The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1912-02-29
The School Question
by w. L. Houseman.


crowded conditions st the school and
now much extra space is needed to re-
l!eve these conditions for the present.
we are taking the liberty OF preparing
the following statement to put forth in
as clear a manner as we know how
just what is needed. Those in charge
will be glad to show all who are inter.
ested through the building at any time.
Seeing is believing" Come and see.
Our high school department has so
far outgrown its present quarters tnat
we cannot get class room space that
we need at the present time. Owing
to the rapid growth Of this depart
ment, our classes are larger than in
the past. The result is that larger
rooms and more blackboards are
needed. We have neither. Four
teachers give their entire time to high
school classes and two others Il por-
tion. We had one suitable recitation
room only. The library was needed
so the books were moved to the office
and we had another room for classes.
IL is small, has very little blackboard
space and will seat eight comfortably.
More room had to be provided so the
eighth grade was moved to the high
school room and this room taken for
rec tation purposes and fills the bill
admirably. 1t is not desirable to
keep our eighth grade in the high
school however as they lose the inAu-
ence and help of special teacher and
moreover are not yet developed to the
extent that they can adapt themselves
TO the new order of things which comes
in the change from grades to high
school. For time in the fall the sit
uation was relieved but when the late
arrivals began to enter and our short
course began, we found that we had
80 and for time 80 pupils to place in
~ single seats. 10 one standing ut
the front of the room as classes are
passing, the situation is ludicrous but
constant repetition day after day
divests it of the humor. lie will see
eight or ten come in and line up ut the
back of the room until some get up
and there are empty seats for them.
This is daily occurrence.
Because of Me crowding, we have
been unable to get workable sche-
dule for high school classes. Only
yesterday, we were surprised to find
on entering the high school room ut a
quarter of three that a teacher was
attempting to hear a class recite while
62 pupils were crowded into the 60
seats in the room. 10 be sure Is
minutes later the eighth grade class
arose and passed out, leaving only
AZ. len minutes before the end of the
period they returned Will, the accom-
panying confusion.
We are all the time meeting with
such difficulties rs the above in our
attempts to get the most out Of space
at hand. II we were not crowded for
class rooms, it would not be necessary
to hold classes IN the main room. The
laboratory is not available for labor
atory work except at one period dur
ing the whole day, being used for sew
ing, mechanical drawing, and two
classes in Agriculture, besides its use
f,,, 1n1
to do their experimental work between
four and six O'Clock in the afternoon.
There is not sufficient light for this
close work at such q time during much
of the school year.
Our girls playroon has been taken
for manual training and no one will
understand better than the parents the
need of such a room where the young
er ones may 20 to play at recess and
other times when exercising. For q
large portion of the winter it is too
cold for them to play outside.
Glasses cannot be formed in cookery
because of this lack of room. Cook
ing is required of classified high
schools. We can reasonably expect
that we will have to offer this subject
within the next two years or lose our
classification.
BY tests with standard Anemo-
meter, the state inspector found the
fresh air registers in several rooms to
be rs follows:
End grade, los Gu. IT. of air per min
9TH grade, liz . IS
4th grade, l45 - "
High School, middle register, 25S
Gu. tt.
These readings were taken at ran
dom in different rooms and represent
the average registers in the building.
The minimum supply OF air per pupil
is 80 Gu. it. per minute. Our grades
will average Is pupils. The air for
the other II to II must come from the
only source possible, the windows.
In summer this is not hard nor dan.