Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-07-24
PLAYING
A School principal Dilates on the Sciences
of Truancy

A School principal Dilates on the Science
of Truancy.
The boy who never played hockey
during his school-days is hard to find,
for the reason that somehow or an
other the goody-goody boys all die
young and the teachers pets never
seem to pan out into anything re-
markable. If they do they generally
become ashamed of themselves and re-.
cite wonderful stories of their Juvenile
depravity. A school principal. who
had a few hours leisure SATURDAY.
afternoon, entertained a reporter with.
SOM remarks on truancyin the schools;
He said: ..Truancy, or absence of q;
scholar from school without permis-!
sion of the principal or knowledge of
parents. exists to an alarming extent in;
the schools. We have lots of cases of
playing hockey during the circus
season., and when the time comes
around for swimming. The bows tire;
of school about April, and from that,
time until school closes in June, we!
have the most trouble. Toe boysI
don't play truant in winter."l
whats the worst case of %truancv!
YOU llLNC GULLY uC1OSS. dShCu Lie I0s'
porter. ..-a
'.About the worst was the case Of al
boy who sta:d away from school for 100
consecutive days without the knowl-
edge OF his parents. Now when a boy
is absentthree days his namei is dropped
from the rolls. If he can manage to-
stop the notice sent to his parents he
stays away all the year, and has what!
he calls a picnic, making demands for
money to purchase books and spending
it in lordly revel after a boys fashion.
Most of the truants stay away for a
day and come back with some excuse.
l tell you the Board of Health doesn't
know of the enormous amount of SEX
ness in this city. The truantsreport n
awful amount. Every time they come
back they come with a story that they
are sick, and in some instances the
whole family was sick. They very
often have to go to funerals, and one
boy came ICE at my school and said
that his absence was caused by his
folks moving. The boys often wait,
outside the school yard until the
gates are closed, and then go
home and Indignantly tell fond
mothers that the road to learning has
been closed up. The boys nowadays
early adopt forgery as a means OF es-.
Gaping detection. A boy procures a
note from his father or mother on an
occasion Of legitimate absence and gets
the form. Some of them copy the sig
nature pretty well. We generally catch
them"
what punishment do you inflict?:''
1.-The rattan is about the best thing to
apply to the truant. He is generally a
manly fellow, and when given to under
stand that he has to take q whipping
takes it in a amer that makes him
the pride of his fellows. A boy, nova
days, who cries under the rattan is set
down as a baby. Moral suasion has a
good deal of force. OF course they
don't all reform, but the incorrigiblcs
we get rid Of"
''Do girls play truant?"
Occasionally they play truant to go
to a picnic, but they never miss more
than an afternoon. You see, the g rlsI
can't u about the streets Ike the boys.
and they have no inducement to play
truant- We punish the girls by notify
ing their parents and giving them .
talking to ourselves."-M Louis Giobs-
Democrat Il