Daily Kennebec journal., 1906-09-28
FOR CITIZENSHIP
Good Training Given by the Cony
High School Assembly.

High School Assembly.
In the September number of the
school Review, the leading magazine OF
secondary education in this country,
there is an article which is of much in
tercst to the people of Augusta anu
vicinity. This is not only because its
author is an Augusta boy, Arthur Hun
tinEtOn Mason, now iStruCtOr in Eng
liSh in New York University. but also
because it deals with conditions that
exist in our own Cony High school. The
subject of the article is ''fhc Cony
High School Assembly: An Unconscious
Experiment in Training for Citizen
ship and tie journal takes pleasure in
presenting the article below in full.
Special prcpara ion for citizenship ny
methods other than. or auxiliary To. the
course iii civil government is not new
experiment in secondary schools. In
some the class in ciVicS has been or
GaniLcd ;Is a mock Legislature: in others
| the s,nnol discipline has been intruSted
| to a student board. Each of these
methods if successfully carried out.
| Civ. :. douhtlcSS. som" mcaSur" OF pre-
paration for citizenship. Both. how
|
mock legislature is 50 frankly artificial
that ii can give but slight sense of civic
| responsibility: and I" intruSt to the
| students tho maint"na nee OF discipline
| j., at best. to prepare them Tor work
| in which but few citizens need partici-
| patc-thc actual maintenance or law
and order What is needed primarily to
meet the conditions Of our day. is train
ing in the efficient and honest adminis-
tIation of the public purse.
This training. to be most effective,
must not deal with money that is i'm
| a%inary, or with money in which the
| pupils are not yitally concerned. ON
the contrary it must involve an actual
| fund. raised by the student community
itself and expended to meet it's actual
needs Such conditions may seem. at
I first thought, difficult to obtain; yet it
is unt,cr precisely these conditions that
the hiCh-School pupils of Augusta
Maine, in an organization entitled the
"Cony High School Assembly, are Civ
ing Themselves. all unConsciouSly, this
! financial training for citizenship.
Tie school in which this organization
has grown up is a public high school
numbering about two hundred pupils
situated in a town of about twelve
! thousand inhabitants. Here. thirteen
wears ago. when interscholastic ath-
lc,irg we're first coming into favor the
students were confronted with two
problems. Tho first was: How ShouiC
tncv pay for the equipment Of schoo
gymnasium and meet the expenses "l
tI,oir athletic teams? Gate receipts
were utterly inadequate; and to Sollci
funds upon the business street was ad
mittndiy a public nuisance. Their so
luton was a fair, accompanied by anna
tr,Ir thcatrcalS or other entertainment
, At first they cleared annually from
one hundred tn one hundred and hft,
dollars Later. under improved man
aCcmcnt, they increased this amount t
five and even six hundred dollars
Thus, without rcsorting to public sub
scrlption, the students solved the prob
lem Of ways and means.
I:ut their second problem was equal.
! important: BY what method shoul'
their money be app"rtioncd? Their 50
: luton WAS certainly characteristic q
: this school as it was in the early nine
, ties It's debating society was then
l hotbed Of budding parliamcntarians
it's leading secret fraternity was dcvot
S ing its evenings to mock legiSlativ
!, sessions; and finally, one Of its mos
= influential students WAS serving hi
: first term as page in the State senate
> These circumstances made it but nat
t ural that the power to apprOpriat
/. money from the common fund Shoul
/. be vested in a highly organized parla
Il mcntary body.
The precise form of this body. how
o ever, was determined by gradual eve
4 luticn. AS organized September >
> 1882. the Cony High School Asscmbl
= was like a New England town-mcc
ing. 1t consisted of all the students
" the school; was Officcrcd by a mode
~ ator and clerk and met, upon write
call Of any five members. to act upc
" business named in the warrant. Th
- simple organization, however. 500
proved Inadequate. Appropriation
=, could be rushed through without d,
I" consideration, and. when once granite
a might be misappled with impunt
10 The assembly had no control over OF
j. er school organizations; and, some
,f them, notably the editorial board of &
N school magazine, did not Scruplc to i
j. cur debt and then to expect the asser
10 bly, to meet the deficit. Possession
n the common purse, however. soon ga
or to the assembly it's rightful ascendeno
& Little by little it adopted lcgislati
nj perfeCting its own procedure and brin
,v ing the other organizations under
no control: and at the close of the seco
1v year of its existence the assembly el
rv bodied these provisions in new CO
or stitution.
re Under this constitution, which Il
M changed but little since its adopt
Of eleven years ago, the assembly has
Cd come an organization much more lik,
IL state senate or house of represcntati,
on than like its original model. the tow
he meeting. An appropriation. for exa
to PIE, must now be proposed in the TO