Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1906-11-29
SUPT. SCHAEFFER'S
ANNUAL REPORT


Legislature has greatly increas-
ing its appropriations to elleemosyn
airy institutions, the appropriation for
the public schools has not only not
been increased but has actually
dwindled, though there is steady in
crease in the number of pupils. In
1895 the amount of the State appropria
tion per pupil was S5.11. In 1905 it
was only S4 30. In each year the Leg
islature appropriated So 500. 600, but,
whereas the common schools got the
whole of this appropriation in 1895 the
| Legislature diverted from the appro
priation for 1905 s237, 800 for State aid
to normal school students and 800,
600 for township schools, leaving but
So, PIP, 500 for common schools, as
against So, 800. 000 In the meantime
the number of pupils had increased
from l. .070, ,6l2 to 1.200 908.
SCHOOLS FOR UNvACCINATED.
The Superintendent devotes large
part of his report to an effort TO solve
the problem of giving schooling to
children whose parents will not allow
them to he vaccinated. He says:
Some of our legislation tends to keep
children out of school. We have enact
ed laws making attendance at school
compulsory, and we have passed other
! laws depriving certain children of the
right to attend any public, private,
parochial or Sunday school. The child
who cannot read and write simple
sentences in the English language is
not allowed to go TO work before the
age of l6 years is reached. The boy
| who spends the first Is years of his
life in idleness or play is always in
danger of becoming confirmed loaf
er, and is on the highway to illiteracy,
vagrancy and crime.
In view of the irreparable loss which
| children deprived of schooling must
suffer. it behooves the Legislature to
make provision for the schooling of
the following classes of children
1. Children who, after repeated at
tempts, have not been successfully vac
| cinated, because they are, or at least
seem to be, immune from smallpox and
vaocinia.
g Children whom reputable ply
sicians refuse to vacCiuate by reason
of scrofulous, tubercular or other ad
verse conditions.
3. Children whose parents Will not
allow them to be vaccinated on ac-
count of prejudices due largely TO the
excitement caused by characterization
| literature.
4. Defective and backward children
for whom education cannot be provid-
ed in schools of the ordinary type.
8. Children so situated that no
school is accessible to them.
EMPTY SCHOOL HOUSES
There are sections of this Common
wealth in which the school houses are
empty because the parents will not al
low their children to be vaccinated.
One should not shut his eyes to the
immense good which has been accom-
plished by the enforcement of our vac
cination laws. Today only one case of
smallpox is known to exist i'll the State
of Pennsylvania On the other hand,
one should not ingore the fact that the
courts have repeatedly decided that no
fine can be imposed upon parents or
guardians for the non attendance of
the unvaccinated child All the pun
ishment, therefore, falls upon the in
nocent child.
SCHOOLS FOR THE DETECTIVES.
Separate schools are also needed for
the so-called defective classes. These
include the deaf, the blind, the feeble
minded, the morally delinquent. The
act of May IS, 1876, P. L.. ,l57, provides
for the establishment of special schools
for deaf mutes i'll school districts
which have a population of more than
20, 600 inhabitants and eight or more
deaf mute children of proper age for
attending school. This law has re-
mained a dead letter upon our statute
books. The State maintains, separate
and apart from the public schools, in
situations for the education of the
deaf, the blind and the feeble-mind.
Nevertheless, some children who be-
long to the defective classes receive no
schooling We also need special schools
for backward children who do not be-
long to the defective classes, and who
by special methods can be advanced to
the plane of normal children. Phila-
delphia has taken steps to provide in
struction specially suited to back ward
children, and our other cities should
in no long time follow this example.
| The child who asks its mother to pray
that it be made like the other children
that get along at school deserves treat
ment not as morally delinquent, but as
a backward child whom manuel train
ing and other exercises may give con-
troll of its hands ard its mental pow
ers, thus fitting it to play a useful
part in the life of the community.
BETTER PAY FOR TEACHERS.
UNLESS the compensation of teach
ers can be materially advanced, the
report goes on, it will be impossible
to keep the schools up to the high
standard which they have attained In
a number Of districts the limit of tax
alton has been reached and the needed
advance in teachers salaries cannot
be made without more liberal school