The Common School--an Appeal To The Parents In The Country

1 !i' .re is uo inore wide-spread and commoB need, political, social, religsorfc, than the need of improvbuiem in the oiganization, management, work and resulta of our country schools. Physically, intellectually and morally, the standard is far too low, or i ather the general absence of any rea] standard is common and lamentable. Jt Lsnot sufflcient that the schools are better than they were thirty years ago, if this be true; but uiiiuieut cause for alarm and for action that they are generally worse ihan they were ten years ago, poor as they were then. li' these thingsareso, (and it is generally isserted), it is high time that the question should be asked and answered, why ue they so? And when the answer has been madeknown, intelligent and decisive action should follow. The cause is with the people, and l'rom the people the remedy must come, if it come at all. And we have laitb, - it may be "as a grain of mustard seed," in quantity, but we have faith that it willcome, by-and-by. We cannot, we must not, go on contentedly letting othei statea and Canada outslrip us, as they are doiug, in intelligent, successful efforts for the establishment of good country schools. A gentleman livine in the south part of the state, near the Indiana line, spoke of it is a coramon thing for the Indiana School Boards to employ, in their common schools, persons who had graduated with credit from a Michigan high school, while on this side of the line, children were employed, who had perhaps but little more than entered the graimnar deartment. The remedy is wifh the people. Elévate tbe standard of rcquirements. It may be said that the right kind of teachers ia sufflcient numbers cannot be found. Very likely true. Nevertheless. elévate the standard! Créate a healthy demand, - remembering that a real demand inaplies readiuess to pay a reasonable price for the article demanded, - créate a healthy, steady demand for the right kind of teachers, and, il' need be. in some iustances, shut'up your school house, and advertise jour need, till your dehverancecouie, and rest assured, oh, fathers and inothers, that soon a grand supply of real teachers will have prepared theuiselves to do our glorious work, a work tor which your children and your country will by-andby cali you and the teachers blea&ed! It will eest care and atteption, it will cost sume money. hutit will pay! It will require tor the best results, tl.e employ inent of persons whoge principal business it Bball be to see to it th;it wnly reaaonably well-qualitied applicants are licensed to teach, and to Et-e that sorne defióite, intelligent plan of work is carried out, and this will c st a little money, and it will payl But just so long as the principal aire, in the employment of teachers, is to seci.re those who will "kec] the Loure" lor the least pay, without much referfcnee 10 qualiliciitious and general litnesy, just so long as persons so employed can squecze through, and get " certific its." whicE assert a lie in legal form, just so long the precious time of our boys aud gils, the men and women of a ftw yejirs henee, will be going to waste! This uppeals to you, fatheis and rnothers of precious Ghildrer. lt is, ruoieover, writien by a father who niay some day wish to send Lis boys to a country school. But somebody will say, "Oh, well, he is a school man, ;tul ofcouise will write and talk in tliat v ny." Grantëd- but vhy are not mea and women who liave spenttheir lives in teaching, and in studying the develOpment ot mind, and relations of teachi ra, patenta and pupila, the iniliu-uce of teachers, and thu educational n eds of the public - why re not these tntitled to beheard when these interest aie at stake? And why should not their views be carefully consideitd; with tho piesuniption t luit they ate iu the n.ain iij;iit, unless already proven to be wrong? In a question of law, a professional lawyer is employtd, often at great expensa; in case of bociily sLckness, the best piofessional and practical pbysicisD is called ; to plan, and Imild youi houses, you engace the best aichitects and builders; but in quest ions relatiBg to the building up of the cbaracters and minds of yonr chil'lnn, a-s well as of their phsical forni8, in cases tliat involve thetn-atïneiit of ininds already diseased and warped ly bad manugement, in questiona tliat pertain to the very lava of raind, to the control and training and devplopement of all the woncurful powers and poásibilities of intf.llect iiid soul, where mistases and blundera w i 1 1 result in damage and waste-. - not of woud or brick, or horse-flesh. - but of mind- in these matters, eau it be tliat you will pass by. as of no valué, the ojiirnons of those who have made these thioga a Btudj ;- opiniona urged, not by one merely, bul ïeiterated, and emphasized by all who are giving time andcareful atteution to the studyl Gbb it lic that we are so inconsistent! Bul tliis is writteu dol by the professional teacher merely, ü' we are allowil in use the term "ptofeBSionulJ' bnt by a twt-pajlng voter, one who "pas taxes" on peí haps as much ;is the average voter in the good State of ificignn. Thia is meiitioned simjily l'or the weight that it may have with sorr.e, as shüwilig tbat tlie writer can and does look at thequestioD from the all-powerlull "uix-payu's'1 siaud-point. l-'un hermore, he hopes and cxpects to continue a "Ui.x-i'ayer" as long as he sh;tll live, bnt does not hope, expector desire to be a school-teacher all the rest of liis life. üStill furthermore, lie is Dot now pléading for "the higher education," but is pléading the cause of the chiidren, and the cause of our state and of our nation, iu urging the necessjty of immediate and intelligent efforts to place the best comraon school training within the reach of every boy and girl in Michigan. For this he is willing and anxious to be ''taxed'"