The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1868-04-17
REPORT OF THE WINTER SCHOOLS
OF LYON COUNTY.

/ 9SAgitatiOn, says Wendell Phillips.
sis the mother of all good There is
much of truth in this statement when
applied to school interests. We must
agitate till the people are educated up to
the right standard. We must talk schools
and keep them before the people till the
desired point is attained. We are hap
Ply to say that much, real progress, has
been made during the past; winter. but
not all that might and ought to have
been accomplished The great want is
deep interest upon the part of the
community in the school itself. In
most of the districts money is voted Law
ishIy for the benefit of schools, and with
that ends all interest, This is very much
like man planting upon the prairie and
leaving all further care to chance he
rcaps no benefit. When win parents
awake to tic best interests of their chill
1ren 4 Sunday School Missionary,
in his work, once asked man how many
children he had, answered ''Look here.
wife, now how many are there There's
Sam and Jane and Bets and George
here, you count and I'll name" Nine
were finally numbered. ..But, how
many hogs have you ?" as "a herd of
grunters made their appearance. 'For-
ty-two," was the prompt reply. The
man was evidently more interested in
his hogs than in his children. We have
ii few here i'll Lyon county who manifest
a greater interestin their stock than in
their children They endeavor to i'm
that they arc we'll cared for, so as to
lose 10 time i'll growing, while the INTEL
lcctual growth of their children is a
matter of little thought. rvs RI, -9t
Many of the schools, as will be seen
by the subjoincd statements, have ac-
complished good work. In point OF
fact, a good number would compare IA
vorably with the best schools of Illinois,
Michigan or Massachusetts,. Those dis
tricts may write .;yalue received" Now
it is fair qestion why the greater part
of the schools may not attain that high
degree of efficiency? Much truly de-
ponds upon the teacher and school-room
appliances, but after all more than one
half the responsibility is with the par
cnts. The parents themselves, in neg
lecting to cooperate, arc the RESPONSE
BILE parties of fully one-half of the de-
ficiencies i'll the schools during the past
winter. Irregularity of attendance il
the greatest evil with which We are cal
| led to contend, and for this the parent,
are responsible. 1t should be undcr
stood by every parent that whenever Ii,
or she permits a child to be absent from
school, except in cases of absolute ne
cessity, he is infiicting positive evi
upon the child, as well as upon the chill
drcn of his neighbor. In Europe it il
made an oiiense on the part of parents
to suffer their children to stay ava,
from school, or, in other words, pa
rents are compelled to send TO school
And i'll our cities a very great pressur,
is brought to bear to secure rcgularit.
of attendance, and that, too, with gooC
results. For this reason our city school
have attained eminent success. Now
if teacher happens to fail in meetin;
the Wins of a school, why then it is O
small matter whether the pupils attent
or not. This is false notion. If you
teacher happens to be poor, you shoul,
make the most possible of what he is
1t should be the duty of every paren
to help along instead of pulling down
. A term of school time cannot lightly b
thrown away. If your teacher be no
quite what you desire or expected, til
) district should cooperate all the NOR
} for the benefit of the children.
WANT OF BOOKS.
In many districts there is sad want c
suitable books for the use of pupils. l
several schools there is great variety
This is all wrong; it makes work. It
not expected that there will be mn
formity throughout the State, but tbeI
should be uniformity in each distric
l The greatest difficulty is experienced
l inducing parents to procure ment
G arithmetic. This method has been SUI:
S gested: to take quantity of bool
: with them to the school, and furnishin
the pupils with necessary books and II
n parents pay them. srls
THE FIVE BEST SCHOLARS.
n These include those most, regular
d school those most faithful in study ii
t, most orderly, and those that have mao
IS the greatest progress.
s SO great a stimulus for good has th
proved among the pupils that son
II teachers have found it an extremely di
IS cult matter to determine the five be.
the final decision being hinged ups
n regularity of attendance. 1t is real
is worth great deal to be included in t
II roll of honor, and its influence has be-
Is most excellent upon the general depol
ment of scholars.
N CLOSING EXAMINATION.
ie 1t should be understood that ca
~ school;closes with an examination to
attended by all the parents. This e
animation should show what real pr
IN gress has been made during the ter
y Parents should visit the school duri
~ term time to note progress of the scho
u land to give encouragement to be
y teacher and pupils, but at the closing {
- ercises every friend of the school shou
NJ make it his religious duty to be prese
u The only special preparation for, So
Examination should be faithf1lness dl
to ling the term with each advance reel
~ ton and review. - =
On In making this report the Super
III Sendent regrets to saw that. though b;