EDITOR'S TABLE. 



847 



ment what is the law in that State re- 

 specting the appointment of teachers, 

 but from what our contemporary, the 

 '' Illinois School Journal," says, some 

 teachers, and other school officials as 

 well, have only too strong a hold on 

 the positions they fill. " One of these," 

 — we quote from the "Journal" — said 

 the other day : " Why should I read 

 books orbothermy head to study about 

 teaching? What will it profit me? My 

 place is secure. I have as many friends 

 as my principal or superintendent has. 

 Let him try to remove me if he dare." 

 " There is much of this spirit," con- 

 tinues the " Journal," " in the schools, 

 especially in the large cities. It is not 

 among the teachers alone. It is among 

 principals and superintendents as well. 

 These people long since ceased to study 

 and grow." So, here is the dilemma : 

 If the teacher has no security of tenure, 

 he has no encouragement to throw him- 

 self heartily and earnestly into his work. 

 If, on the other hand, he has, either 

 through legal enactments or through 

 his political associations, a firm hold 

 upon his place, he is in danger of laps- 

 ing into the condition of mind and gen- 

 eral disposition above described. It 

 may be said that security of tenure, 

 in the sense understood by the teach- 

 ers, would not mean exemption from 

 proper official supervision and author- 

 ity, or an absolute right to employment 

 in spite of proved disqualification ; but, 

 admitting this, it is still clear that, un- 

 der such a system, the difficulty in the 

 way of getting rid of indifi'erent or even 

 of seriously deficient teachers would be 

 very great. The "Illinois School Jour- 

 nal" says distinctly, and, as wo think, 

 truly, that we shall only be able to im- 

 prove the schools when we have learned 

 how to improve the teachers. What 

 kind of material is offered, under the 

 present system, for the teaching body 

 we learn from a further article in the 

 same periodical by a gentleman who 

 states that he has been for years a mem- 

 ber of tbe State Board of Examiners. 



" Experience," says this authority, 

 " shows that many candidates fail on 

 common English branches, particularly 

 arithmetic and reading. . . . The papers 

 show such deficiency in form as to in- 

 dicate that teachers are extremely care- 

 less in this respect. The arrangement 

 of work, the carelessness in regard to 

 paragraphing, and even the use of capi- 

 tal letters, shows gross neglect of the 

 proper usages of written language. 

 Some show that they learned their 

 spelling late in life, and that, when 

 hurried, they revert to some juvenile 

 form. . . . The worst and least excus- 

 able mistakes were in the definition of 

 common words. Defining a noun by a 

 verb, a verb by an adjective, an adjec- 

 tive by an adverb, was altogether too 

 common. The derivation of words was 

 hopelessly, painfully ridiculous." The 

 examination papers in connection with 

 which all this occurred are appended 

 to the article from which we quote ; 

 and their extreme simplicity makes the 

 statements of the article only the more 

 surprising. The history, geography, 

 arithmetic, and etymology are well 

 within the compass of any fairly-taught 

 lad of twelve or thirteen. Samples of 

 the answers given are also furnished ; 

 and all we can say is that they well 

 deserve a place beside Mark Twain's 

 famous collection. One candidate who, 

 in the paper on pedagogics, was asked 

 to " define the terms subjective and ob- 

 jective as used in mental philosophy," 

 answered that " we treat a topic sub- 

 jectively when we take what we know 

 of a subject and explain, without hav- 

 ing any special object in view." Evi- 

 dently, all that this individual knew of 

 his "topic" would not have afforded a 

 basis for much explanation, with or 

 without an object in view. A very 

 noticeable feature is the thorough dis- 

 honesty of many of the answers. Being 

 asked to give the etymology of the 

 word " urbane," one candidate said it 

 was from «r, outside, and lane^ city ; 

 another that it was from «r, a city, ■ 



