Emmons County record., 1920-12-02
COUNTY SCHOOL NOTES

This paragraph is relative to the
teacher situation in the county. We,
first wish to state that the situation
here is identical with that in more
than half the counties in the state. !;
Hundreds of young people unfit Tor.
the profession have been thrust upon
us in the attempt to have the schools
in session. The situation is appcll-
ing. The enrolment in normal,
schools has fallen OF twenty-five to.
fifty per cent and thousands of schools
are closed. AS bad as is the closing
cf schools in American communi-
ties. can. you imagine what the re-
suit will be in foreign communities
Each community will use the languag.
Of its fatherIand, and instead Of
American settlement there will be a
Little Norway here, Little Germany
there, and a Little France somewhere
else. wish to submit to you this
question: Is, it not worth while to
have unfit teachers in such communi-
ties in order that children can at least
learn the language of this country?
Some Of the schools where these
teachers now are had very little school
last year, and some had none. Would
you, if you were superintendent, al
low these schools to go on from year
to year without teachers? We have
spent several years in the study of
the problem of such rural schools and
other county superintendents have
done the same. and we have cone tc
no other solution of the question but
the one we have row used. Teachers
are not going into communities of this
kind if salaries are low and terms are
only seven months in length, and a
boarding place is hard to get and the
people charge them big price to get
to town when they can get schools,
in American communities, with terms
of eight or nine months in length,
good boarding places and s10O to $125
a month. Would you, if you were a
teacher? Can you tell US how we are
going to force qualified teacher to
take such school? We believe we
have gone a long way toward the So
luton in Winona district where four
of the schools have teacherages built
On the main building. Even then we
were unable to get the teachers until
we had prevailed upon the school d.
rectors to pay 500 instead of 800.
The term there is seven months, but
we believe we can get the board to
add another month in three schools
that can be standardized. The only
other solution is the establishment of
consolidated school in such districts,
but that can only be done by vote
Of the people and they are almost all
against it.
We wish to state that the time to
raise the salary in vacant schools is
now PAST. Salaries should have been
raised when we could get the teachers.
Of course, we occasionally get quail
ified teacher who wishes more money
than the district is paying and we be-
lieve it false economy to keep the SAL
| ary down and lose the teacher. But
the only way to get enough qualified
teachers now is to pay more than any
other county in the state aid that
would mean salary Of about S150.
School directors and patrons should
realize that good schools mean sub
stantial increase in the value of the
farm property Of their district and
that poor schools will keep the value
down. School officers should also rea.
lie that they cannot suit everybody
but if they do what they think is best
for their schools they should feel nc
ee"rets. Too many boards refuse &c
raise the teachers salary because the
patrons complain. But if that is the
only way to have good schools it is
the duty Of the board to raise the sal.
ary to a level that will get the best
I H'AA0 VI SSS1SAcIS. 4Icu. WHeN SaLlS'
factory results are shown. tncy viii,
have the condemnation of the com.
munity on account of the good schools
The following pupils of Highland
School No. 2.have enrolled in the Pu.
pils' Reading Circle: Ruby Purintun
Beulah Buck. Alfred, Margaret and
Ebert Larvick.
Edwin PfeifAr and Isaac Blore
Winchester district. received Punctu.
ality Pins this week.
Twenty-three schools are now en-.
rolled as Junior Red Cross Schools
There should be one hundred and for.
ty-five more.
This week we are sending out a let
70 the various schools directors Of
The schools we have visited calling
their attention to the needs Of theil
schools. We hope they will see to II
that the schools are provided for.