The Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1893-1901, 1893-06-06
FREE ~SCHOOLBOOKS.
5OtiETt!NG iECui TIE UNIQUE Sc
TEACF G7ooKLYN.

~ " '. .-iteataOE u M vi, So
Nearly slCo.0o0 Every Year In ....-
ou, Pupil. For Their stn.lies-tiow
Reputation Are Male Up.
The thal.:s of rearly 100. 600 public
school pupils Of Brooklyn and their Pr.
ents are due 10 thr board of educ. 81
for at least one OF the features Of tl-aT
body's a,lm..istrat:on-the free hos
system. III IS i fact not commonly known
tE"t the pupils of the public schools i!
this city are furnished with all the o;i...t
of books. states and paper nccoss2rr
throughout their course at school free Of
charge. To do this entails an expense Of
about $100.o0o every year and a vast daal
Of work III procuring and distributing
the required supplies. Only one other
city in the state. that of New York,
treats its school children as munif;cent-
ly. The system has been in vogue in
Brooklyn for some years and is found to
be so satisfactory that no change is e.
rected or even considered at all.
The books used in this city's schools
are selected by the board of education's
committee on studies. who report their
selections to the full board for confirma-
ton before the books are finally listed.
There are now on the catalogue Of text
books and works of whatever sort for
which need is found to exist in the
schools upward of 1000 different kinds
of books ranging from primers to alb
struse works on philosophy. The list
includes a variety Of algebras, arithme-
tics. books on astronomy, bookkeeping.
chemistry, civil government. compost
ton and rhetoric. dictionaries in Eng
lish and several other languages, books
on %elocution. etymo!ogy. geography. ge-
ometry, grammar. history, Language.
literature. methods of teaching, physiol-
oey. readers. maps, charts. copy books.
drawing books, music books and charts,
science and natural philosophy and sup
Elementary readers.
The modus operandi of getting the
right books in the right quantities to the
several schools is this: The principal Of
a school makes up from reports furnished
by his suborlinates q; requisition which
is written out on a blank form with the
titles OF the books. grades for which they
are to beused, and the price of each book.
and Tie total for the whole reGuisition.
Demands for maps, globes, charts. die.
t~ionaries. blackbonr1s. .ianito,s' supplips.
ETC.. must be approved by the chairmen
of the local committees. The recrisi-
tons after passing the committee on IL
braries are sent 10 the secretary of the
board of education. George q. Brown.
who controls the distribution of tho sup
plies for the schools
The acquisitions are tabulated olce a
weel; and upon the basis of the result
Of the tabnlation orders are made out
upon the publishers. Lack Of room fer
the storage of the supplies and scarcity
of mcacy'forbld any considerable guam
tity OF books being carried in stock. All
the books are delivered at the bool;room
in the office building of the board of ed
Ucation. where they are counted. ard
each one is stamped Property Board OF
Education, Citr Of Brooklyn" ard en-
tered on the receiving book. The clerks
make up tn" orders for the several
schools. and tie packages are sent to
their destinations by express.
y separate account of books received
and returned is kept at the headquarters
of the board of education with eac!
school. Tie books are charged to the
principals, who in turn charge them TO
the teachers. the latter keeping track of
the DISPOSITION OF the volumes among
the pupils. When the books become ur-
fit for use, they are turned in and re
bound if expensive. and if cheap sold
for waste paper. All books when they
cannot be used any longer, whether fit
for rebinding or not. must be returned
TO the board of education. Ii pupils
wilifully destroy them, they are obliged
to pay FOR others to replace the books de-
stroyed. In the case of books lost by
pupils the teachers are vested with a Ger.
tain degree of discretionary power
touching what measures if any shall lie
taken to make good the loss.
How long the average schoolbook lasts
is a matter for speculation. The life of
the average book differs with the locality
Of the school and the character Of the
In some sections. for instance. |
the books are converted into %playthings
for the baby at home. while in others
the greatest pride is manifested in pre-
serving the books clean and unimpaired. |
So, too, q geography Of a good kind
will last frequently several years, while
one season of work is generally the limit
endurance Of a primer. Whatever
may he the total number Of books USE
up in a year, it is certain that the EN-.
ployees Of the board who handle them
haven't an overplus Of leisure. From
the .Aiddle of January till March ! three
express wagons are kept constantly Oh
the move distributing the packages to
the schools.
The number of pnpils on register Is
about 9G. 900, SO that the per capita cost
for books is only a little owe 81 per year
In the primary grades. where a large
Of the total registry is found
many Of the youngsters require only
states and primers. Higher up. however.
IN the grammar schools and high schools