The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1885-06-20
oUn SCHOOLS.

ed. Are these points Of any less vital
interest to the fathers and mothers
I Of Superior than the administration Of
other town affairs? They ought not
to be. The best application Of the
money raised for school purposes is
quite as important as the best appli-
cation Of money raised to build roads
and bridges. It is more important be-
cause your children cannot live over
again the years they waste in system
Of schools that is only half as effective
as it ought to be.
To the business men of our town who
direct their energy toward making Su-
perior q commercial and manufactur-
ing centre let me urge the point that
a good system Of schools is one Of the
best aids toward accomplishing that
object. Men with families, who are
precisely the workers you need to bald
up the industries Of city, viii hest
tate to settle in place where it can
be said of the schools, They are only
second class. They are not well grad
ed, there is no thoroughly established
and definite system Of promotion from
room to room. IF your children want
anything approaching high school
course you must be at the expense Of
sending them to some other place for
it."
1t viii take strong pecuniary ad-
yantages to persuade an intelligent
man who cares for the welfare Of his
sons ard daughters, to settle in Supe-
rior, when there are hundreds Of 9th
err towns Offering infinitely better ed
ucational advantages.
Everybody points to the wonderful
growth Of Minneapolis as a remarka-
bic illustration of the success Of West
ern enterprise. Fully fifteen years
ago It was said Of the Minneapolis
schools, "they are The best in the state
Of Minnesota" People from other
states went to settle there. In summing
up the advantages Of the place before
deciding to 60, they always said, "theY
say the Minneapolis schools are as
/ good as any in the west
The people Of Minneapolis put at
/ the head Of their schools, as superin-
tendent, thorough teacher, man Of
great administrative ability who had
| the intelligence to invent or appropri-
ate to his use the best methods Of
school work. The school board work
ed with him seconding all his efforts.
The citizens furnished the money, he
organized and graded the school, Sc
lected the best teachers, and held
them to their work. The result IS that
to day the commonest mill hand in
Minneapolis can give his children,
free, as good a school training as can
be had in the United States. How
great an advantage is that 10 the bus
mess interests Of Minneapolis? How
great magnet TO draw citizens from
every other community?
Now let us investigate the practical
bic methods for securing u similar re-
suit here. \ board should be elected
whose members will overhaul the pre-
sent system and have the schools grad
ed according 10 an adopted course Of
study which is to be the same through
out all the schools of the city, West
Superior included. If the rooms are
50 few in number that the pupils must
stay two years in each room instead Of
having a yearly promotion, let there
be two classes in each room, but let
/ the work of those two classes be dis
tinct, and the promotion from the low
er to the higher depend upon a de
finite amount of work done by the
pupil during the year. With that ar
rangement our pupils viii have some
thing to work for. Children and young
/ people like to have some end in view
as well as older folks, and they will
work much better under a definite
system of promotion. This arrange
mert would DO away with the indie
4 pendent districts and make the differ
ent school buildings essentially ward
schools, as they should be in a town Of
any considerable size. One room in the
most convenient building could be set
aside rs the TuGu scHooI. room. I'm
der wise and regu, system of pro-
motion, to reach this Dom would be
the aim of every ambitious pupil in
the city schools. Here studies should
be taught which are not taught in the
other rooms, but which the discipline
OF the other rooms has fitted the pupil
for. Here young people should be able
70 study the most important branches
usually taught in a high school.
How many bright boys and girls of
our Town between fifteen and twenty
years old were idle or worse than idle
last wint T because there is no such
high school course here? Because pub
. lie sentiment here does not, as in most
other towns otis size in Wisconsin.
require its young people to be in
school during the ordinary school ace?
Fil-.1 l. "a