The Mankato free press., 1899-12-08
MOtleP'S Friend

The record of the month is as follows:
Two cases corporal punishment in the
office, four suspensions, two for truancy,
two for graver offences. Principals are
urged to take entire charge of petty Of
Tenders in preference to sending them
to the office, a step which when effect
lively carried out will not only give the
superintendent more opportunity to de-
vote himself to the work which is prop
erly his, but must inspire more respect
in the pupils for the local building au-
thorities. People should at least feel
that the teacher in chargemay have su-
preme authority in certain emergencies.
1T is now possible to present an ap-
Proclamation of the number of pupils
who will be promoted from the wards
into the central building after Christ.
mas. West Mankato, whose enrolment
as well as teaching force is not suffi-
cient to justify mid-year promotion, will
not promote till June. Pleasant Grove
will promote about Is; Union, II Frank
lin, Z; furnishing probable total of 49,
Allowing for newcomers, it is very
likely that we shall have 40 in coming
pupils to accommodate in the high
school building after the holidays. This
will bring up the average attendance in
the building from 271 to 311, without
allowing for new students in the high
school. Since it is likely that no more
than twenty-five will be promoted out
of the 8th grade into the high school
the effect will be to increase our Sth
grade rather than diminish it. Those
of you who were in doubt as to the per
manent advisability of hiring a third
8th grade teacher will see from this
that it was after all justifable,
"a condition is rapidly approaching
in the high school which, believe. is
not thoroughly appreciated by the
board. In order to explain this situa-
tion it is necessary to refer to the mid.
year promotion system, introduced by
my predecessor. This mid-year promo.
tion has for it's fundamental purpose a
reduction of the time unit from whole
to half school year. It's advantages are
two-fold: Q) opportunity is given to
begin work in any grade twice instead
of once year;(2), pupils who failto pass
have only half year instead of whole
year to do over. To my knowledge il
has only one disadvantage, which is 6
serious one: 1t either involves an enor
nous increase in teaching force, or il
imposes upon teachers who already have
enough to do, the necessity of giving
attention to two classes working in two
stages of advancement instead of one, al
was the case before '97.
"In the high school it was designed
to move gradually. Last year one mid
year class .came up with it's one-hal
year 9Th grade preparation, making fiv
I classes instead of the time -honored fou
in the high school. This Christina
comes another, making six. At tn
same rate we shall have eight classes il
the high school after year from mex
;, Christmas.
cit is virtually necessary for us no,
to face this problem, which will stat
as briefly as possible, as follows: Gu
teachers are now giving collectively
recitations a day. Miss Sutton, Mis-
O'Donnell and Mr. Enslow each hav
six; Mr.. Roth, five; Miss Fullerton fou,
the superintendent, two The classt
coming in January will make six MOI
recitations necessary. With our preser
, teaching force who are already worke
} to their full capacity, it will be utterl
! out of the question to pretend to az
commodate sixth class without Sc
( iously damaging the school. One mol
> teacher would enable us to accommt
date the new class, though it would NJ
| relieve the present tension, either {
i teachers or superintendent. or
{ teachers, as we'll as the new teacht
, would continue teaching six recitation
r day. The superintendent would hay
f to give his afternoon to the high scho'
' the same as before
I Next year and the following, tn
D situation will again arise. Mid-yes
3 commencement must soon receive a
tention This is the only logical ou
come of mid-year promotion. On th
other hand its abolishment might be
step backward. With this I must tur
the question over to the board. trustin
that you will fully realize the gravit
of the situation and advise accordingl.
Complaint was made during the r.
cent cold weather that the third floor {
the Union building was not sufficient
heated. During one day the tempers
ture was less than 55. The janitor r.
ports that full steam was on, the fau
being lack of sufficient radiation. 1t
due the children and patrons that thi
matter receive immediate attention.