Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1897-05-06
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EDUCATIONAL COLUr1N.
BY F. p. HOOKER.

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Supt A. b. Warner of Missouri Valley
Iowa, addressed letter to the friends
and patrons of that town. This letter
contains many startling facts of vital
interest and much of the letter is equally
applicable to our town. Below we quote
a few paragraphs with the hope that
they may be read with pure motives.
1 For four months measles have pre-
vailed, and other diseases have kept
some children at home; but in hundreds
of cases no excuse for absence can be
given. It is the result of caprice, OF
Indifference, of laziness, of truancy, or
of vice. On any bright day there are
300 children of school age playing about
Our streets or idling away the time at
home. This matter is beyond the juris-
diction of the school, and all that we can
do is to enforce the rule of the school
board directing the suspension of any
pupil who is absent six half days in any
month without ec.ssity. This we
shall do hereafter in order to protect
other pupils.
/ O"But there is little virtue in merely
attending school. Pupils who are more
interested in other things than in school
whose minds are pre-occupied, who are
rebellious, who look upon teachers as
their natural enemies and upon the
school as prison, who are longing for
! The freedom of the back alleys or the
gaming room, who would rather smoke
than study, and who do not see any
possible profit in school work, these
pupils get no good from any school and
are an infinite menace to it's peace and
prosperity. When any pressure is
brought to bear upon these pupils to en-
force decent behavior on the one hand
or to secure the proper performance of
school duties on the other, they quickly
withdraw from the school. We have
had many cases of this kind during the
present year. The responsibility lies
with the parent, but the community
suffers, and the lives Of those directly
involved are often blighted. Are parents
and communities really helpless?
Large numbers OF our children, even
little children, sDend all their evenings
upon the streets. Scores of them may
be seen here any night until long after
the hour when all children should be in
bed. The street is a school Of vice and
counteracts all the wholesome and help
full Influences that we can set in motion.
A curfew ordinance rigidly enforced
might help little, but children should
not spend any part of any evening upon
the streets unless accompanied by par
ents. This, too, is beyond our jurisdic-
ton; but the school suffers fgrievously
from such crimes against childhood and
society. .,
THE use of tobacco, particularly the
smoking Of cigarettes, is alarmingly pre-
vaIent among the boys. Babies in the
primaries smoke. In some of the grades
fully nine out Of every ten smoke or have
smoked. Sensational and vicious itera-
| lure abounds 10 such an extent thas one
sometimes wonders whether it were not
better that some of these children had
not been taught to read. There eviden-
ces on every hand of sectual precocity
and depravity. Profanity and obscenity
are the common modes of expression in
the street brigade. Betting and various
forms of petty gambling are looked upon
as evidence of manliness and courage by
many young boys. All these mat
tiers interfere with success at school
and call for the utmost vigilance on the
part of parents and teachers. These are
awful facts, but we should look at them
squarely. -.
Boy and girl parties and other forms
of pernicious social activity often inter-
fere with school work and render the
education of some children almost i'm
possible A religious flavor and eccles-
iastical sanction do not render these
affairs less dangerous.
''Truancy.is a prevalent vice among
children. Lying, forging excuses"
from parents, destroying or altering the
reports which teachers send to parents,
and kindred errors follow. w feel
that it is the parents duty to send his
child to school and to know that he
comes. We are anxious to cooperate in
correcting such faults as truancy, but
the responsibility is with the parent.
The teacher interiors only in order to
protect the innocent from bad influences.
When this interference becomes neces-
sary, the teacher is often blamed by the
careless or helpless parent. Five young
men are now out of school under su-
spension for chronic truancy."