El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-02-17

superintendent office. and those of the
first grades being, of course, oral L
have asked the principals for sum-
mary OF the number Of pupils eligible
to promotion, the number promoted, and
the number failing. From these let
tiers 1 have compiled statistics which
show the percentage has been remark
ably good. In fact, / do not recall
having seen better statistics in my ex-
perience. In many cases whole classes
were promoted without the loss Of a
single one. Among the American
schools the promotions averaged over
80 percent Eighty percent Is consdd-
cred fair. You will thus see that the
children of the city have cause to be
congratulated on account of the ex-
celent showing made.
The Mexican Schools.
In the lower grades of the Mexican
schools, the percentage of course, was
poor, but this is accounted for by the
fact that two years are usually required
for completion of the first grade by
children who are unable to speak the
vernacular when they enter school l
note with pleasure that the promotions
among the Mexican schools over the Sd
grade, were very good. 1 have COM
pared the statistics collected this year
with those collected last year at the
same time, and find that conditions
are very much better. If the exannina-
tions were of the same grade, as 1 be-
lieve they were. the results would in
dictate, first: That better work is be-
ing done this year than last and. sec
ond: That more care has been taken
in previous promotions, so that fewer
poorly prepared children have been
promoted. We graduated from the sth
grade Of the grammar schools more
than so children who are eligible to
enrolment in the High school. I notice
from the report of the principal of the
High schoo! that 81 Of them have Gu
fnied n the High schooi
The Transfers Made.
Another interesting feature of the
seni-annual promotions is the trouble
incident to the many transfers made
necessary by the readjustment of en-
rolment It will readily be seen that
though we have district lines for each
school, it often comes about that there
are more children in a certain grade
than can be accommodated by the
school assigned TO that district 1t
may also occur that there are fewer
children than can be accommodated
in the school of an adjacent district
1t is patent that the only wise thing
to do is to take the children living
nearest the line, and transfer them.
This adjustment is necessary in many
cases in the schools north of the
tracks.
On account of the fact that the ad-
justment must be made twice in the
year-once at the beginning of the
session. and once at the end of the
first semester, it frequently works a
hardship upon the pupils who live near
q If he
often complain Of the removal of their
children from the buildings IN which
they have been located and in which
they have done good work
Children and Environments.
There is much cause for this COM
plant, it is true, because ii is undoubt-
eddy the case that child does bet
ter work in the environments to which
he is accustomed, but in this instance,
as in many others. the good of the
few must be somewhat sacrificed to
the benefit of the many. Acting upon
this principle I have consulted with the
principals of the various schools, and
have made the adjustment. / have had
many requests from parents for special
in favor of their children,
but we have been unable to grant such
requests. The unfortunate frequency
Of transfers is accentuated by the fact
that our schools are all small, and the
districts are small. so that a COM
Daratively slight increase in enrolment
IN any grade is sufficient to over
crowd the accommodations in the small
buildings.
Fewer Schools, Bigger.
1t would have been economy for the
people Of the city TO build fewer schools
and much larger ones, but no one per-
haps foresaw the remarkable increase
n the population of the city, and
therefore the previous boards did not