HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY GIFT OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1864, by GEO. & C. W. SHERWOOD, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Northern District of Illincis. PREFACE. CONSTANT labor of more than twenty-two years in the schoolroom has wrought some deep convictions in the mind of the Author. Many of these have been pleasant. But most of those pertaining to the Examination of Teachers have been painful,— painful from sympathy with the Candidates; while deeply anxious to discharge his whole duty toward those who are to be the pupils of the successful Candidates, in commissioning none to teach except those who prove themselves well qualified for the high and responsible trust they are to assume. The fact that nine-tenths of all the teachers he had examined failed in a greater or less degree, and that more than fifty per cent. failed sadly in some branches, led him, years ago, to conclude that he had misjudged their ability, or had placed the standard too high-exacting too much-as his Board of Education. once hinted, where he was acting as City Superintendent. The late reports of County Superintendents, as found in the State Superintendent's report, confirm him, however, in his decisions, as they show that forty-nine fiftieths of all examined fail to secure first grade certificates in the common branches. A larger per cent. it is true, obtain the second grade. But the great majority accept third grade certificates. Their willingness thus to do ought to be a sufficient cause for rejecting them entirely; justice to the children demands that this low grade should be banished from the land as an evil genius. Should it appear to any that this work extends through too many branches, and is too rigid, let such remember that each State, year by year, is demanding higher and still higher qualifications in all who are commissioned to labor in this noble profession. By the advice of many eminent educators, the Complete Examiner is sent forth to the world on its errand of benevolence. It seeks no literary fame, claims no scientific merit. It simply begs to aid those who need its assistance. Receive it kindly, trustingly; it will tell no tales. Should it be the means of aiding PUPILS in preparing themselves thoroughly to be examined for promotion to a higher department, or CANDIDATES in procuring certificates for teaching, and thereby diminish the number of failures and lessen the degree of mortification therefrom, and as a consequence place a higher order of talent in the school-room, as disbursing agents of the infinite fountain of knowledge, the Author will feel amply rewarded for all his care in preparing this little work and sending it forth as a love offering to both teachers and pupils. THE AUTHOR. KENOSIIA, March 10th, 1864. |