Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1897-06-24
Observation-Disclosures
NOTES ABOUT SCHOOLS AND
THEIR MANAGEMENT.
The Youths Com panion Says the De.
cline of the District School Ia No.
the Country.
Riding to School.


try crossroads many of Americas
greatest men have begun. and not
few have finished. their book learn
ing" and the district school has justly
been called the cornerstone of the ma
TONS liberty.
No doubt the parents of many present
readers of the Companion in their
youth attended the district school.
Their memories Of those days would
recall a gathering of fifty or sixty pu-
pills, under u competent teacher, who
secured gooti work. But when those
parents revisit the old home now, they
find only six or eight children playing
about the door at recess, and inquiry
discovers dissatisfaction and lack OF
interest on the part of the pupils.
The decline of the district school is
noticeable and general throughout the
country. 1t is due to- the fact that large
families are less common than former
ly, and to the congestion of population
in the cities.
1t is impossible for teacher to get
good results from school Of five or
and the stimulus of wholesome rivalry
are absent. Good teachers will not
take such schools and cheaper and less
competent instructors must therefore
be hired
Educators in many States who have
sought remedy for this evil are al
most unanimous in advising that weak
ux.ss,x I mir nd hnf hA
pupils from such schools be conveyed
at public expense to central point
where good school can be maintained.
This plan. first tried in Concord, Mas
sachusetts, has spread throughout the
rural districts Of many States.
The town furnishes covered wagons
of the sort commoSlqy called ''barges."
These are placed in charge Of expert
enced drivers. who are responsible for
the safety and good beha vior Of the p,l-
pills on the way to and from school.
Every morning the barge goes from
house to house throughout the district,
the blowing of horn announcing the
approach of the carriage. At night the
barge calls at the schoOlhouse, and
leaves the pupils one by one at their
homes.
The plan permits better grading of
the schools; gives opportunity for thor
ough work in special studies; secures
more competent teachers; adds the
stimulating influence of large classes;
leads to better schoolhouses, and-not
least in impOrtance-iS cheaper
1t costs as much to warm school
house and keep it in repair for five pu-
pills as for forty. and the salaries of
three or four cheap teachers amount
to much more than the salary OF one
good teacher: so it is possible to carry
the scattered pupils to Il central school,
give them better instruction and more
of it. and still save money.
Six district schools in Enfield. Con-
necticut, which had less than ten pu
pills apiece. each cost the town nearly
seventeen hundred dollars a year: the
cost Of carrying those same pupils to
the central school is only about one
thousand and forty-five dollars a year;
and the more than six hundred dollars
saved can be spent to good advantage
in hiring better teachers or lengthen-
ing the school year.
\ town in Massachusetts which was
educating children in small schools at
a cost in one case. of sixty dollars a
year for each pupil. by consolidation
reduced the cost for each pupil to eight
dollars a year, including transporta-
ton.
The value of the district school has
always been that it made education
free to all. The town school which Is
growing up in its place is shoot from
the same tree and has inherited the
same good quality.-Youth's Compan-
ion.
Mistakes in School Management.
1t Is a serious mistake to neglect the
details Of school government.
1t is a serious mistake to omit thor
ough yard supervision during recess.
1t is great blunder to stand too
Eear a class.
1t is a mistake productive Of deceit
and misrepresentation to have pupils
report at the close of the day as to their
conduct during the day, whispering,
etc. l.Ask your pupils their honest
opinion as to their reports and prac-
tices.)
1t is mistake to censIre each tri-
fling error too severely.
1t is mistake to complain or grum-
Bile much.
1t is mistake to allow pupils to help
each ether.
1t is mistake for teacher to be
tardy and then punish her pupil for be-
ing tardy.
1t is mistake to sit very much while
teaching.
1t is wrong to give command when
Il suggestion will do instead.
1t is mistake 20 make spiteful re-
marks before the school about notes
received from parents.
1t Is 4 mistake for the teacher to act
in such a manner that the pupils will
be impudent to her during the recita-