New Britain herald., 1919-02-26

of franchise. To be entirely success
full it is necessary to extend the work
of Americanization into a socializin2
program which will touch the life Of
the community at all points.
Following the talk by Mr.. O'Brien,
a talk on the pressing school prob
lem in Berlin was given by B. r.
Showater. superintendent Of schools.
In the course of his remarks, Mr..
Showalter brought out the fact that
Berlin stands SO in population
among the 168 cities and towns in the
state of Connecticut. In the mum
Der of children Berlin stands so. She
stands 40 in number of children en-
rolled in school, and 81 on basis of
children in average daily attendance.
These facts show that SO far as popu-
lation is a standard, Berlin is normal
in the matter of mum Der of children
and their relation to the school.
Shortage of Teachers.
While Berlin stands 40 in the num-
Der of children enrolled in the schools,
the rank in rumber of teachers EN-
ployed is 61.5. This is marked evil
dence of the fact proven elsewhere,
that there are not enough teachers
in Berlin. Berlin is wealthier in peo-
pie than in this worlds goods, if the
rank of 76 on the basis of the grand
list Is accepted as TRUE There are
few people in the town, however, who
do not admit that the grand list falls
far short of the amount at which it
should stand At the annual town
meeting IN November a vote was
to hn hA
of the meeting that the grand list
was too small, and requesting the
assessors to take steps to correct the
situation.
Lack of Money For Schools.
Including the funds drawn from.
the state, Berlin spent about SIS, 900
for its schools last year. Upon the
basis of average attendance this
meant an expenditure of $500 for
each child. On this basis Berlin
ranks 145 among the 1853 cities and
towns of the state. The town which
ranks first, town not as large as
Berlin, spent $94.23, while the 1853
town sent $25.65. Had Berlin spent
as much as the IS town, which spent
less than the average amount per
child for the entire state. there would
have been $5,15s more available for
school use Proof that it was needed,
and that still more is needed this
year, Is not lacking.
OvercrOwding and Overage.
AS a result of the lack of funds, II
of the 20 school rooms in Berlin are
crowded to such an extent that the
minimum of 20 square feet of floor
space per child, the minimum for
educational efficiency and the health
and safety of the children, Is not
available. One room, built to accom-
modate 33 children,-no more-now
houses As. This overcrowding is in
terfering with the progress of the
children, holding them back At
least three if not four new teachers
are needed this year.
A study of the ages of the children
in the different grades shows that one
child in three is from / to years
older than he should be for his grade
In most cases this represents the
number of times the child has failed
to pass at the end of the year Tho
result Of this condition is twofold:
Children are leaving school at the
earliest possible age, IA, inadeQuate-
ly prepared for citizenship and al
ready marked by the sta mp Of failure;
for each child who fails to
pass the town is compelled to
pay, as last year, $500 in or
der that he may repeat the work
of the previous year This means
| waste, educational and financial Had
, Berlin been spending as much in sup
. port Of her schools as her population