The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1914-10-29
ANNUAL MEETING
OF EDUCATORS
HELD AT DEADWooD WEpNEs-
DAY, THURSDAY AND FRIDAY
OF LAST WEEK
EXCELLENT PROGRAM N DEPARTMENTS
~6rookinss People Take Prominent Part
In the Different Sessions-import-
ant Resolutions Are Passed

The annual meeting of the South Da-
kota Educational Association was held
at Deadwood on Wednesday, Thursday
and Friday of last week. Brookings
was represented by a good sized dele
cation, and they tell us that the meet
ing was n of the best held by the
association in ONE time. The attend
ance was splendid, considering the dis
lance most of the delegates had to
travel.
Brookings people took a prominent
part in the programs of the different
departments, and received favorable
mention in the write-ups of the ses-
sions. Superintendent Browning in his
opening address as president of the de-
partment of higher and secondary edu-
cation said:
Whatever we would have in the
nations life, that we must put into the
schools" is finding general accept
ance; but this raises all sorts of ques-
tons, the most p%erplexing of which is,
what shall we have in the nations
life? School both reflect existing ma
tional ideals and creates new ideals.
Thus a nation through it's schools
tends to perpetuate itself, and thus a
system of education Is born of the gen.
ius of the people; it is of slow growth
and it is deeply rooted in traditions.
There Is no brand" of education that
can be shipped from country to coun-
try, and applied to different people
under diverse conditions. But more
than this, no single form of education
Is adequate for the complex life of our
nation. And again, a system of educa-
ton, however elaborate, devised for
one period, is not applicable to the peo-
pie for which ii was devised In success
sive periods. There this body of teach
ers represent construction In the life of
this nation. The army and navy repre-'
sent destruction and when the teach
ers have wrought all the possibilities
within their grasp, there wont be any
need of either army or navy. OF the
20, zoo, 900 children in the public schools
Of the U. s. $4,000, 900 are in the first
five school years. The sixth grade can
reach only / pupil in 20 of this 20, O0O,-
900. But / in AZ can be reached In the
eighth school year and but 13 per cent
of those who are in the grade schools
enter the high school,
The committee on educational policy
made the following report:
We favor:
/. The enactment Of a law provid-
ing for the introduction Of normal.
training into the high schools, such as
is embodied in the report of the COM
mittee on course of study for high
schools, or as presented in House bill
No. 176, introduced at the last session
of the state legislature.
2. The enactment of a law providing
for the appointment by the board of
county commissioners of county health
inspector invested with the authority
of health officer.
3. The enactment of a law codifying
existing laws on certiications provid-
ing, as a substitute for the present in
stitute to be held some time during the
school year in the fall and a summer
school of not less than six weeks dura-
ton; and providing furthermore, that
after September /, 1917 all applicants
for elementary certificates shall give
evidence of professional training as
follows:
a. For the first grade certificates
eighteen weeks attendance at an ap-
proved normal school or summer
school.
b. For the second grade certificates
twelve weeks attendance at an ap-
proved normal school or summer
school.
C. For the third grade certificate.
six weeks attendance at an approved
normal school or summer school.
A. The enactment of a law estab-
fishing the county unit system in the
administration Of rural and village
schools.
5. The enactment of a law to pro-
vide for compulsory free textbooks for
all grades below the high schools
that is, q law similar In most respects
to the free textbook law of Minnesota.
6. The enactment Of laws providing