Granite City High School - Warrior Yearbook (Granite City, IL)

Page 19 text:

EDUCATION AND THE PROBLEMS OF GRANITE (TTY During my high school course, I have had an opportunity to become acquainted with the problems of our High School as well as of our city. , The great World War has brot out the need of Greater Education for all Democratic Peoples” and, now that the war is over our time can be centered on Education. When our great draft took place in 1918 it was found that a great per cent of the men were illiterate, in other words they were incapable of reading and writing their own narae3. Should this great country of ours be ignorant and illiterate? In our own town of Granite City there is a large percent of illiterate people also. Steps are being taken in our various plants toward the education of these foreigners by part-time study, a certain time being taken from their daily routine of work to teach them the English language. Illiteracy is always dangerous. Bolshevism with all its terrors is the offspring of illiteracy and menaces not only Europe but our country as well. It would be very easy for a person that could speak the language of the foreigners to get among the people who do not read the newspapers and lecture to them in a forceful way by enlarging on their wrongs and their rights to the wealth of the world and inciting them to revolution. Like an evil weed which grows where nothing else will, a revolt is likely to spread quickly and uprisings in which blood would be shed and lives be lost, is the probable out- come. It would be the innocent people that would suffer because of their ignorance, because of their inability to read the newspapers and get the straight” of the whole thing. In Russia Bolshevists have gotten the upper hand and are ruling the people in terror. The Russian peasants are just barely existing. There is no education at all. with the exception of the noble classes who have a fair education. Do we want such conditions in our old U. S. A.? If not we must take steps toward the education of the illiterate foreigners and prevent the possibility of such a plague as Russia has. Part time study is one way of preventing conditions such as exist in Russia. The children of these foreigners are at- tending our public schools and being educated fairly well. But it is the parents of these children that we must try to educate also. We have a night school in our city where classes in English are formed for the teaching of foreigners. But the aver- age foreigner, who goes to his work early in the morning and does a hard day ' s work does not feel like going to school at night after he is all tired out. So this part-time study in the various plants is the only way by which we can educate these men and this system is very effective and should be furthered in this community. As a whole, the people are investigating the matter and are rising to the occasion thruout the country, by appropriat- ing funds for education. In the recent election held here, the “Hicks Bill” was carried by a great majority whereby the per cent of taxe3 for educational purposes was increased from three to four per cent. Another bill which is being worked upon in this state is the Minimum Wage” Bill, which would make the minimum wage of a school teacher $80.00 per Page Seventeen

Page 18 text:

To Elsie Brady, we will, devise and bequeath Bessie DeBow ' s ability to play the piano and hope that she may take advantage thereof. To each and everyone of a future Economics class we do will, devise and bequeath Glynn Hodges ' broad understanding of Economics. To Vetha Griffin, we bequeath Viola Luckert ' s ability of capturing a Senior boy. To Laura Stenzel, we bequeath Flora Laager ' s experience in love affairs so that Laura will know how to conduct herself in George ' s company. To Thelma Bostwick, we will Marie Lohman’s aptitude to make striking addresses in Themes so that Thelma ulti- mately may become a suffragette leader. To the Art Museum, of Granite City, we will all the notes written by Thelma Weissenborn in the American History Class, knowing that they will be of great historical value. To anyone who desires them, we will Frank Krill ' s pessimistic views, hoping they may enjoy them as much as he has. To Raymond Coleman, we do will, devise and bequeath Oliver Winkler ' s laziness, so that Raymond may not be over- worked by the burdens of school work. To Byron Haven, we bequeath Kathleen Rader ' s smiles and cheerfulness, so that Byron may have a brighter outlook upon the world. To All who so kindly shared their seats with us, during the last semester in Granite High, we wish to express our sincere gratitude and to all others not mentioned above we extend our thanks for all past favors. (Signed) CLASS OF 1919, G. H. S. Subscribed and sworn to before me this twenty-eighth day of May. A. D., nineten hundred and nineteen. LCELLA DETERGING, (Seal) Notary Public. Witnesses: POLICE MAGISTRATE OF GRANITE CITY, MAYOR OF NAMEOKI, ILLINOIS. Page Sixteen

Page 20 text:

month. As you all know the teachers of our city have formed a union and have been admitted into the American Fed- eration of Teachers. Now. if this bill passes it will be very easy to eliminate the poor teacher. A teacher who receives a very low wage cannot really be qualified for a position. With this new wage scale a teacher will have to fulfill all re- quirements before being given a position. The eliminating of the poor teacher will greatly increase the efficiency of the schools and raise the standard of education a great deal. Another bill that is before the national Senate at this time provides for the increasing from $4,000,000 the present amount of money for education to $10,000,000. which would make It possible for schools to better themselves in equip- ment of all kinds. In Illinois there is one great missing factor which makes it difficult to have unified education thruout the state, and that is the matter of text books. Thruout the state the parents of the children must buy all text books used by their children. There is the question of free text books coming up thruout the state. If free texts were furnished bv the state, in all probabilities there would be one standard thruout. which would make it possible for unified education. In Missouri free text books are furnished and it is a great advantage. h ree text books would make it possible for the poor people to educate their children to a higher degree. Many families in our city take their children out of school at an early age and start them to work In the factories, because they cannot afford to pay for the text books which are very high, altho now the price is regulated bv law. Now if free text books were furnished it is very probable that these same people would keep their children in school much longer rath- er than see them go to work. This brings up another problem and that is the keeping of children in school until they are sixteen. In this city the factories make it very easy for a child of thirteen or fourteen to get a job” at a fair wage and rather than go to school he takes this job and nine chances of ten he stays right there and his education goes no farther. Of course, there are ex- ceptions but this is generally the case. All children ought to at least finish the eight grades, in fact, go two years in High School or elsewhere. In this district there are quite a number of students attending our High School that live out in the rural districts and have to pay a certain fee annually. There is a plan being worked upon by which our schools would become a township high school. This would greatly increase our district and make it possible for students to come in from the country at a low cost, while also lowering the city tax. Everywhere one hears of our crowded condition but it is impossible to realize how crowded we really are unless you have seen all the students packed in this auditorium some morning before sessions begin. We have 300 students attending here and only 240seats in which to accommodate them. For the last three years a great majority of our students have had to sit two in a seat, and certainly such condit ions are not conducive to the best re- sults. Next term your students will be more crowded than ever before. A census of the eighth grade shows there will be approximately 400 students attending High School. Now. in order to admit all these students it will be necessary to run two shifts. The first will be from 7:45 until 12:30, composed of upper classmen and the next shift will be from 1 p. m. to 5:30 o clock in the afternoon. This will make it necessary to employ more teachers and the student will have to get Page Eighteen