St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1894-07-21
Do the People Appreciate Our.
Public SchOnl&2


"'Tis with our judgment as with ou
watches: none
Go just alike, yet each believes his own.
1t makes but little ditferenc
whether our watches go right o
wrong. The turning back or NOV
ing forward of their hands neithe
retards nor hastens the revolution
of the earth; the days and night
will be neither shortened no
heightened by the movements of ou
time pieces. The planetary system
will continue to obey the immuta
Bile laws of nature regardless of til,
tick of our watches. But can w,
afford to trust our judgments a,
we do our watches ? follow them
at all times, with unvarying conf
dence in their accuracy, regardless.
of the opinions and wishes of 9th
ers If every one should pursue
0that plan, we should soon find dis
cord and confusion all around us
The train of thought running
through the above lines was sug
gested by my surroundings here
while acting in the capacity of q
public servant. The subject tc
which shall direct it, is one in
which every community is interes
ted, and tlrcsseuount of interest is
usually proportional to the amount
of intelligence TO be found therein
] allude to the willingness of the
masses to avail themselves of the
educational advantages and privi.
hges offered them. / doubt if the
people of Washington would be
willing to have their intelligence
gauged by any such test. I will
present facts and let every one form
his own conclusions. The town oi
Washington generously appropria-
ted sufficient funds to keep the
school in operation three months
after the parish school fund was
exhausted. The reader will see
from the statement below how well
some appreciated the donation. AT
the commencement of the three
months term supported by the
town, beginning April 23rd, there
were one hundred and sixteen pu-
pills enrolled; at it's close, July 18th,
thirty-nfne, and twelve of these
came from the country. Bear in
mind the same teachers were in
charge. The average daily atten-
dance during those three months
was sixty-six; the last month was
forty-one. / have omitted the
name of no pupil that attended any
n II nj
Why this falling off? Too hot, ac-
cording to the children's excuse
Too hot to attend school, but not
too hot to fly kites beneath a mid
day sun. The excuse is so frivolous
that the young giver never failed
to manifest his comprehension of
its weakness as witnessed in the
smile Of irony which always ac-
companied its utterance. But we
must not blame the children, but
place the censure where it belongs,
upon the parents. Of course such
claim by the "average pupil" is
not surprising, and I feel amused
at his ingenious pleadings for more
liberty; but when parents, by their
acquiescence, lend encouragement to
the claims, the subject becomes too
serious for laughter. If parents
would bring to bear upon the SUBJ
iect a little independent thinking,
they would see the falIacy of listen
ing to the doleful complaints of
their children of physical fatigue
resulting from attending school in
summer. When / come to the
question of mental exhaustion oc-
easioned by application to books
during hot weather as a pretext for
withdrawing children from school,
and then see these same children
on the street from morning until
night, am reminded of the parents
excess of solicitude, and his def
cheney of Judgment. There are
eases where the mind and body are
overtaxed. In closely graded
schools where the mind is unduly
stimulated in order to accomplish
in limited time specified work,
regardless of the mental and ply
sical capacity of the child, some
harm may be done. But this is
almost impossible where the child
and parent are in daily contact, for
il the child does not rebel against
the task imposed, the parent will
sec the danger in time to prevent
serious trouble. We may soak the
pupils of Washington in mental
environment and there will be no
danger of harm to mind or body.
In withdrawing your children
from school at the time you did,
You produced Generalization in the
ranks OF those that remained. Al
though you permitted them to
leave school because of danger to
health, yet you turn them loose to
parade the streets during all hours
of the day, and by way of diversion
they would lounge by the hour
near the school house to taunt the
pupils who voluntarily, or by COM
pulsion, remained in attendance.
You obstructed the plans of the
teachers who contemplated having
an examination of the pupils to
show the class of work they had
done; but you left us so few that it
would have been nothing less than
farce to invite any one to witness
it. to say nothing OF the imposition
upon those who would have come.
You have acted the part of the dog
in the Inapger which would neither
cat the hog himself, nor suffer the
ax IN cat III. With what consistent