Show FOR PARENTS school starts on monday the alie will your children be enrolled OB oa that day it not do you realize that they will be handicapped for their years work which may meart mean a stumbling block for life a are your children of more than average ability if not how can they do life work of their grade ani and make up back work arl besides having missed what has been given previously and the special help of the teacher are you aware that each days work is based on what has preceded kow how can children understand later instruction it the they have hav missed the foundation do you bear in mind that interest can only be maintained when the child masters his work in other words do aou ou realize that ona on of the most prolific causes of lack of interest in school is arreg irregular ular attendance from the tea teachers cherA point of view who might be taken as a 1 capable judge of the situation there is perhaps nothing that adds more to the itie A ot of the teacher and ana injury of out our public school than irre gular gail ir attendance illness of the pupil and sometimes illness lit in the family may be a good excuse for absence from school outside of these it seems to the writer there Is no good excuse for keeping the pupils from their work it is exasperating to find what trivial things are arc made an excuse for absence some sometimes times a little errand sometimes the mere whim of the pupil or something else of equal weight who can compute the number ol of idle habits of study that have their origin in in that indifference to education which allows the child t to be away from his class tor for some trilling trifling briand en and and thereby teaches him to regard his school as a cheap affair in order tor for the best progress the pupils of any class must be of ona grade there is nothing more ruin continued on oil page rive five W 1 FOR Pd PARENTS BENTS continued bioni page one us 0 ous to classification than absence to illustrate A pupil is absent from school the next lay day when the teacher calls for preparation he answers I 1 was kvas absent yesterday and lid did not know what the lesson would be so I 1 have not studied at all two days have aheady been missed and lie he is in a very poor condition to understand tomorrows lesson but this is not all by any means the lest iest of the class suffers much they must hear bear long explanations an on points with which they are al beady familiar or the teacher must give the backward pupil considerable considerably consider abl individual attention ct in either case the class is robbed of their just proportion of the teachers time and as distance further they are robbed of the pleasure of a good recitation which is their just reward for a careful preparation and last what about the tha teacher the ot of teacher the teacher is not made of iron his patience being so often so lessly and so unnecessarily taxed and his efforts so little rewarded must unless lie he is superhuman relax his exertions to the extent that the teacher conforms to the ideal lie will continue his interests and enthusiasm 1 but to the extent that he is merely a human being lie he will become discouraged with such cases As soon as his spirits flag the whole school suffers now this is not in an exaggeration it is not a fancy picture or an idle dicag it is history all and sorry to say it is history too common in our schools read a few facts taken from last years record re cordin in two grades in the 7 ith grade last spring 24 pupils were retained of those hose 21 24 IS started late or quit early and several of the remaining six have very poor records of attendance in tile the ath grade 75 pupils enro enrolled lifa with their class of the 20 2 were in school only a week or two 15 started late or quit early while only 3 have a goo good record in attendance now parents A nations first duty Is the education of her children the nation can only accomplish this thru the individual do your duty by your children and your neighbors children by seeing that all your children of school age are enrolled the first lay day and that their attendance is regular the year on one more point and in conclusion ion let tile me quote from a prominent educator tile the reason for tardiness i is S often more futile it if pos possible Gible than those for entire absence let it never be forgotten that it is just a as s easy to be strictly punctual as otherwise and the parent who will not lay the foundation of a habit so valuable in a child when it can be done without cost deserves not the privilege of being a parent lie he betrays bis his trust ile he injures his own child ONE OF THE TEACHERS |