Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1906-07-13

Of poorly prepared students. This certificate
privilege Is granted by practically all coll
leges and scientific schools in New England,
except Yale. Harvard and tho Massachusetts,
Institute OF Technology. and by many insti.
iutions outside New England. Simmons col
lege (Boston) for the first time has admitted
one Of our graduates OF 1906 on certacate.
The question OF athletics Is . perplexing
one In many ways. In the first place II has
been my earnest effort TO make studies first
and athletics second. To accomplish that
result, II has been o requirement this last
year that the boys who have been below
grade in their studies have not been allowed
to play in the games with other high schools.
This regulation has interfered somewhat
with the victorious career Of our athletic
teams. but scholarship has not suffered on
account Of athletics. The great need OF the
high school today is an athletic field TO be
controlled by the school authorities. ! hope
some move toward securing such m addi'
ton 10 our equipment will soon be started.
The voters OF the district are the ones who
ought to be especially interested, and IL is
for them to remember that 1.-THE boy with
out playground IL father to the man with
out a job
The senior and junior classes Of the high
school have this past year conducted
school paper. Although the Dial was handi'
capped at the start because OF ruling
among the local merchants Of no advertising
In papers OF the kind, yet the Dial has ended
the year with a small balance in the treas
ury. This was due TO the generous support
Of the play given the last Of March, the pro-
ceeds Of which were turned over TO the man
agement Of the paper. believe most heart
lily in a school paper, and would ask for
the continued interest Of the friends OF the
school.
In the matter OF discipline, 1t has been
my endeavor not to lay down rules and reg
ulations the infraction OF which shall bring
down a multiplicity Of penalties, but rather
to inspire q spirit Of willingness to cooper
ate with the teachers in everything that is
best for the school. I believe there has
been a steady growth in genuine manliness
and womanlness in the school. And after
all, that is the main purpose Of the public
schooi--to make good men and women; to
help form strong characters The lessons
that are Of the most value to us are not those
we learn in books, but those we learn in
contact with other people in mastering our
selves.
The report of Miss Marguerite Tuck
er, supervisor Of grades, calls attention
to several departures which have ma
terially increased the effectiveness of
school work. 1t also mentions the re-
suits of the tests of sight and hearing
which were made among the pupils in
with the state law, and
speaks of the good which has been de-
rived from the establishment of
course in gymnastic instruction. 1t
notes the gratifying Improvement that
has been made in penmanshlp and
speaks of the combination of legibil-
ity, ease and rapidity which the pupils
are developing under the present sys.
TEN. Thanks are given the woman s
club for the establishment of the Penny
system through which $350.25
has been deposited in savings banks
since Jan. 49,, The report compares in
detail the results Of tests given to
grammar school pupils of today with
the results obtained from similar tests
given the pupils of the Springfield,
Mass, high school in 1916, for the pur-
pose of showing that the present day
pupils do better arithmetic work and
spell better than did their forbears of
1886 In closing the report says:
ne HtHtraI kIauV 'to'h'ie shNN'NsS
have been continued Two spelling matches
have been held between corresponding
grades "a matches in all. We are working
for clearer enunciation and more accurate
Of words The Gordon meth
cd of reading, and our old-fashioned oral
spelling with insistence on correct division
Of syllables and pronunciation of each sylla-
BILE, also of the whole word, will work won
ders. | am sure. We are trying to teach
pupils to stand on both feet and talk easily,
so | have outlined for each grade below the
seventh certain interesting stories, grouped
about grade thought centers, these stories
to be read by the pupils, told by the teach
err, then retold by the pupils in their own
words. The results have been good.
Attention is called to the Importance
of music as one of the studies in the
schools by the report of Miss Emma J.
Gregg, supervisor of music, while the
need of the introduction of manual
training in some form in the grades is
emphasized in the report of the super
visor of drawing, Mrs. H. G. Crosby
m