Jasper County Democrat, Volume 8, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 September 1905 — SOME FOOLISH QUESTIONS. [ARTICLE]

SOME FOOLISH QUESTIONS.

The questions for the teachers’ examinations over the state for the past year have been remarkably hard and many of them have seemed foolish and unnecessary. As a result ma ay old Jteachers have failed to pass the examinations entitling them to a twelve months license, which is now necessary. A teacher to answer these questions would have to be a regular walking encyclopedia, and just why it' is necessary to have them all at the tongue’s end is not apparent to the uninitiated. Among the questions in Literature at Saturday’s examination was this: “Name the author of Aurora Leigh?” Now Aurora is a new one to most people who read a great deal, and whether it is a yellow-backed novel of the Nick Carter series or a poem by George Ade is not known to many educators well up in literature. In fact, we have heard «of three county superintendents—including our own —two of whom are Indiana University graduates, who had never even heard of the fair Aurora. Perhaps Aurora was a boy, man, horse, dog, or even English castle, but in any event, is there a person of ordinary common sense who believes that a teacher who is unable to answer this question should be disqualified from teaching a district school? Here is an easier one in History, but one that few people can answer off-hand: “Who commanded the opposing forces at the following battles of the civil war: Shiloh, Antietam, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, Nashville?" Many other questions of like character are asked. The person who can answer them correctly offhand and without references—which, of course, is denied—must be a marvel of intelligence indeed.