The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1903-01-30

! EDUCATIONAL COLUMN, ;
o Conducted by I
Q SUPT. o. W. COURSEY. {
= OFFICE Hours: First, third, and last !
Saturdays of each month. !


Two of Miss Mae Lewis pupils,
Roy a. Lambert and Charles a.
Clark, were issued Certificates Of
Award during the week.
Miss Mabel jackson began a winter
term Of school two miles west Of
Ethan in Rome townships this week.
The superintendent found pleasure
recently in visiting the Mitchell city
schools; also in reviewing the work
of the Holy Family school.
II feel very grateful to you for
sending me the Palmer Method OF
writing. My pupils are taking more
interest in writing than ever before,
and seem to advance in muscular
movement very rapidly. - Matte
Wittstruck.
While the words of Ella Wheeler
Wilcox. Laugh and the world
laughs with yon, Weep and you weep
alone" are true in their general APP
%plication to society, yet they are not
true with reference to the sadness en-
gendered in the life of. our esteemed
fellow-teacher, w. E. Rowley. occas-
Toned by the sudden death of bis be-
loved brother, for beams Of tenderest
sympathy will emanate from every
teachers heart in the county upon
receipt of the sad intelligence.
Open letter to parents. Dear
Friends: If it were possible / should
enjoy spending one Of these long win
ter evenings in each home in the
county, discussing matters pertaining
to the welfare Of our schools but as
this is impossible, | am compelled. IN
order to reach you, to address a COM
m%unication touching briefly on a few
Of the more important topics which /
would much rather discuss with you
personally, and publish it in this col
umn conducted solely for school pur-
poses.
Discipline School discipline is a
trying thing. The difficulty does not
arise so much from a natural inclina-
tion to badness on the pupils part,
as from the fact that the children in
each school represent from three to a
dozen different homes wherein the
environments differ according to the
learning, morality and disposition of
the parents. This mixture of home
trainings and different disposition is
ofttimes not productive Of much good
when they are brought together in
the school room. The teacher is
forced to shoulder the responsibility
for the discipline Of her school, when
she should, in reality, be held respon-
sbible only in part. Right here, par
ents, allow me to suggest that, al
though the teacher is not perfect in
your eye (no teacher can hope to
please ever body you should not crit
icise her in the presence Of your
children. You criticise her at home:
little Johnny, thinking he has you
back of him, criticises her on the
playground. 1t goes from mouth to
mouth among the children. is car
ried into the school room and you
have unconsciously become the factor
that has injured the school to Jan
astonishing degree.
Again, it is a bad thing for you to
scold your little folks just before
sending them away to school. They
reach the room in a hateful mood,
and although their mental state may
not disturb the other pupils very
much, yet they are not in a frame Of
mind to study; they miss some of the
best points in each lesson lessons
they MAJ never be privileged to re-
view AGAIN. during the day, by their
pouting dispositions, and have again,
thoughtlessly, not only injured the
school temporarily, but your children
permanently. Mothers, it is far
better for you, when your little ones
are all nicely wrapped up and ready
to start to school to practice the
splendid examples suggested by John
Shroy:
'How oft in my dreams l 90 back to
the day
When / stood at our old wooden
gate,
And / started to school in full battle
array,
Well armed with a primer and slate.
And as the latch fell l thought my
self free,
And gloried, l fear, on the sly.
Till l heard a kind voice that
whispered to me,
BE a good boy good by
Hardness. i have struggled inces-
sanity, since entering upon my work
as superintendent, to not only dimin-
ish but destroy hardness. Country
children, unlike those in the city,
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