supplied with blackboards, maps, globes, and other essentials. Let the directors and parents visit the schools often, and interest themselves in what is being done. Encourage teachers and pupils, and be assured that in no other way can time and money be expended more usefully.
New Point, Mo., May 15, 1879.
ED. SENTINEL:—I enclose an article copied from the American Journal of Education. What it states is a shameful truth. Will you please publish it?
J. R. P.
TOOLS TO WORK WITH.
Every thrifty, intelligent farmer in the west and south will see to it that teams, plows, harrows, and all other necessary implements are furnished the 'hired man,' that a profitable crop shall on the farm be secured. He works for this result, but he knows that this can only be accomplished by right beginnings; hence no care or expense will be spared to get the seed deposited in the well-prepared soil under the most favorable auspices. The workman is of course furnished with necessary tools.
This same intelligent farmer now has just been elected a school director in his district. He has children to send to school, who possess powers and capacities which only need to be developed to insure intellectual eminence. Yet this intelligent farmer—the school director, the father of children whose infant years are full of promise—proceeds, at the proper time, to make diligent search for a 'cheap teacher,' which having secured, he is too apt to consider his duty discharged and himself exonerated from further care.
The walls of the school house are barren and unsightly. The teacher, having no tools to work with, is unable to interest or instruct the pupils, and his time, as well as theirs, is nearly wasted. Is it not time to turn over a new leaf? To make our school houses beautiful outside, and attractive inside! Let them be supplied with blackboards, maps, globes, and other essentials. Let the directors and parents visit the schools often, and interest themselves in what is being done. Encourage teachers and pupils, and be assured that in no other way can time and money be expended more usefully.
New Point, Mo., May 15, 1879.
What sub-type of article is it?
Persuasive
Informative
Social Critique
What themes does it cover?
Education
What keywords are associated?
School Directors
Education Reform
Teacher Tools
Rural Education
School Resources
What entities or persons were involved?
J. R. P.
Ed. Sentinel
Letter to Editor Details
Author
J. R. P.
Recipient
Ed. Sentinel
Main Argument
school directors, like thrifty farmers providing tools for profitable crops, should furnish teachers with necessary implements such as blackboards, maps, and globes, visit schools regularly, and avoid hiring cheap teachers to properly develop children's intellectual potential.
Notable Details
Analogy To Farming And Hired Man
Barren School House Walls
Encourage Visits By Directors And Parents