The Republican., 1925-12-03
PRICE Winning GARRETT
co. HIGH SCHOOL ESSAYS
Continued from Page One)

and by personal example, to keep
them before their children. They
know that the moral growth of child
who has no ideals to live up to, will
be retarded just as the growth of a
plant that can not reach sunlight, is
retarded. Nearly all our teachers re-
alize this also. However, there are
many parents that have no ideals
worth mentioning and naturally they
know nothing Of their Importance.
Right here is where a Parent
Teacher Association can accomplish
a great deal of good without any
great amount of effort, for by bring
ing these two groups of people to-
gether on subjects of common inter-
est, the group with low ideals will
naturally imbibe from the other
group the higher aims of life. Some
of the meetings may be given over to
the discussion of this subject in order
TO arouse interest.
Anything that will benefit the
school will also benefit the commun-
ity, because the school and the COM
munity are "one and inseparable." 8"
Better citizenship in the community
is the natural outgrowth of a Parent
Teacher Association. BY the time
the relationship of the home and the
school has been touched upon and the
Association discovers how much the
two institutions hold in common, the
parents are ready for a wider horizon.
The vital truth that "no man liyeth
to himself" is being strangely empha-
sized; new Interpretation is coming
TO them through the medium of their
own child.
Is play a necessary factor in the
development of their child? If so,
then it must be good for all children.
Is pure water something to be de-
sired for the health of their home?
1t must be just as necessary then for
the good of every home. The same
can be said of pure food, the preven-
ton of disease, etc.
As this horizon widens still fur
thcr, the parents begin to learn how
truly they are a part of the world.
It becomes easy for them now to con-
slider subjects of national and inter-
national Importance. Civic clubs and
Current Event clubs. which are a nat
ural outgrowth of a Parent Teacher
Association, may be formed to take
up the study Of questions pertaining
to the public good
All this interest in local, national
and international affairs can not help
but raise the standard of the commu-
nifty. Gradually, the parents are be-
coming educated. By bringing them
into contact with one another and
with the teachers, and by means of
good lectures and good literature
their outlook on life becomes broad
ened, until almost unconsciously.
they commence to strive for the
higher and better things of life.
It is not in the growth of wealth
0r of commerce or in the expansion
Of industry that we find the true in
dex Of civilization. The greatest test
Of civilized people is that while they
arc conserving individual opportuni-
ties, they are growing more solicit
Gus Of the common good. The Par
ent-Toacher Association is meeting
this test. By teaching and proving
that the virtues of humanity far ex-
ceed the vices, and by showing that
it is health that is really contagious.
and that in a prosperous community
the most intelligent of the citizens
turn their attention to the thought of
mutual improvement, it may accom-
plish much in raising the ideals of the
people
Through its promotion of physical
well-being and the opportunities it
gives for intellectual, moral and So
ciai development, it gives to the child
born under the humblest conditions
.N4AO ""iAAN NiAetiitt " uGNctpD IUlO Il
worthwhile man or woman with high
ideals and standards of life as the
child born in mansion; and, last but
not least, by teaching each to work
for the benefit of all, it fosters on un-
selfish spirit without which no indi-
vidual can hope to achieve those
things which are of intrinsic value.
In my own community, though it is
only two years old, the Parent
Teacher Association has brought
about a better mutual understanding
between the parents and the teachers:
it has enlarged the teachers knowl-
edge Of the child's home environ
nient, and it has enabled the teachers
70 get the parents viewpoint and vice
versa. II has raised the standard Of
home life through the education Of
the parents in child study. 1t has, as
l mentioned elsewhere, improved the
health Of The cen immunity by installing
drinking founta ms and wash basins in
tie school and by making other i'm
pryonents n the sanitary conditions
Of t4o community.