Charlevoix county herald., 1916-01-22

mai al least one summer In tnree.
There are five reading circle classes
in the county to give every teacher 9
chance to read the reading circle books
II your teacher is truly progressive she
will belong to one of these and you
have a right to expect her to do this.
A number of years ago our county
had uniform system of text books:
Baldwin's Readers, Mines Arithmetics,
Redway and Humans Biographies,
Overton's Physiology and Harrington's S
Spoilers. But methods have changed a
great deal since those times; our teach
ers are trained in new methods and
those books follow the old. Teachers
realize this difficulty and are asking
for new texts. few have succeeded.
Where the books are old you need new
books anyway. So when you change
the books in your district, if you will
adopt the recommended list in the back
of the directory you will find that
teacher and pupils will both progress
more rapidly. Very soon your neigh
boring school will have the same texts
and with new uniform books in the
county every teacher you hire will al
ready be familiar with the texts you
USE Thus you will save time and work
in the school room. The recommend
ed books are the books you want in
the back of this years directory.
Let me take this opportunity to an
nounce in person that | shall be in
Boyne City in the central school build
ing 1912 a. m, the second Saturday of
each month, in CharlevoiX school build
ing on the third Saturday 1912 a. m,
and in East Jordan at home on either
the first or fourth Saturday. | have
these office hours in order to learn
how the schools in each vicinity are
progressing and it would please me to
have you or any of your patrons call to
acquaint me with these conditions.
We want Is Standard Schools in 1916.
But what is a Standard School? A
Standard School is one that the state
department is not ashamed of. 1t is
school that is properly equipped, has
its pupils correctly and comfortably
seated, has enough windows properly
placed, and good ventilating system.
II is a school which the department
openly endorses by placing on the
front of the building a plate bearing
the words STANDARD School,"
AS we look over the boys and girls of
our county schools can we realize what
figures show? That at the present rate
one out of every five will die of con-
sumption? That of those who die three
out of every four are infected in the
school room before the age of sixteen?
Can we realize that in the dust of the
poorly swept, poorly ventilated room,
81 per cent of our boys and girls are
already infected with the dread white
plague? In the face of these figures
is it too much to ask that every
school be thoroughly cleaned every
month just as you would clean your
kitchens? In the presence of repre-
sentative from the state department /
am proud to say that two thirds of our
schools already have good ventilating
systems. Surely in the face of these
figures, the other one third will not
postpone their action.
In Cheboygan county few years ago
a test was made Of the vision of coun-
try school children. The test showed
that 81 per cent of the pupils Lad de-
fective vision in one form or another.
Causes are much the same in Charlie
voix county one half enough light or
cross light for continuous straining of
the eyes thru a period of six consecu-
tive hours.
When school houses were first built
these matters had not been investigat-
ed We cannot help the fact that our
school houses have been wrongly built.
Years have come and gone without our
knowledge of the steady advance of the
slow creeping disease in our midst.
Years have passed without our realiz-
ing the dreadful consequences of in
jured eyesight but the results are
known now. In the face of these facts
a new era has dawned. Fathers and
mothers thruout the land are demand
ing that their school houses be re-
modelled to meet the requirements of
health. The department has made a
careful study of conditions and has
published the manual of remodelling
old buildings. Besides this they will
be glad to answer any questions that
you wish to ask them at any time about
your buildings. AT your invitation a
state inspector will come without any
expense to you to tell you just what
your building lacks.
II every school board in Charlevoix
county should this year vote a tax Of
800 just for Improvement and expend
it wisely. We could have 25 new
Standard Schools i'm 1916 instead of our