Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1911-02-17
An Answer.

Editor Leader
An article appeared in your issue OF
February 10, 1911; signed by O. 5. Gil
ford criticizing the action OF the
school board in paying a tine for supp
Boot. His statements are gross mis-
representation of the facts OF the S
and although many Of the readers OF
the Leader will pay no attention 10
the criticism, still there is a large
class of people who believe everything
they see in print and to set the school
board right in the eyes of these people
a correction should be made. Mr.. tilt
ford is correct as far as he goes. MI.
Boot was fined (The wisdom and JUS
tice of which might be questionable
in the minds Of most people having
the welfare of the school at hearth and
the board paid the fine as ne says tlle
records show, but if he had made a
thorough investigation he would also
have found that the records show tLlat
the amount of this and costs totallng
SIS. 20 was refunded to the school treas
ury bv the board mem bers indlVldual-
ly. Thus it appears that Mr.. Glf1ord
was slightly mistaken as to the quall-
ty of light he admitted to the RECORDS
1t evidently must have been moon
light and not daylight as he thought
The characterization OF Mr.. BOGUS
action in cashing the check as be-
ing greedy is an instance OF peCCy'
childish malice that one would scarce
expect from a person Of mature years.
In this connection there IS announcer
matter | wish briefly to discuss, IL
seems to have become The custom
for certain of our citizens to interfere
with the discipline Of the city chools
This deplorable tendency cannot De
too strongly condemned. The schoo
board does the best to elect gooo ell
ticiept teachers. but it becomes a very
difficult matter to retain good EACH
ers when their efforts to give US a
good school receive such cold water
shocks as have occurred recently. MY
opinion, based on IA years experience
as a pupil or student; two years as a
teacher and on numerous inquiries
from parents, superintendent ana
teachers from a large number OF
towns, is that not n in 100
ever disciplines a pupil unless ne
roundly deserves all and more than he
gets. The great majority OF teachers
unfortunately so dislike trouble thab
they overlook many unnecessary an
noyances rather than be obliged to re-
sort to disciplinary methods. 1t is
usually the case that parents who act
on The presumption that all teachers
are brutes until proved otherwise. are
such as may be pardoned because or
Ignorance In Canton, however, 1t
seems that the people who are chief
ly guilty of meddling are such as we
have a right to expect YOU'D know
better. A few acts of this sort 90
more to discredit a town than a 100 or
opposite nature can counterfeit. Inc
continuation of this headStrong policy
on the part of some OF our people, OF
interfering whenever a teacher n
pupil have some slight difference VIII
eventually result in a disorganlzed
and disrupted school.
Another thing which Is also ram
pant in Canton, although to a less de-
gree, is the attempt to undermine the
the standard of scholarship of the pu-
pills. Not long ago a we'll known resi-
dent of Canton was attempting to JUS
tify to the school board the use of a
pony for Latin translation by his SON
on the ground that he received the
benefit of this aid through his sister,
and she had a pony. That such SIMS
ter influences can do nothing, but
harm is too evident to need further
comment. In general it appears that
a few OF the patrons OF the Cantor
public schools need to have their In
terest In the welfare Of the school!
raised to a considerably higher plan
of intelligence. Possibly after think
ing over a few of these things they
may come to the conclusion that not
only justice for other peoples children
but also their own demand an atti
tude more in keeping with our mod
ern civilization.
P. M. Skartvedt.