The copper era and Morenci leader., 1912-12-13
BETTER HIGH SCHOOLS FOR cLIF-
 TON.
CBy R. M. Shreves, Principal)
(Second Paper)

(Second Paper)
 l I use the term high schools advis-
 edly. Although we have only one
 high school of this school which ought in time to become high schools by themselves. For example it is not too
 much to expect that in the course Of
 a few years that our new departments
 of Manual Training and Commercial
 Business will grow to be full four
 year high school courses, and when
 they do grow to such an extent they
 may rightly be termed high schools,
 rather than Departments of our pres
 ent High School. So much, then, in
 explanation of my reason for saying
 better high schools rather than
 better high school" for Clifton.
 I promised last time in my introduc-
 tory article to discuss our local condi-
 tions in Clifton and show how they effect our schools. And in this pres ent paper I am to discuss the ques- tion of Nationality and the effect of 1 this problem upon our schools.
 | That the problem of nationality IS
 an important one in determining the
 methods and aims of the Clifton
 Schools is not open to questino. The problem is real and living and we must attack it with all our reserve ] force. One only needs to recall that in Greenlee County there are $500 pu-- pills of school age and that Of these l 2600 are Mexicans, to see how import
 ant the problem really is Over seven ty-two per cent of the pupils of school age in the County are Mexi-' cans And the conditions in Clifton
 are not greatly different. At times
 one is inclined to say that it seems that the schools of our County and the
 grades of our own city are composed
 chiefly of foreign pupils. But when
 we look carefully into the problem we l find that such a condition does nos exist beyond probably the fourth or fifth grades, and that from there on | the foreigners (chief1y MeXicanS) con- stitute an increasingly less proportion of our school attendance. These facts
 bring to our minds two problems of tremendous significance. In the
 first place, the fact that through a part of the school course Gin lower
 grades) the foreigners occupy such a prominent place as to force upon us the problem of properly providing for 1 their specific needs as, a race and as individuals. By, this statement | do not mean that we should attempt to
 educate them in the ways of their
 own native land, but rather that we should recognize that as race these
  and capabilities which we must recog nize and provide for in our system of education. And further that to devel- op these, the methods of the schools
 must be adopted to these ends. That , is the aims and methods of the lower grades must be very largely determin- ed by the demands which these for | eigners make upon us. in the way. of preparing them adequately for eff cient citizenship. To meet adequately these demands
 we must first know what they are, and although this. first problem arising out of the. conditions of nationality is one for the Superintendent of: the grades especially, yet it does force itself upon me also as principal of the high school. The problem as stated is to properly plan our program of studies for the Grades with reference to certain aims, and to employ in the class room, and out of it such means to these ends or aims, as will con- duce to more wholesome and efficient citizenship. But as I have said, to know what our aims should be so far as the foreigners are concerned, We must know what their nature is. As a race practical and utilarian make the strongest appeal to them, much stronger than the classical and ideal or what is often falsely I think call {. ed the cultural"
 Our general aims of the school have been rather dogmatically asserted to be complete living" in the broadest sense of the phrase. Now to reach these aims with some people you must use one means and with others you must use other means. The prac- tical and utilitarian will make the strongest appeal to some, while the in tellectual, social, moral or religious elements of our nature will be the l best avenue of approach for others to this same end. We must all be prac . tical, intellectual, social, moral and l religious if our national citizenship , and life itself be made stable and se- i cure. But we must recognize at the . same time that either of these aven- ; ues if rightly pursued will in the end . lead to the desired goal of complete and efcfiient citizenship in our nation i and the world. The avenues we fol low in the direction of our desired | goal must be determined langley by . the nature and characteristics of our people W. om we are trying to lead. i If the mind of the Mexican of our run in the direction of practical education, as they do, then when we neglect this fact and try to force them to meet other standards, say to meet us on the intellectual plain, there we are doing them an in- justice, and the school system as q whole positive harm, which is bound to tell in the end But this problem of properly shaping our educational aims and means to includes the needs Io1