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Show v.tvirs Fxrnmii. Clt:i(-r 1 of ITU UptiMcm; on llio School S I L ii n 1 1 on . Kirro.u Bi-fii.Kit: In the iss.ue of your p:ipr-r three weeks ago, there appeared a direct invitation to the Co. Superintendent of schools to explain why lie did not head a m n-eimnt to consolidate con-solidate the four districts of this city; a reply though early on hand for next issue, has been treated to a silence of three weeks, is returned with the request to cut down one ( half. Well, here it is boiled down but even yet may fail ttf suit the 1 taste. The Superintendent is decidedly j in favor of a central school building, also of consolidating the four city districts now that there arc four excellent ex-cellent three-room school buildings erected in the four quarters of the city. There has been much fault foind with the two south districts for having bonded to secure their buildings but they have something to show for it. We think they did the proper prop-er thing yet nome claimed that action was checkmating a better move to consolidate and erect a central building. Until three years ago the city was in one school district yet owned not a single school building except a dilapidated mercantile building, but during the last three years and while divided into the present four districts, there have been either erected or purchased and com ni odiously od-iously fitted up the four school buildings above referred to. Dur- ing all those years of inactivity there has surely occurred as propitious pro-pitious a time to make some kind of showing toward a school building build-ing as has occurred during the last three years. It was during the former period the city fell into that undesirable "school rut," and not the latter. A school rut is neither gotten into nor out in a day nor a year. When the central school building is erected as we believe it soon will be, the ''poor school facilities" facil-ities" as it is charged they are will be needed. There are exactly 000 children of school age in Brigham, not one of which is of high school grade. That is 225 to the district or 75 to each teacher now employed. It would be a herculean task for a teacher even under the best system of grading attainable in a central school to make satisfactory advancement with that number of pupils. A high school is an absolute necessity ne-cessity at the present hour. We had suggested the upper rooms of the court house be used for this purpose at present, but that now being impossible, a building must be erected, and when so of course should be planned to accommodate the upper three or four grades as well as the high school pupils. Eflbrts by all the teachers are now being made to have a uniform public examination in the spring I and to graduate a large number ol high school students. More of this in your next issue. Axons Vanck, Co. Supt. Please give us full credit, Bro. Vance: it was live weeks ago not three as you state. Our invitation and views on the question were couched in a 2'1-Iiner, but Mr. , Vance comes in Into in the week with an answer that would make two full columnsso fat they couldn't see out of their eyes. Ofeoursc it didn't get in that issue (we didn't even have time that week to wade through the entire four big blanket sheets of copy.) Next week and the next and the next it was set aside for more live and interesting matter. Early last week it was returned to tl.e writer wilh the request that if it were pruned, (we didn't designate desig-nate any particular part that was j to lie ''boiled down to suit the t;Lste," I as Mr. Vance intimates,) cut down half and handed in by Wednesday noon we could get it in last Saturday's Satur-day's issue. As is customary with that slow-moving and methodical gentleman, the article was not in our hands until twenty four hours behind the appointed time and too late again. But we candidly admit that we have a '"taste"' that must be suited in one respect before articles find place in our paper: O.ir space is too valuable to devote two columns to an article that might lie placed in one fourth that space. Mr. Vance tries to make out that because his opinions may not coincide coin-cide with ours is the reason why we barred his article. That intima- ! lion is not only far-fetched but' ridiculous. Ed. |