Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1942-07-17
dancer, a pleasant and popular
lad.
Serves EIementary Children


AS you travel westward from Great
Falls through northern Montana, you
discover that the State Correspond
ence school serves elementary as we'll
as high school children. The type of
service demanded is outlined in the
following letter which the school re-
ceived from a superintendent.
C has been confined to his home
for a year or more with severe
heart trouble He will not be able
to attend the public school this
year. but the doctors feel that he
could do regular school work in
his home. Records show he Is
ELIGIBLE to take the sixth grade.
His mother is leaving for Arr
IONA about the 28th of August
where they will reside this. winter
on account of the boys health.
She plans on handling the
supervision of the work in her own
home with the assistance of
teacher from Phoenix, Ariz., pub
lie school system.
Before leaving for Arizona, the
mother with the aid of the superin-
tendent and the correspondence
school. made all the necessary ar
rangements. and the boy is now tax
ing advantage" as he puts it, of his
sixth grade correspondence teacher,
who lives in Missoula.
The browning school district on the
reservation is geographically one OF
the largest in the state. Located just
east of Glacier national park. this
district maintains several isolated
rural. schools an elementary town
school and high school. In planning
what should be taught. K. w. Bergan
and the teachers bear in mind the fact
that the school population is predom-
inantly Indian with a ratio of to l.
The people, their occupations, and
the geography of the area explain why
so many unusual demands are made
upon the educational system. In order
to meet some of the demands. Mr..
Bergan has been using individualized
supervised correspondence courses for
Is of his students during the past
school year. Most of the correspond
ence students of white parentage of
this district take special college prep
aratory subjects. such as advanced
ALGEBRA and solid geometry, not Of
fered in the regular classes. which OBJ
viously would not serve the Indian
a
few subjects in this manner is more
economical than offering classroom
instruction for a group of only three
or four students.
Thus, the academic minded students
of Browning are satisfactorily cared
for. and the school. because Of the
better use of teacher time, can pro-
vide a more practical program of
study for the so or 90 out OF each
100 who Go not expect to attend col
lege On the other hand. some schools
in the state which have a shortage
of teacher time in the practical arts
field. such as mechanical drawing and
clothing construction, offer supervised
correspondence study in these fields
and teach the academic program.
In checking the mileage upon our
return to Missoula. we find that we
have travelled an airline distance as
far as from New York to Salt Lake
City and yet there is a vast area in
the central part of Montana, as large
as the combined areas of PennSyl-
vania, Massachusetts and Connecticut,
which we have not explored.
The Montana State Correspondence
school, in reality state consolidated
school. established by the 1899 Mon
tana legislature is thus, in part, an
answer to the problem of how q
sparsely state can offer a
varied yet economical educational
program to meet present day educa-
tional needs