1931 - Annual Convention

              S E V E N T E E N T H A N N U A L C O N V E N T I ON 37
T h i s last request, I feel w e as mother? and Institute women should be
ready to endorse, because methods of teaching and ideas and ideals of educa­t
i o n are changing so rapidly to meet changing conditions that our children
are g o i n g t6 be very much the losers if t h e i r teacher is not up- to- date in her
t r a i n i n g . No doubt conditions w i l l gradually right themselves in this sphere
as i n others, whatever action may be taken.
A new conception of education seems to be gradually 1 emerging in the
minds of teachers and parents alike, namely that education is not learning so
much of this' subject a n d so much of that, but should be a real preparation
for life and should furnish the c h i l d with what is necessary to enable him to
make the most out of life, and that in the final analysis success depends on
character. . No matter how intelligent or skilled a person may be, he w i l l not
be successful if he has not developed habits which w i l l make him a useful
and respected c i t i z e n in the community i n w h i c h he lives. Someone has said,
" The school is filling its r i g h t f u l place if it develops in its pupils an attitude
which makes them desire to choose the right way, w h i c h w i l l not harm them­selves
or others." If it promotes in them that co- operation and team- work
w h i c h is so v i t a l to ' modern l i v i n g . If it i n s t i l l s into them a responsibility to
themselves and others. If it holds up to them ' the ideals of justice, fair play
and sportsmanship, and if it furnishes to them the desire and the tools by
w h i c h they can tap that great storehouse of human knowledge which is to
be found in books.
N o w a word as to our year's w o r k in t h i s department of education and
better schools. I was much pleased with the reports w h i c h came to me from
the different Institutes this year. They showed that our members were
t h i n k i n g seriously and progressively cn this subject as well as doing every­t
h i n g possible to further its interests in their community.
F r om one convener a plea for more music in our schools. " We have too
much of the practical but not enough of the other side that helps us to lift
ourselves out and above such depressions as we are going through," she
states. Another feels the need of more technical t r a i n i n g in our schools, and
many Institutes rre protesting against too much homework, especially the
endless copying of notes which is making, in the words of one of the Con­veners,
" atrocious writers"— getting worse from Grade III. up. A round table
discussion on magazines and periodicals was reported, noting the trashy ones
and their injurious effect on children when brought into the home. What
pleased and encouraged me most, however, was the growing spirit of co­operation
between home and school. It breathed in almost every report.
One Institute reports, " we have tried, and in a large measure secured, co­operation
between home, school and Institute." Another reports entertaining
a teacher and discussing w i t h her such problems as homework, grouping of
Grades V i T . a n d V I I I . , the late pupil, etc. Another reports a paper being
read on co- operation between parents and teacher, deploring the effect on
the child of thoughtless c r i t i c i sm of the teacher by the parents in his hear­ing,
rnd suggesting that when your child comes home reporting trouble at
school that y c u go and talk to the teacher about it, instead of to everyone
else in the district. It very l i k e l y was a misunderstanding on the part of
your child and can quite easily be cleared up. Another naively remarks,
" Instead of always a s k i n g ' do you like the teacher?' w h y don't you some­times
ask, ' I wonder if the teacher likes us and is she happy w i t h u s ? ' " Still
another speaks of the responsibility of the community to secure a suitable
boarding place for the teacher. Another stresses the importance of t r a i n i ng
your c h i l d in manners and morals, as a preparation for schools, and advocates
that parents take a greater interest in their children's progress at school, and