Belt Valley times. [volume] (Armington, Mont.) 1894-1977, 1923-03-08
COUNTY UNIT
AGAIN!
Editor Belt Valley Times,
Belt, Montana.

Belt, Montana.
Dear Sir:
My attention has been called to two
editorials in your valuable paper cov
ering the subject of County Unit
Since / know you wish to be fair in
the treatment of such topics, / should
like to have space to reply and have
therefore sent you the enclosed ma
terial. | hope you a give the other
side of this case so that your readers
will be able to form a proper judg-
ment.
The reply follows:
The writer of this little sketch on
county unit is a firm believer in the
idea that very little that is good can
be accomplished by one-sided argu-
ment, but that much can be accom-
plished if we throw into the scales
the good and the bad and weigh them
all very carefully. Let US lay aside
our prejudices, u seIfishness, above
all our conceptions and con-
slider the proposition from both sides
and If we see more that is good than
bad in the system, let us retain it, if
not let us go back to the district sys-
tenn.
In an article that appeared in the
Belt Valley Times. a short time ago q
number Of very important problems
arising out of county unit we're dis
cussed. We should like to take these
up n by one and not attempt to re-
flute them, but simply to throw some
additional light upon them.
The first point made was that local
boards were now forced to make out
budgets that had to meet the approval
of the county board of education be-
fore the money for expenditures was
forthcoming. "If a new stove poker
is needed 1t must be requisitioned."
In this day of a crying need for better
business methods in the expenditure
of public moneys and the cry going
up everywhere for budgets instead of
slipshod spending of the speople's
money, it seems strange that anyone
should object to a system that calls
for the local board going over their
needs for the coming school year and
submitting a budget covering such
needs. The complaint is founded on a
misunderstanding more basic than
this, however. Even under the dis .
trict system a local board is required .
to submit its budget to the Board of :,
Commissioners before a tax !,
levy can take effect. If the scrutiny !.
IF the Board of Education is more irk- !,
some than that Of the county COM :
nissioners, is it not also possible that
hey are more efficient in the per- :
Torrance of the task than the COM :
ever were? :,
A second point made in the editor !,
referred to above was that it
ended to depopulate our farms be- >
ause of the tendency for folk to bring :,
heir children to towns for thir edu- :
alton. Poor schools or no schools at -
II for rural children is doing more ..
han anything else in America to force :.
ight-minded parents off the farm.
.ong before county unit was ever =
card of there were many rural folk !.
no planned to move to the village
the winter to give their children :
or the mother would come
/ with the children or friends in the :,
illage would board their children for y
winter months. County unit has :.
imply extended this method to in !,
ude a few who for some reason had
used the plan before. Let US not
: so harsh as to blame the county
nit for all the abandoned farms in
ascade county. At most there are :"
lily a handful of families affected by -
rs feature and the number of aban-
med farms in Montana is legion. The =,
.gument is like blaming a political ~"
lrty for poor crops or lack of rain q
Ii. no
Another charge against county unit
I'd educational programs in general
ade by the writer was that the
'uth is being educated away from -,
'rk; that nine months of school was
t a desirable ideal for it tended to
AXE u boys lazy. Our observation a
simply this: that the right kind of =
hool keeps a boy SO busy that if he =