The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1915-02-04
What Can l do to Help the School?

What Can l do to Help the School?
You can do a great many things,
but | know of none more effective
than to go to school meetings and
use your influence and your school
vote to elect good trustees.
Begin with the school house. Its
proper condition is essential to the
health of your children. Is the
school room warm enough in winter
and cool and shaded enough in sum-
mer? Is it light enough. and does
the light come in at the right angle
for young eyes, Is the whole build
ing clean-as clean as you expect
your home to he? And is it sanitary?
Above all, is it aired thoroughly
every day?
Is the drinking water pure, or is
it being drawn from a well that has
not been cleaned out in generation!
Are the children all drinking out of
the same cup, perhaps dipped into a
nd-germ-covered bucket that
has hung in the well since YOU went
to school yourself? Are the pupils
all washing with the same piece of
soap and wiping on the same towel!
Are the toilet closets in a sanitary
state, on opposite sides of the yard,
and screened by lattices? If these
questions can be satisfactorily an
swered your district IS so exception
al that it ought to be written up as
a model. If not, you can't get to
work too soon.
The school grounds are almost as
important as the interior. Children
need ample space to play in, and they
also need shade and beauty. The
best plan for a school yard is a wide
play space, unencumbered in the mid
die, with the edges of the inclosure
planted with trees or shrubs. and
with flower beds inside. See to it
that it is an inclosure, too, and not
open to stray animals to browse in
and befoul. Some schools in the
country have done we'll with competi-
tive beds for flowers and vegetables,
marked off for the children and with
prizes given for the best results.
Don't let your school yard continue
to be the ugly and dreary and dirty
place it too often is.
Go and see for yourselves, then
talk it over with the teacher. But
don't let it rest there. Keep up the
visiting. A good way is to have
changing committee of women to go
over the school once week or once
a fortnight.
Have "bee" and get together to
clean the schoolhouse at least twice
a year. Use plenty of soap, water
and energy on paint, floors and desks.
Treat the ceilings with whitewash
and the side walls with paper or
paint: get some good photographs to
.hang-pictures of masterpieces OF
painting or statuary-and have some
Towering plants to be tended by the
children; perhaps you could manage
an aq aquarium for them. Make pro-
vision for them to enjoy the luncheon
hour. All these things help them
to better work and also help the
teacher.
AS for the course of study: Is the
teacher the very best that can be
found? The requirements of the
rural school are more difficult than
those of any city school if the best
results are expected. Aside from an
ability to teach the varied subjects
she should have an attractive per-
sonality that offers a pattern to her
pupils. She should be able to teach
simple lessons in health and hygiene,
care of the teeth and eyes. habits OF
cleanliness, and the life-giving uses
of fresh air and sunlight, how to
avoid the most prevalent diseases
and what to do in emergencies. This
kind of knowledge, while important
for all children, is especially so to
those who may live in isolated COM
munities. far from doctors, and may
often save life. AS much instruction
is also called for in plant and animal
life. This not only serves to illumi-
nate the surroundings in which
country children are to live, but also