The Falls City Tribune FIVE CONSOLIDATIONS: FALLS CITY TRIBUNE, HUMBOLDT ENTERPRISE, RULO RECORD, CROCKER'S EDUCATIONAL JOURNAL AND DAWSON OUTLOOK. Voi vn FALLS CITY, NEBRASKA, FRIDAY, JULY 8, 1910. Number 28 CRITICISMS BY THE LAITY Address Delivered at Boston By J. W. Crabtree Be fore National Educational Association. (Au address delivered at Boston before the general sessioli of the National Educational Association, on Wednesday evening, July 6). Society is divided into two classes teacliers annd tlie laity. These two clashes are intimately related to each other. All teachers formerly belong ing to the laity. Then passed suc cessfully the examinations, received certificates, got schools, and became teachers. The laity likewise receives recruits from the teaching ranks, re ceiving each year it is said nearly one-fifth of all engaged in the teach ing service. Teachers and laity have not only come largely from eaclt other but they have inter-married to such an extent that no telling how much dis satisfaction and adverse criticism among the laity comes directly and indirectly from teachers. It may he shown in this same way that the confidence of the laiiy in the pub lic schools is also largely traceable to the teacher’s influence. There are three classes or tlie laity who pass criticism upon the schools; (1) the smallest, least im portant, but nipst annoying, is the class known as the chronic fault find i ; (2) a much larger and more dangerous class is composed of those whose disapproval has back of It something personal and selfish; (3) the larger class of people whose crit icisms grow out of their loyalty to the public school interest in young people and a genuine desire to pro mote their welfare. The chronic faultfinder is one of every teacher's problems. At some period of his life every school teacher has dreamed of the tim. when all the faultfinders will he dead, or else transformed into anp< Is of kindness; of the time when all the bitter tongues have grown 1 tired and still, and the only sounds that come_to him are the pleasant tom s of commendation. But always in tBe gray of dawn he awakes to find 111at the kickers still live, and that the number has not decreased. There is no war on honest criti cism Criticism is the breeze that keeps the educational atmosphere clear True criticism is a correct ive agency that ought to be a friend. It is an impelling force that leads one to search for that which is best. The honest opinion of every thought ful man is entitled to respect and consideration. The person who lias made a careful study of facts and eon dHions is worthy of listeners at least, y he chronic faultfimb y however, has no place in this class. H ■ is an obstinate individ ual who is never suited. What ever is, is wrong. Whatever plan is adopted he attacks. If the discipline is ~treng, it is an outrage. If it is mild, he brands it a failure. In one brea'li the children are worked to death; in the next, they are not forced to study at all. He can see :liat other schools are all right, but tins particular school is a fraud and delusion, lie may assail the teacher as an ignoramus, and by and by hold up as a model the splendid work of this particular teacher. Two or three noisy faultfinders of ten succeed in giving the impression that there is a vast amount of talk and dissatisfaction with the condi tion or management of the schools, when likely as not these are the only ones ill the community who are in the least dissatisfied. A study ot tlie latmnnuer m me typical country schools and In the typical smaller city schools shows: tit That Uu number is limited, there being only nine who could properly b* called chornic kickers in the ten districts and thirty-seven in the ten towns. (2) That in every in stance these same people complained about other things besides schools, as a rule fighting most bitterly that in which the community was most deeply interested. (?>) That the criticisms were trivial as a rule, reflecting on the methods of teach ing, methods of controlling character and ability of teacher or superintend ent, and the methods of business em ploy d by the board of education. (4) That while the criticisms are ex ceedingly annoying to the teacher In charge of the particular school, they are of little efficiency to those who are gathering^ suggestions for im proving tin- efficiency of the schools. They seldom touch upon essential points or upon organic weakness. Those who criticise because of some personal grievance and for oth er selfish reasons are the cause of most of the more deep-seated difficul ties. These people are the more dangerous because they are often able to conceal the real motives from the community. They claim to have and are often supposed to have a genuine Interest in the growth and pros perity of the schools. They resort to a'.l kinds of extremes to get even with the superintendent, teacher or board member. It sometimes looks as if a man will fight harder to punish someone he hates Ilian to pro! 'Ct one lie loves, that he will devote more time, energy and ingen uity in an effort to retard the pro gress of the school because of some trifling grievance than an equally strong man deeply interested in the schools will put forth in defending the teachers and the school. A man actuated by the motive of revenge lias little difficulty in ferreting out real mistakes of those managing the schools and discovering organic weak ness of the school itself. Then pre senting these with earnestness and apparent sincerity he easily con vinces his neighbors that there is something radically wrong. IIis mo tives may not be discovered in time to prevent disastrous results. City superintendents search for the motive and often find hack of criti cisms something like the following: (1) Defeated for a place on the board; (2) daughter failed to secure a posi tion in the schools; (3) the super intendent or teacher belongs to the wrong church; (4) a relative or political friend not chosen as janitor; (5)competitor given the contract for coal or school supplies; (6) child received low grades; (7) boy punish ed for some school offence. However contemptible, these peo ple are likely to discover defects for tlie superintendent that lie would not know without their assistance. But the greatest, good comes not from the worst, but from the best people. To the school it comes froim-thosc most deeply interested in young people, in their education and efficiency. The following questions wore sent to over three hundred business men in various parts of the western states. The aim being to get the opinion of those having young men in their employ as to whether the schools do their part as at present or ganized, in preparing young people for the places they must occupy im mediately after leaving school. Question 1. In the case of a boy entering your employ, would you consider his school record of any value? Of the 210 replies, the tabula tion shows 207 yes, 3 no. Question 2. Would you give high school graduates the preference over boys who have not taken such a course? Some answers wt*re: “Kv erything else being equal, I certainly I wold.” “It depends on the kind of work done in the high school. Some high schools lead pupils to despise honest toil.’ “I seldom make inquiry as to scholarship, but it would be bet ter, I think if I should.” Again many •mention that the high school might give a better preparation. 190 prefer the high school graduate, whereas 14 are either uncertain or prefer those who are not graduates. Question 3. Is a college education desirable for a business man? The answers are: “Always desirable.” “Desirable but not essential.” “That depends on the man and the college.” Not essential to the business, but to outside life.” “Graduation from tech nical colleges means more than grad uation from general groups.” The tabulation: 150, yes; 20, no; 32, don’t know; 8, no answer. The result of the investigation shows that the great majority of business men are pleased with the' work of the common school, the high school and the college, but like the educator in that respect, .they think they see where improvements may be made. Tit-■ following question was sent to each, of the 110 representatives of the ’aity in order to get at specific weakness of the school. In your judgment, what is the greatest weakness in our public school system as at present to organ-j Izecl and conducted? In the main, the answers showed faith in t> achers and great coufi den ' ■ in the schools. Some of the typical answers were: "The schools! do noi fit hoys and girls to earn a living.” “The work of the school is' theoretical, visionary and impractical, j “It prepares too much for college and | not enough for making a living.” “Not sufficient emphasis is placed oil tlie common branches.” “Lack of atten tion to agriculture, domestic science and other l'orm§ of industrial work.” “Lowering moral standards by foot ball. base ball, i tc.” “Waste of time and effort.' “An 'Inexcusable weak ness is tlie gap between tlie grades and tlie high school. Why not let the high school follow the grades natural ly instead of hooking It into the col lege and leaving its feet dangle in tlie air as a' present." The following is selected as one of the best answers given (o (he (piedion and also as one which seems to l>o typical of the feeling that exists among the most popular members of the laity everywhere: ‘‘The school does not attach enough importance to what the pupil is to do immediately on leaving? his studies. AH boy has revolved his doctor’s degree, but unless be secures a position as a college professor, a kind of work for which lie has had no desire, I do not know what in the world will become of him. He is a scholar, but helpless as a lamb in going up against things as they are now in our community, and worst of all he seems to have lost pride he had when he entered the high school in doing things with his hands. We must either keep our children out of the high school a portion of the time and teach them to do things, how to earn money as well as how to spend it, how to live among people today as well as how folks have lived, and acted In the past, or else the schools should in some way meet this need, and wih.v not the schools do this double service for our child ren’” ‘ The laity is proud of our public school system and greatly pleased with the trend of its development. Because of the high esteem in which teachers are held and because of unlimited confidence in the judg ment. of educators in all matters per taining to the schools, the laity ex presses its criticism more in the form of desires than actual criticism Thei ■ views are for this reason de serving of the greatest respect and eons'deration. The school is the public way of expressing its interests in the edu cation and efficiency of its offspring. This gives to the school the very highest purpose of all agencies and institutions established by society, a purpose almost equal to that of the home itself. It must be clearly understood that the public school do• ctit ve precincts. ii is also recommended that the srcaii pneiuct committeemen make the necessary < alls and arrange the details for the holding of the pre i inct caucuses. .1 R. CAIN, Jr . Chairman. JOHN WILTSE, Sec. Hilgenfeld. Ludwick IlilgcTifeld was horn Nov ember 11, 1824 at Alt Mark. Prussia, where he grew to manhood. On .limit ary 20, I860 he united in tnarrriage with Caroline Meier, while still in the old country. To this union were born nine ehhildren. seven of whom survive: Theev are Mrs. Sophia Daesehner, and August, and William Hilgenfeld of McPherson. Kansas: Lewis Hilgenfeld of Henrietta, Tex as; Otto Hilgenfeld of Valley Fails. Kansas; Alexander and Ida Hilgen feld of Falls City. Mr. Hilgenfeld and his wife migrat ed to America in 1865, locating in Illinois, three years later they came J west settling on a farm near Pres | ton. Recently he moved to Falls City in retirement. For seven years he ! served in the German army. He was I preceded in death by his wife, who died f've years ago. Mr. Hilgenfeld ate a hearty sup per Wednesday evening, left the table and a lltttle later dropped over dea 1. from heart trouble. The funeral will be held from the Kvangelical church Sunday afternoon at one o’clock, conducted by Rev. J. it. Nanninga and Rev. M. Manshart of Leonards'ille, Kansas. Interment will be at Zion cemetery east of town. Base Ball Our hull team is winning again. Tin* crowd that saw the games on July 4th, have no reason to feel soro at the Falls Fitly boys. Tho games were interesting from start to finish. Tlie crowd in tho afternoon packed the grand stand, tho bleachers and ■nude a line along the fences. Falls City won the first game at the ratio of G to 1. McCabe, Poteet, Duran and Lowe did the spectacular stunts for Falls City Tl game was at no time in dau gor. In the afternoon before the largest crowd of the season, the Maryville bunch run up six scores in the first four innings. We surely felt blue. Marshall, the new pitcher, was sent to deliver for us and the crowd were pleased with the results. Wo won tho game 8 to 7, and the scoro if it hud been I to 0 would not mean more to the fans thanthe way it stands. No fans ever rooted harder for a home team than did those watching our boys making a grand effort, to pull out of tin' hole Into which tho first four innings placed them. To speak of any of tho boys in par ticulai during the playing of tho last five or six Innings would bo unfali. Kveryoue of them played to the limit of Ills ability. And wo have a bunch that cun play. N')W, if Falls City just had a band, we could get up some genuine enthu siasm. Let's have one. The double header was a picnic for us. Tho first one coining to us was 5 to 1 and the second was 8 to b. We arc* in second place now, and barring accidents to players we will stay there. Our boys are playing as a team and not so much us individ uals. Kvery man plays from start to finish. We have found our gait. Watch us. i Explanation. We find we owe the public, and es pecially the parties most eoncorn ed some explanation, relative to last week's article,' "A Had Mess of Hu manity." Tile Tribune Is endeavor ing to go slow and feel sure of its ground. This in itself may prepare the way for error especially in time. The young girl spoken of was not taken from Mr. Maust's hou;;e, hut from the Hanson home. Our inform ant unfortunately got Ids geography mixed. As to the character of the present, occupants of the big house, nothing should have said, as it seems M r. Muust compelled the previous tenants to leave because of object ions raised concerning their habits. Of this recent change our inform ant seems not to have been aware. The article as written does not ap ply. in part as to time and In part as to the place, therefore this correction. These are war times and war measures are made use of. Sol diers in the cause of the right will get wounded, as will Innocent per sons get hurt. It is, however, in the Interests of the general good. It is always a comfort to know, if one must suffer, that he suffers inno cently. St. Thomas Church. Seventh Sunday after Trinity. Holy communion at 7;30 a. w. Morning prayer and sermon at 10:45 a. m. Theim . "Idleness in the Lord's Vine yard.’ Evensong and eight minute add ess at 8:00 p. in. Subject "The Enduring Nature of Influence.” A cordial welcome is extended to all. L. N’EIDE, Rector. Burglars. The house of Joliu Walker was broken into Tuesday night bv two men. Mr. Walker was awakened by the noise and frightened the burglars away In the morning Arthur Sor genfrei and Joe Wrench were arrested on suspicion. A neighboring house had also been visited during the night but the inmates were awake and the men fled. Card of Thanks. We wish to thank our neighbors and friends for the many acts of kindness during tin sickness and deal ii of our beloved daughter and sistei. MR and MRS. J. A. HILL, U. J. HOUGH. CAROLYN HOUGH, ALMEDA HILL.