Charlevoix county herald., 1921-02-18
The American
Public Schools

The greatest contribution America
has made to the civilization OF the
world is the American public school
system. The American public school
system means that every child, rich or
poor, high or low. of any color or creed
has an opportunity, free of charge, to-
receive the elements of an education.
The American public school is the most
democratic institution on earth. II
recognizes no cast, no nobility, no
favoritism. Children sit side by side,
work together, and the children with
brains and ability forge ahead no mat
ter who or what their parents are. AS
long as the American public school
system flourishes, pure, unadulterated
democracy will characterize America.
Governor Groesbeck has set aside
the week beginning February 10 as
Better Schools Week. This is the week
to consider the value of the public
schools, to think about their needs, and
to resolve to promote their welfare.
We cannot have better schools unless
we have better teachers. We cannot
have better teachers unless we insist
upon more training for teachers. We
cannot have better trained teachers un
less we pay more money for that train
ing. 1t is not uncommon to find one
teacher worth a thousand times as
much as another teacher teaching by
her side in the same school. The good
teacher does not receive a thousand
times as much salary. The salary that
good teacher receives is always too
little no matter how large it is. The
salary a poor teacher receives is
always too much no matter how small
it is. Good teachers must be paid in
order to hold them at the profession,
and good teachers must be paid in
order to induce them to enter the pro-
fession. Every parent has perfect
right to find any or all sorts of fault
with poor teacher, but that same
right implies the duty to be willing to
pay good big price for good big
teacher. 1t is not so much a question
OF how much money is spent as it is
question of the amount of the returns
for each individual dollar.
The American schools must mean
equal opportunities for all. Wherever
there are not equal opportunities for
ALL, then those conditions ought to be
adjusted so that there will be equal OPP
portunities for all. A child living ten
miles from a high school is just as
much entitled to high school educa-
ton as is the child who lives ten rods.
A child who lives in a rural district,
sparsely settled, and employing poor
teacher is entitled to just as good a
teacher as is the one who has the best
teacher in city school system. The
best sort of teaching can be brought to
all the rural children only by means Of
consolidated schools.
The cost OF maintaining the public
school system should be borne equally
by the entire public. People living in
East Jordan ought not to have to pay
any higher tax rate than people who
live in Detroit. At the present time
there is bill before the Legislature
which tends to equalize school taxes
throughout the State. Every person
interested in public education should
use his influenceto the end that such
bill becomes a law, in order that
schools of equal worth may be main
tanned in all of the communities of the
great State OF Michigan.
When America provides an education
for every boy and girl, it provides
what wealth and position and favori-
tism and all the characteristics OF the
government of Europe cannot give,
and as long as America does this, she
will be great and glorious in a sense
hitherto unapproachad by any other
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