El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-10-04

Saso, l regard 1t my duty to urge your
honorable body to take immediate
steps for the provision of another
building. II bonds are issued IL will
lake nearly the whole year to 90
through the proceedings of an cleo
| ton and erect the building.
THE HIGH SCHOOL.
1t will doubtless be of interest and
qualification also, to the board. to
| learn that of your seven graduates
| last year, three have entered univer-
sities-one the university of Texas.
| the other two the university of Illinois.
L am informed that two entered with
] out examination, the other stood the
| required examination and passed cred
ttably. The attendance in the high
scnOOl this year is larger than it has
ever been. The.enrollment In this de-
| oartment is 11S, while your graduating
class numbers seventeen. nearly twice
as many as you have had in any prev
ious year. This is certainly an encour-
aging record. 1t is a notable fact that
the graduating classes Of the high
schools all over the country have pre-
ponderance Of girls. How to secure a
better attendance of boys is problem
| which has not yet been solved by high
| schools.
In the solution of this problem high
schools have to contend against two
potent adversaries one is an insatiate
| desire to rush into the whirl of bust.
| ness life and make money. This in
huence is SO powerful among our pee
| pie In the west particularly that par
| ents, youths and even children are e.
| tected bv it. The cry is Make Money,
Make Money, and everything Is sacri-
| decd to this end. The other influence
Ia the laxity Of parental authority. The
| good old days when boy was a boy
| until he was twentv-one, and q girl
was girl until she was eighteen, and
when parental authority was respected
and conformed to so long as chIldren
| remained under the family roof are ra-
pidiy passing. The b blical injunct ton
Children obey your parents"has been
reversed
The temptation to active boys to
get out into the world and make
money land the temptation OF the
parent is usually about as great is
powerful indeed. A high school to
hold boys in this age of push and
trem endous influences. More than are
offered by the mere fact Of study. You
put before the average American hey
hard work in Arithmetic, Algrebra
Grammar, Geome ~, Latin, Lite
nature etc.. also salary, open air
fire edOm contact with the world aud
the fascination Of business, and leave
him 10 his chaoice, and nine out Of ten
of them will choose the latter. Under
our present conditions this is really
W. at occurs, and this is. one of the
main reasOps-there is such scarci v
of boys in our high schools
No honest teacher will try to lead q
pupil over any 'royal road " or through
any nigh cut" in order to reach the
goal of mental development and culture
Il is only reached by hard work, con-
tinued and persistent effort, diieent
application. The things can b. done
in no other way. Hence the High
schools cannot offer such allurements
as are extended from the outside world.
But -althy,.permeating, educational
atmosphere caused by the silent but
potent influence of competent, wide
awake sympathetic teachers creating
spontaneously among pupils a strongly
felt desire for growth and Improvement
together with the stimulating effects
OF mutual confidence and sympathy
are powerful forces for cauuter-
acting the baneful effects of parental
ax1ty and money making.
These are tee means TO which we at
tach the most Importance in keeping
the boys in school. As an aid to these
ends, also, your teacher of music has
X
restrictions q glee club, with thu
double object of training the boys in
music, and holding them together as
classes.
Also, company OF high school cadets
has been organized which will he un-
der the supervision of your public
schools, and drilled by the principal of
your high school show no doubt that
many benefits will be derived from
. k4
strong class unity and make the
school life OF the boys as attractive as
possible. and at the same time give
them polish and gentlemanly bear.
log which will be valuable to them
through life.
THE PLAY GROUNDS AT THE CENTRAL
SCHOOL.
1 desire to cIll the attention of the
board to the fact tb at the BOYS at The
Central school building have no play |
ground except in the streets. The
board, think, has discussed this Sit |
alton before. While the same cOndi- |
ton has existed since the erection of |
the Central building, the danger to the |
children has not been SO great from |
the reason that there have not been so |
many children at the Central building
and there has not been as much pass
ing in the streets as we have now. Al
though at recess and no" n hours, there
Is always a tea her on the grounds to
prevent accid- 8, we do not know what
moment one may occur. The pub ic
generally is very confederate and Gu re-
ful when driving by the schoolhouse, but
when there are two to thr hundre d
| tile fellows playing, and intently in
tereated in their fun, right out in the
middle of the street, where there is SO
much psssi G, there is danger even
with the greatest care that can be
taken; while a reckless driver or a rum
away horse Is liable to go by at any
time. 1t has seemed to me that the
board might lease or purchase the lot
% the rear of the building. and get the
street com missioner to put it in suit
able coz dttion for a play ground. and
enable US to take the children off the
treets during recesses and Moons.
VACCINATION.
Under the direction of the president
II your Board, we have caused all the
children attending the public schools,
o be vaccinated, or bring certiaca 'es
rom physicians saying vaccination was
lot necessary.