Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1922-06-09
RECORD CLASS OF
HIGH SCHOOL GRADS
sEvENTY-TWO GET SHEEPsKINS
" address GIVEN BY
''U' PRESIDENT

High school diplomas were given tc
seventy-two boys and girls, five OF
whom were post graduates, at the com
mencement exercises held at the high
J school auditorium Saturday evening
IL. D.. Coffman, president of the state
university, delivered the commencement
address and Mrs. L. D. Brown, presi
dent of the board Of education, pre-.
sented the diplomas to the graduates
The auditorium was crowded to the
doors with parents, relatives and
friends Of the members Of the class.
The program opened with a march
by the high school orchestra, during
which the class, members of the board
superintendent and speaker took their
places on the stage. Rev. Geo. r. Gcer
offered the invocation. James r.
johnson then gave the salutatory and
! Miss Laura Brannen sang.
President Cotfman gave an interest
ing address on "Our Duty Toward
Education,' in which he compared the
educational institutions of the present
day with those of fifty and seventy
five years ago and explained how max
imum results are to be obtained. He
said that it is a fact that this country
is engaged in a gigantic experiment,
namely, to provide education. We
have maintained that our democratic
institutions must be sustained and
naturally there have been ma.
changes in the school system until the
question has arisen as to whether we
can stand this cost. To show that the
schools have improved and that there is
an increasing demand for better educa-
ton Mr.. Cotfman called attention to
the fact that where in 1887 only s..
per cent Of the boys and girls Is years
old were freshmen in high schools, to-
day 35.5 per cent are in the first year
Of high school at that age. Likewise in
1887 only a small percentage were
sophomores at Is years and only one
per cent were seniors at Is years. To-
day nearly all are seniors at Is years.
He said that there are as many fresh
men in the colleges now as there were
sophomores in the high schools at that
| time.
The value Of having democratic edu.
cational institutions was pointed out
by Mr.. Coffman. He said that we
find that there are more students in
the public schools Of this country than
in all the sectarian schools of the Euro.
pean countries.
The question of support of the
schools financially is not so bad, oc'
cording to Mr.. Cofman. Last year
luxury taxes amounted to twelve mil
lion dollars from this state alone. The
amount of federal taxes last year were
more than ali that this state has spent
on education in its history and we a~s
giving less attention to the training
of our teachers than many other coun
tries in the world. In this connection
he said that no one should be permitted
to teach before they have had at least
two years of training beyond the pub
lie high school, A small percentage OF
the teachers Of today have that much
training, he added. Today the average
education amounts to over 1900 days
as compared with 5S2 days in 1870 anc
POS in 1910, and the reason for the in
crease is that the problems become
greater each succeeding year, requiring
better education. In the old days W.
never heard of capital and labor diff
fculties; there were no urban prob
lens; the coming Of the immigrants
the publishing Of books and newspa
pers, ETC., all created new problem
which had to be met, and the people
said that it was up to them to provide
a better educational system. Th'
speaker said that during the last wa
someone found that there is a direc
relation between the schools and tn
government and that the chief mean
of controlling a democracy is through
some form Of popular education. III
Inscribed the bad educational condition
in several countries of the old worl'
to three reasons-st starvation, Ignorance
and unscrupulous demagogs, but sai'
that we do not need to go to Europe O.
to Siberia to find situations like this
We found like conditions in our ow1
country during the world war, when tn
men were called upon for military ser
vice.
According to Mr.. Coffman the ques
ton today is "Shall we support edu
4 cational fundamentals of our education
al institutions?' England during tn
world war raised her compulsory edu
cation limit to Is yeaas and Farnce l
about to do likewise, but this countr,
has not done one thing in the matter
Asking whether it was because tn
children Of this country are more gift
ed than the children of England an
France Mr.. Coffman answered in tn
negative and said that it is because W
}! are not yet aware that in the problem
that are going to confront the wori
the. leading educated nation will tax
the lead in their solution. GLOVER tn
level of intelligence and the nation will
90 down; raise it and the nation vii
take its proper place in the world,
Mr.. Coffman said.
Our duty to intelligence is plain, az
cording to the speaker, who said tina
the people are inclined to call for tn
doctor only when critically i'll; for tn
lawyer only when they get into legs
!, tangle which they cannot handles an
) for spiritual help in the last fiftee
minutes Of existence on this eartf
The disposition on our part to ove1
) estimate our ability is very noticeable
!, Duty and patriotism were general
. manifested in the war and we CAV
because we felt it our duty and an ae
}. .Iof patriotism, Mr.. Coffamn said. Afte
q the armistice, however, a reaction sc
+ IN and old jealousies came back. Whe
4 the men came home from France the
( found trouble on all sides; the countr
was as i'll prepared to handle the prob
Il lens Of peace as it was for the prot
,s lens Of war. One of our fine tradition
has been that we provide better for ou
q children than we. received and unles