The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1910-10-24
TELLS Of
HIS EASTERN TRIP


Il tour OF the eastern states. Ihis
tour, MAJ at an expense OF deVc'ai
hundred dollars, he deIicai"i en-
tirelv n the interests of the schools
l o.. Garter county.
The object Of the trip was TO see
! the actual work of the rural schools,
and 10 attempt to ascertain no"
much of the old knowledge of teach
ing II would be advisable to retain.
Then, TOO, to get as many pointers
on the business siie of the county
superintendent office as possible.
The investigations were made in
Jackson and Howard counties, Mo-,
in Cook county, Illinois, and IN
( Crawford and Erie counties, Penn
| sylvania. The schools OF Missouri
we're not in session, and the inves-
tigaton consisted principally OF IN
teryiewing school men and observing
the districting of the counties.
In Illinois Mr.. Tucker visited the
Cook county institute. Here he met
hundreds of teachers, many of whom
are among the Oldest teachers In the
state of Illinois. He found the teach
ers always anxious to hear some
thing concerning education in the
west. and with an interest in the new
state teniing toward emigration.
He conducted oral examinations in
as many as twenty-four schools in
one county, to compare the efficiency
of these schools with our own, saw
thousands OF teachers and interview
ed hundreds, and must have found
out many things which life in the
teaching profession would not have
revealed.
Mr.. Tucker had letters of introduc-
, ton from some of the leading school
, men and officials of Oklahoma, among
them one from Governor Chas. n.
Haskell. He said that they all knew
, Haskell and seemei to be believers
. in him. He brought back statistics OF
all kinds on charities, good roads and
, schools. He found the Pennsylvania
. Dutch families prosperous and con
, tented. living in fine houses, Will
-, harms larger than their school houses
Every spot of land titled like
garden and fertilized every year, eaef
, farmer in charge of from MY 1t
, exceeding about five acres OF corn
buckwheat Just enough for cakes
, timothy or alfalfa for hay. and veg
, ctables, have a few hogs and eight
or ten milk COWS. The only things
they care to sell are milk, which
IS made into cheese at a nearby
factory, ami vegetables which are
taken to the old market town
Mr. Tucker said that many OF
the school men of these standpa.
states admit that their people are
/ too conservative in educational mat
ters and regardless of their political
affiliations they admi- that the COS
mOpolitan citizenship of Oklahoma
has voted for her the best school
laws obtainable. Notwithstanding,
saws Mr.. Tucker. the conservatism
Of the old states, there are a great
many things which we might profit
from in the management OF our
schools.
In Illinois, Mr Tucker said he
noted that there. was a movement
or foot. not only being fostered by
the teachers, but by the law givers
as WELL to make the school life It
self, as well as preparation for life,
for instance in Illinlois, they are
bringing the school directors in clos
er touch with the juvenile court. Al
the present time under the truancy
law. boarls OF education in towns, vii
lagos and school districts. are au.
thorized to appoint rruant officers
whose duty Il shall be to report all
violations of the law 10 the boards
OF education or boards OF directors,
there Is an effort being made to
have these school officers commits
stoned volunteer probation officers, of
the juvenile court.
These school directors who were
interviewed by Mr. Tucker seemed
to be Of unanimous opinion that I'M
cleanliness and disease causes more
crime than any other factor. One
of these officers cited the reCorl OF
the juvenile court in one county |
for one year as follows: He said |
that there were three thousand five |
hundred and four juvenile court chill /
dren found to need physical treat |
ment. This number was ninety-siX |
per cent of those examined
As proof that the officials of the |
Old states condemn their own peoples
lack of progress in education, Mr..