The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-06-15

Deen one single case OF serious lllneSS-
Besides a gymnasium we have many play
grounds and an athletic field that is cons
stantly being developed and enlarged. We
have adopted elaborate plans drawn up
by Landscape Architect r. e. Mead of
Birmingham for the Improvement of the
grounds and campus. We hope to begin
work this summer on the new class
rooms and dormitory to cost about $20,O 900"
DR.. Palmer contends that girl can
do % per cent more work at Montevallo
than in the public schools and still be
far from overworked. because there is
no outside social life. The girls are
not allowed visitors, these social affairs
to a fixed schedule, they have a given
time for work, for play, for society, for
sleep, for eating and everything else, and
to this systematic arrangement DR..
Palmer attributes the extraordinary
amount of study and work a girl ordi-
narily does at the A. G. I. [.
Local Taxation Greatest Need
DR.. Palmer considers local taxation the
greatest need of the school system of
Alabama, with compulsory attendance
laws running close second. He states
it would be a great benefit to him and
the work he is doing If children were
taught more industrial studies in the
sixth seventh and eighth grades of the
grammar schools. This would enable
those who enter now as freshmen at the
A. G. T. |. to enter where the sophomore
class does and go that much further, the
course of training being advanced one
year higher.
THE way to get these things in my
estimation is by keeping them agitated
by public speakers and through the press
especially through the press" says DR.
Palmer. Il especially call upon the press
to agitate these issues and keep them
constantly before the people. They hold
the greatest power of any agent that
can be used. A hundred or two people
will hear the words of speaker but
thousands will read a story in one of the
state newspapers on this matter. 1t large
ly lies with the press of the state as to
school purposes and compulsory school
attendance laws
A Disagreeable Feature
The one disagreeable part about the
Alabama Girls Technical institute is the
old tumble-down class rooms in which
the students are compelled to recite and
do their technical work. These old build
inss look more like a group Of chicken
coops than part of a modern college.
They once We're all right and they have
served their purpose we'll, but their days
OF service are past and the sooner the
state gets rid of them the better for
all parties concerned
They are hidden to some extent be-
hind the walls of the old academic build
ing, which itself fares badly when COM
pared with the remainder of the college
buildings They are propped up on stills
like a row of negro shacks. are poorly
lighted, poorly furnished and certainly
must have detrimental influence upon
any girl who has to spend a considerable
importance of the removal of these build
ings with the substitution of something
modern cannot be stressed too much.
their presence should not be used as an
unchecked criticism of the school or the
state school system
Dr' Palmer already is making plans
Tor the erection of modern academic
and class room building to take the place
Of these shacks. and Governor O'Neai has
assured him and the board of trustees
'that he hopes to give the school enough
money before the expiration of his term
TO erect such a building. Dr.. Palmer has
stated that lie hopes to begin work on
Inns much needed building this summer
and tAat 1t is probable it may be ready
Tor use next spring or not later than the
beginning of the 1914 term.