The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1911-12-07

be taken for granted. But we need
more of the typical Hood River boost
ing spirit injected into the public atti-
itude toward the public schools. 1t is
the earnest desire of the school author
tiles to make the Hood River schools
the best in the state. But the school
patrons have lot of work to do before
that desire becomes an accomplished
fact Every dollar wisely expended
in the cause of education will be re-
turned to the city times over A good
school system with every patron an
intelligent booster for it would do
more to hold the right kind of people
in Hood River than any other one
thing that could be accomplished with
/ the same effort and with the same ex-
penditure of time and money.
| No school is perfect. We all make
mistakes. Personally, welcome help
ful criticisms. | like to get the other
person point of view. Even a chronic
knocker is useful if he can knock hard
enough to stir other people out of their
4 lethargic attitudes. Better kick bit
than do nothing. 1t takes clash of
minds to evolve anything worth while
/ in community service. Somebody has
to shoulder a lot of responsibility as
we'll And a community cannot hire
people to shoulder it all either. All
forms of social service are so intrinsi-
cally wound up in the social life and
ideals of a community that working
of the people concerned must
/ get behind movement to make 1t a
/ success.
If the Hood River orchards were
under consideration and plans for their
/ betterment were to be discussed there
would be an enthusiastic response.
! Expert ideas and suggestions would be
chrystallzed into action. Nothing but
the best would do. And that is the
right spirit. Why not extend it to the
schools? Are we so materialistic that
we cannot take time from our business
and few dollars from our Golfers and
make some expenditures for the well
fare Of the children! And we need the
light of your counteuanee more than
the shekels. The children take the
cue from their elders. 1t is like poll
tics We inherit and absorb our view
of things. Like father, like son, like
mother, like daughter, applies to the
youthful attitude toward school life
could indicate to you several com
murities in Oregon where the children
consider it a disgrace to fail in their
school work, and the standard is higher
than ours. The teachers at those
places tell me that it is the general
attitude of the people of the commun-
ity toward school work that enforces
this high ideal in the minds of the boy
and girls. The expressed Indifference
is not a credit to us. We have the
potential power to make Hood River
schools ideal. We are making prog
ress. But we can do more and do 1t
better if we, as teachers, know and
feel that you are standing back of us
with YOUR influence and encourage
meut. II is all for the boys and girls
anyway. And they are worth all the
effort any community can possibly put
forth for their we'll rounded devlop-
ment.
Don't mistake my contention. The
tax voted was sufficient for the coming
year, il the community is satisfied with
present progress. But the same tax
voted BY ninety-nine per cent of the
patrons would be a great deal more
effective. We would know better what
you want and Just what to depend
upon. II is the wide awake, intelli-
gent, cooperative influence of the ma
jority of the people that we need, and
that we must have if the schools are to
make progress as they should.