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10/11/2009 3:34 AM

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It seems there was a year when examinations given for teachers' certificates came as a surprise to the teachers.

"The system of examinations for this fall was a general surprise to teachers, and many were poorly prepared for the new order of things, and grieved at the result as marked on their certificates."

These were not the new exams which have been under recent discussion. The above statement was made by Greene County Superintendent of Schools W. M. Nickerson, and he made it in 1981. It was found in a program of the Teachers' Institute of Greene County which was held in October of that year.

Professor Henry Houck, the state deputy superintendent, also was part of the program. "In a few words, he told the teachers how to make the Institute a success. First, be prompt. Second, take a part," he told the assembled teachers.

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I guess he told them that in case they didn't realize they were supposed to get there in time, whether their horses and buggies got stuck in the mud on the way, or not. It sounded familiar to me, the type of thing that school officials used to feel they had to point out to the lesser mortals. I taught at a school once when they installed a new milk machine. The teachers were called to a meeting, and were told, "Do not put coins in the bent coin slot."

None of us had thought of it, but after that the bent coin slot seemed like a great temptation. Trying it began to seem like a nice form of mild rebellion, but we always resisted its attraction. Or I think we did.

In other bits of advice, the teachers were told by the president of Waynesburg College that they must get eight hours of sleep every night, "in order to undertake rightly the work of the next day."

Professor Houck explained to the group that it is not a good idea to allow pupils to eat during recess. "Apples and light eating," he said, "but not regular dinner." The punishment for whispering should be "generally given by looks; sometimes by moving them to seats by themselves." And, according to the program, he concluded "by complimenting the teachers and the county. He had heard the county spoken of in a disparaging manner, but knows that it is not true." We've heard that one before, too.

Superintendent Nickeson warned the teachers that they would be tested again soon, and would have to pass in all nine school subjects with a score of 90 percent in order to keep their certificates. He also warned them about not making mistakes on their reports to the school directors, "and on the many mistakes which he had found in visiting schools."

He also "Told them not to give too long of lessons. They would better take one stanza and have it read properly than to read several pages poorly. The scholars should be taught to read plainly, but not read as elocutionists read."

The program also noted that the teachers were all delighted with the Institute's programs. And it listed the names of all the teachers, their schools, and their salaries, with the average annual income listed as $25.

For that, I probably wouldn't have let the students eat lunch at recess, either.

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