Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-12-30
PUBLIC SCHOOLS
HOLD SESSIONS
Xmas Holidays of Students Cut
Short to Replace Time Lost
During Epidemic.

To-day and tomorrow Wilmington High
will try the unique experiment OF having
the schools open these two days during
the Christmas holidays. This IS for The
purpose Of making un some Of the timc
lost through the al epidemic
In places where the schools were not
closed during the epidemic, this courses
was not necessary and the youpgster g
are having full vacation. Wilmington,
however, was one Of the cities where the
wiser thing was done, and schools closed
] he faculty were perfectly willing tomake
up lost time in this way
It was asaanticipatcd that the boys and
girls, though, would be rather ungraclous
about IT, as young people do Ike Vaca~
ton However, they are doing their
work IN very good spirit. One teacher
at the High School, said he asked her
classos before the holidays, how they felt
about coming to school for Two days n
between Christmas and New Year s.,
and they expressed themselves IN favor
Of making no the time Apparently they
have realized IN the course Of their wort
hat they need moro time 10 I'll the regular
requirements
Schools, rs educational centors, are
attempting. with both foreign born grown
ups and children Of foreigners. TO incnlcate
a feeling for American ways ana lnstltu-
tions In November a course was started
for teachers 10 equip them to Amcrlcani2c
foreigners The course lasted six weeks,
ending at the Christmas holidays Those
who took II will be equipped 10 teach and
spread AnericanizatIon when pract ical
means have been provided for giving .
course. It is intended that Some kind
of evening work with foreigners shall
teach them about America and It's dis
/ tinctiye advantages There Is a tendency
on the part of foreigners fo -ogregate
! themselves, and keep ~ their foreign
customs, language, and traditions, and
assimilation little of American way
The various public schools Of Whining
| ton, have been working for the Americana
cation 0f the children of forelgn-6orn
parents BY provoking discussion and
written exercises on why their parent
! came to America The child would ~
assigned such subject for composition
rs an English lesson To get he lnfor
nation, the child asked its parents whS
they came ovcr here. This provoked
+ discussion IN the home and thought aboHf
i the matter The compositions are ilai
ininafing, and reasons for coming Z
| America, vary with the nationality q
the parents IN some schools fhe foreign
horn parents were almost 3l Austrian
IN others Russian. etc II would seen
that Russians, generally Russian JOYS
came here from Russia - get educationa
opportunities for their children whil
Austrians came here FIR better fnancia
opportunities little jewish girl o
| Russian parcntagc writes
Nv parents were born and raIscd il
| RUSSIA AZ thpv grew older fnpr begal
to realize the hardships that thcv mus
endure Only The large cities u Russl
had public and nigh schools The poo
people Who lived N the small towns
could not afford 10 send thcir children +
school Even the people who lived IN th
large cItlc-. unless they were very wealthy
could not send their children % 2choo
because the ;ution was terv expensive
For that reason most 6f the people 0f Rus
sla we're une1!ucatcd Nv father decide
to leave Russia anu 20 . the Tree eo12ntr'
Of which he Rid heard . much, Wher
liberty and justice are before anything
Nv parents left their relatives and came q
America in order 10 secure their nw
liberty and to give their children IN adl
cation That Is whv they would -athe
live IN Amcriea
One little gIri wrote that her notns
came over here because she had : SteY
mother that Was very cruel TO heT J
Austrla-Hungarv Ii hardly seems Isl
to blame cruel steTNmathers on Austr
Hungary alone However, most 81 theI
came over n quest q ideals. and amer
can : have duty and Kindness - perforI
IN keeping their taIth II her bright 81
unwaverlng.