The Seward gateway daily edition, and the Alaska weekly post., 1919-10-25
COMPLIMENTS THE SCHOOLS
 OF THIS CITY
BY LESTFX ID. HENDERS>N
 Territorial Commissioners of Edu- cation. now visiting in Seward.

The Public School is the biggest and most important institution in any com munity.
 We. as people, have within the past two years had impressed upon us the truth of the statement, "The schools make the nation"
 We are now realizing as never be- fore the fact that the education of all the children iS not only an obligation and necessity but also that it is an investment which yields real, tangibl" returns.
 1t is encouraging to observe the in terest which the school board and resi- dents of Seward manifest in th" school. This interest, together with the proper degree of cooperation on the part of all interested, should mean much in the further development Of both the school and the community.
 
 1 find conditions in the school to D" very satisfactory. The teachers are highly competent and the pupils in- terested in their work. The scope Of of the subject matter presented i'' with slight exceptions, as extensive aS the present enrolment will, perhaps, justify. Some slight additions can well be made to the material equipment.
 The school is in need of gymnas' ium in order that further attention may be given to physical education. No school will, in the future, be con sidered complete which does not maS" as adequate provisions for the phySic' al we'll being of children as for their mental development. If q gymnasium project could be backed by every or ganization and individual in the com munity it would soon become reality.
 In the past we have prided our selves on the fact that our schools of fered equal opportunities to all.
 We now know that they have not meet this test Not all children arc academic in thought and life. Some are eye minded and motor minded. Too many of these drop out of school before they have completed the curr;- culum. Such pupils would be held in school and would secure that training which is needed in order to fit them for full citizenship if they could be permitted to elect vocational courses such as manual training, domestic science, commercial subjects, etc
 A Small school cannot offer this work to the same degree as a large one Some attention could, however, br given to such lines in Seward without materially increasing the cost oI school maintenance.
 The community affords facilities for the dental examination and medi- cal inspection including vision tests - of children The school board would do we'll to make some provision for this matter during the present year. Statistics prepared by compe- tent authorities show that in the aver. age one hundred pupils of the public schools We will have approximately the following percentages of phySih'V defcctS:--
 Seriously defective teeth 40 per cent.
 Malnutrition 10 per cent.
 Enlarged tonsils or adenoidS l5 per cent.
 Tuberculosis 10 per cent.
 Defective vision 70 per cent
 Defective hearing , per cent.
 Spinal curvature or other bone de- formity , per cent.
 Organic heart disease 2H per cent. The nation fell down physically under the stress of war, Thirty per cent of the men examined for entrance into the army were rejected because of physical defects of more or less serious nature. The school child ren of Alaska may be physically more perfect than is indicated by the fore going table. However, it would be we'll fol us to know the facts before arriv- i5g,at such a conclusion.
 There never has been a time when the educational outlook in both the na- tion and the Territory was so encouv.