Telegram-herald., 1890-03-24


hRe~iedse 0f the Hoard
George w. Thompson ls disgusted
wlth the manner Ia which the text
books are constantly changed in the
city schools. lis little gIl is pupil II
Mss ChesebTo's room at the Central
school. He says that lass November he
purchased as little gin & new reader,
"six English Classics. aud on Friday
his little daughter came home ana
stated that the teacher told the pupils
they must buy the new Harper Fifth,
for c had been adopted by the Board OF
Education, thatlt Was beng introduced
al reduction, but the cost Is o.
cents, or four or i've cents
more than the one il supersedes.
The Harper ; agent had been 10 the
school, ana wnile he Was there the
teacher asked all thepuplls VINO wanted
the readers u rise, and majority OF
them arose; SO that the book Was adopt
ed for use IN that room. he little glrl
further said that Miss ChesebrO told the
pupils 10 bring the money 10 ner and
/ she would send II 10 uperlntendent
( Kendall.
| Mr.. Thompson saw Trustees Richards
and Felker, and they denied all knowl-
edge OF the affair. Mr.. Thompson and
Trustee Felker went 10 the superln-
tendent's office, and Mr.. Kendall said
/ Mss Cheseb.o had sent 10 him, saying
she wanted some Harper's readers and
/ that lac sent the Harper agent up there.
/ Mr. Folkor stated that the Board nor
/ 4 80 - mo-
| lzed the purchase OF new readers, Su-
| perintendent Kendall said II was the
custom tor the High school teachers
70 send word 10 the superintendent as
to what books they needed, and
they were purchased accordingly.
Mr.. Thompson thinks 1t an outrage
that these publishing agents are per
nitted TO force things IN this way, and
thinks they should not be allowed in
the school rooms. 1.-TWO or three of
these publishing agents are old college
mates OF mlne," said he, "and they
have told me some Of their schemes"
When interviewed, the trustees pro-
feSsed utter ignorance OF the affair.
James +. Mcbride, of the Committee on
Text Books, said: "Thls IS all news TO
me; we have authorized no change in
readers" Joseph Houseman said:
THE board has adopted no series of
readers, and without such authorization
by the board no books can be put into
the schools. There must be mistake" F"
'lt you say anything IN your paper
about this" said Mr. Thompson, Il
want you TO state that am not finding
fault with the teachers, or efficiency OF
the schools, for my children are all
learning very fast, but this constant
changing of text books is a nuisance.
do not mind the expense, myself, but
the principle is wrong, and some people
may suffer by Il. Another nuisance is
the requiring OF pupils by the teachers
TO bring one, two or three cents, as the
case may be, TO pay for paper, pencils,
etc. If they fan to bring the money
on the day they are told TO, the names
are written on the black board in the
blacklist, which makes them feel very
much disgraced. Some poor people do
not always happen TO have pennies
about them, ana boys are liable 10 ask
for pennies purporting TO be for their
use, but which they often go and spend
for cigarettes. 1t is a nuisance anyway,
this making a store of the school
| house"
1t seems that for this last nuisance of
which Mr.. Thompson speaks, the board
is 70 blame. A teacher said last night
that she would be out about 70 cents a
week if she did not continue the black
listing scheme. 1--WE are required to
purchase all the paper used by the
pupils" said she, land it costs 81 a
pack. The only way that we can make
sure that the scholars bring the pay to
Us instead of spending 1t, is to put
/ IL L
do so. We can not afford to buy paper
for whole room full of pupils"
SiAs a citizen remarked Saturday, in
former days when pupils furnished
their own paper, there was no such
trouble