The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1935-02-28
AN OPEN LETTER
CONTINUED from Page One)

woodsmen
But our city school system thru
out the state is top-heavy. Educa
tors have striven in the past to de
velop our high schools into bud
ding universities with smatter
ing Of this subject taught and ,
smattering of that subject taught
a mirage Of superficialities, will
a net result of curriculum which
might be compared to the Platte
River.-for the greater part of it.
course, a mile wide and an incl
deep.
The system certainly Is inocula
ted with the virus of ultra modern,
istic tendency,-educational short
cuts to success. Credits given fol
proficiency in the dancing class
Credits given for gymnasium
work! depreciation of home study!
Undue stress given the Importance
of the gymnasium and the ath.
letic field! Specially coached bas-
ketball, track and football teams!
1t is not amiss to say that the av.
be better fitted to meet the even
Qualities of life with a better, a
more intimate working knowledge
of the Three RS (Reading, 'riting,
ultimately than with all the Rah!
Rah! Rah!" he will learn from the
cheer leader on the campus.
And the city schools need
money! To suggest economies
within the system itself would find
the Educators hands raised in
holy horror. Regardless of wheth-
er or not the taxpayers have lost
their homes, their farms; regard
less of whether or not the children
of the taxpayers have three whole
some meals a day to keep their
bodies and souls together
there must be no economies. The
system is sacred-to the Educa-
tors. Money! More money!
The bill before the Legislature
is as adroit as it is vicious. Under
the guise of giving educational adj
vantages to the farmers children
it aims to ham-string the farmer
himself
Under the present state aid laws
certain state monies shall be paid
to a local district for each child
that attends school forty days or
more each year. All! The kernel
of the nut, The ruralites have the
children and the cities want the
state aid. So the bill asks that all
rural Seventh and Eighth Grade
pupils be turned into the city
schools
But what about the farmer who
must still maintain his rural
school at the same cost for his
children under the Seventh Grade?
The city school expects him to pay
for the education of his Seventh
and Eighth Grade children in the
city schools. Now he is to pay the
salaries of two teachers instead Of
one. Yet that isn't the entire
story. He must also pay for the
veritable web Of school bus lines
that must be inaugurated to cover
many added square miles of terri
tory to bring his children to and
from the city schools while at the
same time he must pursue his old
methods to bring his smaller tots
through mud and snow drifts or
over ice to the old rural school.
In this bill the Educators forgot
to ask the Legislature to change
the severity Of Minnesota winters.
It would be an optimist indeed
who might hope to see in the near
future the city school buses PEN
citrate in winter our secondary
roads and our township roads to
take on and deliver children Of
tender age at their own farm
gate. We vividly picture, rather,
farmer Jones and a couple Of little
Joneses milling thru snow drifts
on a bob sled to meet the school
bus morning and evening along
the main highways If perchance
the bus is able to get thru on the
main highway, while Mrs. Jones
is doing honors on another bob
sled for some more little Joneses
who must perforce attend the rur-
al school. Great days for farmer
and Mrs. Jones! What If it is 80
degrees below? The Joneses do
not mind.
Wait a minute! Perhaps the far
mer should move part Of his fam
lily to his town house for the win
ter months. Most farmers have a
town house and a country home,
you know!
Or perhaps the Educators feel
that the farmers should move his
entire family into town for the
winter months. Just like that!
Even Educators should know
that while they themselves might
pasture their own mental hobby
horses ON the fanciful greenswards
Of their own imaginings still the
horses used on farms must be fed
hay even in winter. Most other
have rather a strong