Belt Valley times. [volume] (Armington, Mont.) 1894-1977, 1923-05-24
A MESSAGE TO THE RURAL SCHOOL TRUSTEES.

The County Unit, after four years of trial has been discard'
by the people and after July 1 the residents of each district w
again assume the responsibilities for their own scnoois Whlch nay
been denied them for four years.
If the schools are carried on properly it will require though
and, in many cases, self denial, but from now on the patrons
each school district will have the power in their hands to make
ruin their home school.
Consideration for the feelings of others, unselfshness in tn
management of the school affairs, community gatherings wher
the finances and the equipment and teacher problem may b
talked over will make for a harmonious administration.
The county unit had many good points along with its defect
and it would be well to embody its virtues, so far as may be posi-
BILE, in the new scheme of things. Every child is entitled to al
education but in this day of the automobile the distance pupil
should be required to travel before transportation is Offered
should be considered seriously. Parents can drive four miles anc
back taking their children to school in a half hour and no one b.
the worse off.
Improvement in the cerhfication system will keep out most
of the unfit teachers while better methods of preparing teachers
for rural school work will still further work to your advantage.
The care of your school house and its proper equipment will
be in your hands. The length of the school term will be decided
by you and wherever possible the term should be so arranged that
parents may have the use of their children's services when help
is most needed.
We do not believe in immature boys doing the heavy work of
the farm but no boy was ever seriously injured because he drove
a team all day or pulled weeds, or brought home the cows or fed
the pigs. On the other hand this work is a part of his education
and many a city father has thought of his own boyhood days,
when his father kept him busy at light tasks, and he has lament
ed the fact that he has nothing to give his boys to do. People
often mistake book learning for education. School people are
prone to. Many childless women can't discriminate between the
two but parents early come to realize that work is the essential
thing the child must be trained for f. he is to amount OF anything.
In years gone by some parents have demanded incessant labor
from their children with no opportunities for school until it be-
came necessary to enact laws curbing this od-fashioned tenden-
cy. But the reaction went too far, it placed a premium on book
learning and a discount on useful work. To strike a happy med
ium where the studies of the curriculum are only one part of the
scheme of education and the ability to work, the learning of the
essential things about the farm and the development of strong
physiques in the great o~ut-of-doors the other, will give to the
country the type of citizen we need. +
To make his school give to his boy and girl the kind of educa-
ton which will best fit them for their place in life is the desire of
every rural school trustee. Many trustees unintentionally make
mistakes in the management of their schools which they regret
when events have proved their action wrong. A perusal of the
following ten commandments may help them to avoid some of the =
errors:
l. Thou shalt look after the business of thy school district :
as a sacred trust and not as if the district were thine own proper p
ty. Thou shalt demand no more than thou wouldst give in like o
case. c
II. Thou shalt not pay myself shekels of gold or shekels of 7
silver for work done around thy school house lest the people call !,
thee a CRATER. s
Ill. Thou shalt attend board meetings and say thy say. but s
the majority is against thee, bow thy head and oppose no 2
~. Thou shalt elect a clerk who shall keep thy accounts and :
L ne fall thee, fire him that thy people may have confidence in
and thy account books be ever open.
v. Thou shalt not hire thy daughter as teacher because a f
prophet hath no honor an his own country and thou wouldst save \
her tears. II
VI. Thou shalt not send to North Dakota or Minnesota for
friend of thy family to teach thy school lest she fail in the ex- II
aminations and thou come to grief. II
vi. Thou shalt not hire a teacher because her price is low II
for an efficient laborer earneth an honest wage. Neither shalt |
Lnu pay an exhorbltant wage and cause the teachers of thy neigh II
bos to be envious. H
VII Thou shalt not fail to sign a contract with thy teacher Il
and shalt play fair in all thy dealings with her. II
VIII Thou shalt not hire a teacher because of her good II
ooks yet when thou hast assured myself that her education is II
SOUND and nr character fautless, a pretty face and dainty raj II
shall be a joy to thy children. 4
TX. Thou shalt supply thy children and thy teacher with i
The wherewithal with which to work, forgetting not that a strong H
and a goodly team of horses turn over but little sod \
there is no pillow. II
4. Let not the teacher who marks thy children high in the u
of hundreds pull the wool over thine eyes and bring thee TO /
name wnen the examiners do test them, but remember that a Il
rue friend OF thy children will tell them and thee their faults II
Business Readers, Like Aeons, Grow Big Results. II