Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1903-11-12

I Mr.. Wanner announced that State
Superintendent Stockwell was present
and would conduct the meeting in
the afternoon and adjournment was
! taken to 80 O'Clock.
At the afternoon meeting Superin-
tendent Sto.kwell discussed school
consolidation, the scarcity of teach
ers and other matters. He pronounce
ed hiumself as very much in favor of
the consolidation of the country
schools. He told what had been done
in the state in the way of consoiida-
tion. Wherever it had been tried it
was a great success.
The plan was to merge several
country districts, usually a township,
and conduct school in which high
er-p1iced and more efficient teachers
were employed. Rol]a and Caledonia
were cited as places where the consol-
ldation had taken place.
The pupils were conveyed to school
in covered wagons the district pay.
ing for the transportation of the chill
dren. During the winter there might
be'a few mornings when it. would not
be safe for pupils to start out but
there were not many. The plan OF
hiring someone to take the pupils to
school was an improvement over the
old way of having parents do it.
The hardest thing to overcome was
the sentiment favoring the school
located half mile or so away Pa
rents residing so close were slow to
favor the consolidation when it
meant that the school would be locat-
ed four or five miles away. The only
wayis to convince them that the chill
dren will get better training than at
the local school.
The consolidation of rural schools
has been going on in New England
for 25 years. ..and it is likely that in a
few ,eurs there will be no local
schools in that section Of the coun-
trys The fact is that consolidation
will mean larger schools with better
teachers and longer terms The cost
per capita will be less because the at.
tendance will be larger. This has
been the result in Iowa, South Eako-
ia and other states. Wherever tried
in North Dakota the per capita cost
has been reduced.
There is great scarcity of teach
ers in North Dakota and nearly every
day, the state superintendent contin-
ued, letters were received from coun-
ty superintendent asking for from
a dozen or more teachers. If this
condition existed in North Dakota
alone one would think that there
was something wrong with the state
or examinations but it exists in other
northwestern states also. The diff
Guilty is due to the fact that the
young men and women can get bet
ter wages In other lines of employ
ment.
In Stutsman county the average
school term Is seven months and the
!averagc wages is about $40 per month.
This would mean $3.50 per year for
the young man or woman employed in
teaching. The teacher will have to
exist for IL months In the year on
about S24 month. Out of this sum
he will have to pay his board, clothe
himself, buy books and defray other
expenses. From this it will be seen
that the teacher is earning less than
the average farm hand.
| The scarcity Of teachers can be
remedied in two ways. One way
would be to increase the wages. An
. other and better plan would be to
consolidate the schools. This would
10 away with the necessity Of so
many teachers and by paying slight
increase better instructors could be
secured.
We do not want incompetent
. teachers in the schools. If a child
is sick the parents will send for a
trained doctor and if he is very sick
a trained nurse will be secured, The
mental welfare of children is just as
important as the physical. The
! teachers should be trained. 1t is
, to be hoped that some day NORTH
! Dakota will have a law requiring