OCR Text |
Show ITHE PROOF OF THE STANDARD'S CHARGES AGAINST J. M. MILLS J I Part of the Ogden School Children Are Now Out of School a . Half-Day Each Day, and Supt Mills Proposes to Put All the I Children Out of School a Half-Day as Soon as He Can Do t So, Which Is the Beginning of All the Trouble and Has I Divided the People of Ogden On the Issue Involved I Proof Taken From Mr. Mills' Own Official Publi- I cation See Books Entitled "Course of Study, I Ogden City Public Schools; 1912-1913," I Pages 126 to 132, Inclusive. ft The Standard editorial room Is bell be-ll coming famous as a place for the adit ad-it justment of disputes. Every day de-f de-f fenders of Superintendent J. M. Mills If and opponents meet intentionallj or ft accidentally, seeking records for or If against Mr. Mills' school system. H For the last two days the half-day pi plan principally has been discussed. U The Millslte uniformly claim that there is no intention to extend the : half-day plan beyond what it is now; ramely. enforced half-day for all children chil-dren below the fourth grade and op-1 op-1 tional with the high school children. i Again, many Millsites claim that i tho children in the first, second and ' third grades are now in school a full ; ', day, which is a mistake, as many i people who have children from b!x i to ten years old will readily testify 1 ; thai their children go to school only ! ;' t a half day five times a week and that ; the Mills plan will continue to keep theso children out of school a half day each day. About three thousand ; i children, over six and under ten or s eleven years, under the Mills plan, ;' ' will be kept out of school a full half j day and, unless Mr. Mills is remov-I remov-I ed he will extend the half-day to all the other gradeB. This last state-I state-I it ment makes the Millsites angry and i1 they call for proof. The Standard pur-I pur-I poses publishing tho proof of what i ..Mills has done and what he intends B ' to do. We shall take tho proof from nL:' the official school records in which I Mr. Mills and the school board, as 5 I organized in 1913, tellB just what will 5 ' be done to tho Ogden school system, ili : ' unless a change is made before it is jf, h ' carried out. ,S i The Standard has a little book of r 140 pages printed by authority of the ,Ti I . school board and Mr. Mills. The title if ; of the book Is "Course of Study, Og- I l den City Public SchoolB, 1912-1913." I I This book gives the names of dlrect-s dlrect-s ' ors and officers and says the super-s super-s : intendent is the highest executive of-S of-S fleer, etc. Then it describes the school I? . courses of the various grades, and ln-i? ln-i? structions to the teachers, and then $ tells of the existing half-day plan and A1 ! " how it 1b proposed to place all the 7 '. other grades on the half day plan. We a ! publish the half-day plan as described K: in this book in full, which tells how a: Mr Mills proposes to save $25,000 l.; I per" vear by placing all the schools J i on a half day plan which now coBt t - 5260,000 or more per year. Instead J? I of saving half the $260,000, he would - I ! save only $25,000 by his plan but he - i is going to Increase the salaries of ; I teachers. Read tho following story' J, of the plan by Mills himself, repro-I repro-I j duced in full from the official recti rec-ti ords. Study it carefully and then, te' : if you are a taxpayer, read it again: Jg' 9'M Half-day Sessions. - "The experiments that have been If carried on in the Ogden City public SI' schools justify, it is thought, the ex- fi tension of the half-day system throughout the entire school organlza- -f tlon. It is now organized in the SJ kindergarten, first, second and third gi grades and throughout the six-year j high school, Including grades from 4 seven to twelve, and it will soon be lifjf introduced into the fourth, fifth and i&r sixth grades School hours for higher Bl grades run from 8:30 to 12 and from Sl 1 to 4:30, the teachers being relieved 31 from overwork by intervals during the fiif dav. The lower grades run from 9 l to '12 and from 1 to 4. Departmental I : work is done beginning with the first il year of high school (tho seventh ffia grade) and continuing through the 9?! six years. rf Reasons for the Half-day Sessions. f "First. Advantage to tho Pupil. '!?? k "The present organization of the ? - American school system seems to be ' tending toward relieving the youth BJ; from any responsibility wliich In turn i renders boys and girls unreliable, tak- ejjM . lag away the seriousness of prepar- I J : ing for a useful life. We must work I for all that we have. Nothing is 1 : worth possessing or offering to oth-H oth-H i. ers which costs us nothing. The rifi i whole aim of school work should be ?.' : to At the youth for doing something, H!! as Carlyle says: 'What a man can do jet r is his great ornament and he always jg-; consults his dignity by doing it.' IE I we want knowledge, we must toil for V, It; if food, we must toll for it and, 2 - pleasure, we must toil for it. I : "ParentB should co-operate with the JR. schools in furnishing work at home- ! : Too often parents, in their desire to J ; ' be kind to a child, relievo It from any kind of physical work, thinking I ; that it would aid the child in com- M pleting his studies, but experience has h taught us that the boy or girl who t works his way through school is gen- fj orally a better student than one who j is relieved from home work. Man is :U lr(pt in Mo by work and dies be- 5 S cause he cannot or will not work. 1 Phyelcal work promotes the clrcula- tlon of tho blood, opens the pores of i, the skin, gives tono to the respiratory d j organs, helps the functions of diges- f. Ii lion, strengthens the muscles, adds i J suppleness to the joints, enlivens the I J senses, quickens the nerves, regulates I the passions, and tends to build up I j the constitution. Mental and moral I I vork clears the understanding, em- (1 I powers the will, keens tho perception, J awakens tho conscience, informs the f. judgment, enlarges tho memory, rec- 1 tides the affections. In one word, I j the tendency of work Is to promote I :i and sustain the mental and physical dT i organization in an uninterrupted ac- $ tlon of health until it shall bo broken f j up and dissolved in death. SI I "Since tho whole aim and effort of 2 j the school system is to qualify young m i People to better take thoir places In B society, and since work is ono of the m . best agencies for developing common Sjl' sense, the school officers havo de- M1 elded to give more opportunity for WW physical and mental work of a prac- Sit tlcal nature. Tho schools are, there- Wm- fore, organized to allow a boy or girl fl' a half-day at home or in the store or shop or on the farm or anywhere that training in work may bo bad. This arrangement is all made on the theory' the-ory' that practical work is as essential essen-tial as school studies in the education of a child and that any homo or school that deprives the boy of a training in practical work and make a living, robs the community of a useful use-ful citizen and bequeaths a nuisance. "Second, Advantage to the Parent "Where a boy or girl is liberated from school for a half day he can be of great value to the family in helping help-ing around tho home or helping In the income of the family, thus relieving the drudgery that many families have in being overworked. "Third, Advantage to the Teacher. "The half-day plan benefits the teacher In that he may have a fresh set of students In the afternoon with whom to work, and the savings that have been made through eliminating a large number of teachers will allow a substantial increase In the salaries of those who remain. This increased salary Insures the appointment in the future of none but thoroughly competent com-petent teachers. This rise in the standard makes the position more desirable de-sirable and gives more dignity to the profession. "Fourth, Advantage to the School. "Increased salaries allowing the appointment ap-pointment of high class teachers will Insure good class instruction, will relieve re-lieve the over-crowded conditions, will provide ample room, and make classes class-es that are small enough to be properly prop-erly instructed. The school under this plan helps the child to find itself. Tho child should not be made to fit tho school, but the school should be made to fit the child. "Fifth, Advantage to tho Taxpayer. "The plan provides that there shall be an annual saving of at least $25,000 to the taxpayers, besides the saving of many thousands of dollars in additional addi-tional buildings that would have to be provided each year in the future, making mak-ing a net saving in the next few years of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Already salaries have been nearly doubled and the taxation has been reduced re-duced from nine to eight and three-tenths three-tenths mills. Next year will see a further increase In salaries with a further reduction in taxation. While it Is our pride to see people so liberal lib-eral in their contributions toward education, edu-cation, it should also be a pleasure to those who plan to spend the people's money to see that none is stfent needlessly. need-lessly. It Is their duty to economize where efficiency will not be injured by doing so. The interests of the boy and girl should always be first over mere saving. The Plan. ' "That any boy or girl may be excused ex-cused from school when the principal, the parent and the employer have a complete understanding concerning the child's welfare. No child must be overworked, or allowed to work In a place unfit for children. The smaller grades will, of course, be looked after by the home as at present. In the higher grades all who are excused will have to have the blank on the opposite page properly filled out Those who do not havo profitable or useful work away from school, spend the other half day In manual training, sewing, cooking, bookbinding, study and organized play at school. The plan would also provide Instruction for the unemployed during the summer, sum-mer, both theoretical and practical, and would furnish an evening school for those who havo, because of a widowed mother or an invalid father, or other good reason, been deprived of schooling altogether." The plan, instead of saving Ogden City $26,000 a year, would cost over a million in new buildings for training train-ing schools. Machinery and appliances appli-ances to accommodate tho 7000 to 8000 school children, and a competent corps of mechanics to teach the trades would eat up that $25,000 savings. sav-ings. Mills speaks as tho Chinook winds lick up the winter snow. Mr. Mills is either fooling the people or ho does not know what he Is talking about. ' |