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Show I, NATIONAL TEACHERS' CONVENTION H r LHtF r The thirty thousand teachers who 1 Y attended the forty-sixth annual con- ' ventlon of the National Educational If j association at Cleveland, O., last week 1 1 had a chance to hear threo notable Iff , educational leaders discuss some of I if the problems that ate confronting I'!. teachers everywhere. On such cecals ceca-ls j slons much wordy and useless twaddle Ij I is ofieti talked in the name of peda- j'l i;ogy, but these three addresses were )'' full of life and up to date. President K EB Charles F. Thwlng of Western Reserve I S university stated how the educational I I progress of today Is shown by the I f study of agriculture in rural h'lgh I schools, by the putting of libraries I jE Into every public school, by the desire I Ik ' of girls to go to college becoming al-L'K' al-L'K' roost as general as the desire of boys Rlf to become engineers, by the Improve-Hit Improve-Hit meut In textbooks, and by the wise Iftj acceptance and regulation or athletics HK in schools and colleges. He paid the HS following high tribute to the profes-Bwlv profes-Bwlv slon of teaching: HIE "The central place occupied by the Hi teacher, apart. from all tools and in- H' struments, was never so recognized ,. and appreciated as this very day. The IMi work of the teacher Is becoming recog- Inkr " n,zei3 M a profession, and as a profes- HI'' -' HHHHH.H &i -m-m w. n-myf '" mtu v- slon of the utmost value to the community. com-munity. Its qualifications, a? well as Its beneficence, receive a higher valuation valua-tion with each passing year." Andrew S. Draper, commissioner of education for the state of New York, spoke upon "The Adaptation of the Public Schools to Industrial Ends." In his opinion the reason that only one-third of the school children of the country finish the grades Is because the schools do not give them enough industrial training. He proposed, In order to restore the equilibrium between be-tween Industrials and intellectuals which Is being lost by the present sys-tem"to sys-tem"to reduce the compulsory attendance attend-ance to seven years in cities and towns, and to take definite measures for a far more complete and a far more regular attendance; to simplify the courses in the elementary schools, by ceasing so much dress parade and experimentation ex-perimentation and by eliminating much matter that gives mere information informa-tion at the cost of- power, and to give them a more etllclent and Industrial trend through the simple forms of handwork, such as paper cutting and folding, molding In sand and clay, plain knife and needle-work, and .the like, which can be done at the regular school rooms from the very beginning of primary grades. At the end of the present sixth grade, It la proposed to have the system begin to separate Into three very distinct branches. The present high school system, which would be somewhat relieved on account ac-count of the new differentiation; second, sec-ond, business schools looking to work in offices, stores, etc., and third, factory fac-tory and trades schools looking to the tratnlng of workmen." The third noted speaker was Booker Washington, who ' showed how his race Is Increasing In the south and how as yet It has been scarcely touched by education. He said In part: "The negro race In America now numbers not far from 10,000,000. Within a few years the race will have Increased to ir,000,000. They are going go-ing to remain In this country for all time, and principally In the southern states. They can be made potent factors fac-tors In the intelligence of our country, or they can become a load of Ignorance, Ignor-ance, dragging down our civilization. Which shall It be? On the basis of school population, each child in the northern states had sent upon him last year for his education for teaching teach-ing purposes about $5. On the basis of school population, each negro child in the south had spent upon him for teaching purposes about 60 cents. At this rate It is impossible to educate the children of ten millions of people sufficiently to make them useful and effective citizens." Here are Ideas, propounded by these three men, which every teacher In Cache valley will do well to ponder, long and seriously. Let each ask himself him-self or herself If his school shows the signs of progress spoken of by Dr. Thwing. If the industrial element plays the part it should in the education educa-tion he Is giving, and also whether he has broad enough educational sympathy sympa-thy to help In settling the negro problem. |