Mountain Home Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1915-1946, 1921-03-12
THE WORK OF OUR
PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Only ten more weeks remain be-
fore the end of the school year. In
spite of lack of room and fewer
courses the present year has been
very satisfactory in some ways.
This has been especially true in re-
gard to attendance. To less ex
| tent ii is also true of morale or
school spirit. Attendance and
school spirit will be mentioned in
particular below. The principal
purpose of this article is to urge
parents to do all possible to help
their children to do good school
work the rest of the year. Warm
weather beckons everyone to the out
doors and has depressing effect on
the mental attitude of all of us. We
are nearing our years goal and a
little spurring on now and then
will mean the differance between
making grade and failure in many
instances.
| Last year we were careful not to
promote any student whose grade
was too poor to justify 1T. 1t is
evident that a student who does
poor work in one grade will do
poorer work in higher and harder
one. Our care last year has helped
/ to prevent large percentage OF re-
tarded students this year. One I
the first essentials of a good school
is that it must have small number
of retarded students. Shortcuts
and hasty promotions are always the
cause of weak students and low
average of work. Due to careful
grading last year, excellent attend
ance this year and the addition Of
two more grade rooms at the ex-
pense of the high school we have
secured a satisfactory condition in
our grades. The high school course
is now cut to only the old academic
subjects and commercial course,
j however. The report card will be
the best guide as to whether the
student needs special attention or
not. There are always some of this
type who need encouragement in
some form. We also have a large
number of students who have en-
tered late from ranches and other
towns. Many of these are behind
with their work and will be kept in
their present grades for their own
good and that of the other children
who are up to standard.
ATTENDANCE-We appreciate
the great improvement in attendance
which we have had this year. 1t
has been very helpful in securing
better results. Last year absences
in high school ranged from a half
dozen to as many as thirtyfive |
day when sickness was common.
This year the high school has had
few days when attendance has
been perfect Under ordinary con-
ditions the number does not usually
go over six. We notice a tendency
to keep students out on Friday af-
son which is bad During the last
six week period our Sth. grade had
an enrolment of thirty-three. OF
this number twenty-eight had per-
feet attendance and no tardiness
during the whole period. Seven
teen of these twenty-eight received
half holiday for perfect attendance
and an average scholarship of over
80 percent. The other grade rooms
also made very good records. Regu-
lar atte14dance means good work
and irregular attendance means the
opposite in almost every instance.
Our improvement has been very
largely due to freedom from sickness
this year but it is also partly due
to better school spirit which is
shown by parents not keeping stu
dents out of school for trifling
causes or for no cause at all.
SCHOOL SPTRIT-During the war
it was said that a proper morale
was necessary if success was to re-
! suit. Morale is only another name
for a right spirit or mental attitude
toward the object which we are
pursuing. 1T requires a sympathetic
attitude of mind in any case. I'M
proved attendance has been very
largely the result of improved NOR
ale. 1t is not necessary to send the
truant officer after absent students
as much as it was last year. We
have been well repaid for the serv-
ices of two efficient truant officers.
We have much need Of still more
improvement in our high school
morale. It is encouraging to have
almost no absences which are not