Hardin High School - Big Horn Yearbook (Hardin, MT)

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THE BIG HORN ANNUAL SUPERINTENDENT S. K. LOGAN Hardin School District, No. 17H Hardin District 1711 is of the second class and spreads over approximately 4,000 square miles. It is larger than the state of Rhode Island, and, because of its wonderful soil and of its most extraordinary water power potential, it may some day exceed that state in population as much as it does in size. Traversing it are two of the most fertile valleys known, the Big Horn and the Little Big Horn, in addition to numerous smaller tributary valleys of equal quality. As the Crow Indian reservation, which until last year had escaped large scale white settlement. comprises more than three-fourths of the total area, the population is still relatively meagre, and agricultural development is just well stalled. The great stretches of bench hare been used chiefly to graze hundreds ol thousands of cattle, while the bottom lands are producing hundreds of thousands of tons of feed. The sugar beet industry is well established, and the alfalfa on a single farm has been known to pay the entire cost oi the farm at more than $100.00 per acre. Already many train loads of wheat, forage. and alfalfa and sweet clover seed arc being produced on the unirrigated land. Now that the sale of Indian lands is to be facilitated by the hill which has just passed congress, and the construction, of a railroad up the Big Horn and ot the great dam—to irrigate an additional hundred thousand acres—is assured, the populat ion and wealth ot District 1711 arc sure to double and double again and again with amazing rapidity. Tlu school management is conscious of its responsibility for the erection ot such a school system as will fit this developing empire. With such conditions, immediate and prospective. it is proposed to maintain school facilities of such uniform excellence throughout us has never boon known in rural sections in the various stages of development. Given the vision and the ambition so to do. in fifteen years Hardin District 17H can command the attention and emulation of the entire country tor unprecedented achievement in creating and extending educational opportunity. How can this be so? By large scale co-operation. Large scale co-operation can do anything, even the seemingly im-]x ssible, and do it quickly. The measure of results in co-operation is the extent of co-opera-tion. The Montana Farming Corporation through a form of co-operation is able to turn over hundreds of acres of virgin sod in a day. Individual fanners of tlu irrigated states, by helping one another, in spite ot labor shortage and an inadequate capital margin, of adverse moods oi nature, and of the pestiferous profiteer, have been able to hang on, nd in the time ol the world’s desperate hunger, have actually broken all records ol production. Large scale co-operation in our educational field is made possible, even easy, by the fact that this lout thousand square miles ot human and natural resources are organized as one big school district. We arc pooling our educational resources in an immense and potentially wealthy area; we may pursue a continuous policy which is correspondingly 1 ig. Large scale co-oi eration, assured by the size and unitv of the district, motivated by the distinctively American ideal of the lullest possible opportunity to all, has no visible limits. It it worth while tc compare with the achievements oi the oldest and wealthiest counties what this new country has already been able to do under its large scale type of organization. In such counties there are still relatively small districts which have much less than nine months of school, in shacks or cabins more suitable tor stock than for children, with little suitable equipment, immature and inadequately trained teachers, no supervision, and apparently no one to care. In Lewis and Clarke county, in the Sun River valley the progressive people have painfully gathered together again the various small districts which were at one time one district in order that they may enjoy such advantages jus we enjoy by virtue of being a large district, with a head, and a high degree of equality of educational oppor-tuntiy. There are comparatively few children in all of our 4.- 000 square miles who do not have, under the kind of specialized supervision which has contributed to the high standard 01 large city systems, nine — Four —

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THE BIG HORN ANNUAL THE SCHOOL BOARD, DISTRICT 17H . These are the men behind the pun in Distinct 17 II. As a board they are responsible for the one-hundred thousand dollar high school buikbng. the splend-did monument to the forward-looking mind of the community. As individuals tl'.csc men are broad-minded, progressive, and intensely interosted in the upbuilding of the community in nil its broadest interests. Mr. T. C. Smith, the chairman, is scr ing the people in his seventh year. lie is a careful, 1 usinesslike man who keeps his car well to the people and interprets their desire into actual conditions in the school organization. Nils Ottun has served almost as long, and so has R. A. Vickers. The fact that the L= THOMAS C. SMITH CliAirnuin people return these men to the same office when other able men are out for the ofTice r. peaks volumes in their favor. J. J. i ing adds his optimism and ir.cd rn ideas next, while last comes the honorable C. II. As bury, f u c. intendent oi the Crow Reservation. 'Ibis quintet maker, r. hoard of well I al-ance1 r.liil;,, which assures the pco 'c cf the district good man;;.;.meat. F. D. Tannc , the outgoing Clerk, has served the district thru its pioneer days ith devotion and almost heroic rnsclfi hncss, while Harry G. Rogers, the present clerk, comes to the position with college training and several years of school experience. They, rre the men behind. HARRY G. ROGERS Clerk FRANKLIN D. Former Clerk - Three —

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THE UK; HOKN ANNUAL months of school under t mi nod teachers in pood school houses, well provided with proper equipment. To deal with a public concern ol such magnitude and importance, men oi' conspicuous ability and public interest are attracted to serve as trustees, and the iconic have a large choic in crafting such officers. Kecent Progress. 1 -.pile oi the fact that the year 1019-20 has been one oi hardshi • .md reverses because of exti. :.:u drouth, progress in the schools h; s not faltered. A district sup rintendent was employed last summer. Steps have been taken toward gradual centralization and transportation. The six-and-six organization has l een effected. Departments in home economics, manual training, vocational agriculture, and music have been established in the High School and the commercial work has been put on p substantial footing An excellent district High School building has been completed and pul into use. A plan of physical development has been adopted and is going into practice in all ol the schools of the district. Student life and activities have been thoroughly organized in the High School, when there are now in successful operation u live students’ association and council, two glee clubs, an orchestra. an agricultural club, a commercial club. The High School has entered inter-school contests for the first time in athletics, debating, and declamation. An eight-page district paper has been successfully published every other week, a Year Hook completing the publications of the year. All of these activities have been sell- supporting. The High School may be said already to be in process of becoming the civic con-tor. not only of the immediate community in which it is located, l ut of the district and contiguous sections, as may be seen in thi‘ various entertainments,, gymnastic work, the farm rally, agricultural extension work, etc. The district meet, held this year for the first time, is typical ot the spirit, purpose and method of the administration. Each of the above items could lie amplified interestingly, but space is limited. Suffice it to say that they are external manifestations of the determination to extend and intensify the civic, economic, and cultural service of the school system. What Next? Energy will be directed toward fixing the policies and practices which have already ! • «-.i begun. Stress must be laid uj - on vitalizing the community life al»out each and every school in the district, and upon. relating the interests oi all of the school communities to the common interests of the district as a whole. Every community must lx- concerned about the well are of every other community. Every group—farmer, merchant, hired help—must think of the largei group of which each is a part. The schools can and will reveal a larger social horizon, more fundamental ivlatioslnps, and paths which represent principles of right and lead tc higher levels oi political and industrial democracy, efficiency, and enlightenment. The educational process may seem slow, but then it is exceedingly sure. It will be borne in mind that for every community in the district there is a twelve-year school, oven though lour years of the twelve must be had at one point only in the district. It will be borne in mind that the Hardin High School” is only an abbreviation oi Hardin District 1711 High School. it will not be forgotten that this is a country school in a country town in a country district and that all ol the children in it are country children of country people—all dependent upon kind Providence and upon an intelligent and prosperous agriculture for a living—the merchant, the lawyer and the banker just as much as the man in the field in charge of the production end of the great common business ol farming in w hich all of oui people have a part. We are all engaged. from one angle oi another, in the big family enterprise of farming and we must direct our united attack against nature and the markets. Heal education takes into consideration the economic background. It must be evidept to all that justice and wisdom and bus ness sense require the erection of a dormitory at the District Hign School where children from a distance may be properly cared for during theii high school years at the leist possible cost to their parents. At the b sr, the family living at a distarce from the High School—and some families mus' live some distance from Hardin if tney and the town of Hardin a e to live at all—is handicapped. It is the duty of a’l to help relieve that handicap by providing a dormitory rent free and foDd at cost for out-of-lown pupils. Besides, educational investments re good investments, both fr m the individual and from the public standpoints. Unless the road conditions are as bad next year as they have been thi th«- extension id a or the High School will be muen more promine it, and the superintendent will be able to keep in closei touch with the outside couraged to think of then sebes schools. All teachers will be en-as permanent members of their respective communities, on the same general looting as are doctors, preachers, laborers, and business men. The school organization will endeavor to discharge its function, in co-operation with all other organizations, us a centra! social agency. The school management is much gratified at the many ev-ido ices ol lively interest on the poll o the public. Idle and destructive critic i in. itself flattering in that it denotes interest. is almost wholly swallowed up in the attitude ol lioosting and constructivcrers. There appear.. to be a distinct tendency in tin community to refrain from unfavorable comment until teacher, principal, or superintendent has been consulted fer their viewpoint and the real facts. The schools will make every effort to encourage and deserve such fair and considerate treatment. It is fell that a policy of aggressive publicity is highly important and desirable, particularly in a new country where custom and traditions are in formation. Possibly public education has been remiss in its duty to advertise its wares as vigorously as othei and less important commodities are ad-advertised. No one doubts that the fate oi democracy is to be settled in the public schools. Teachers’ Salaries Unlc enough money is made available to maintain teachers fit to instruct and inspire young Americans to save America for democracy, to do the work of society, and to establish and maintain, real homes, then the whole business may just as well be chucked overboard. For the sake of our children and as a matter of good business—to say nothing of justice tc teachers— salaries will again have tc be increased ver materially, even it the cost of living should decline somewhat. Increases of from 25 to 40 pci cent were allowed by the Board for the coming year. In general, school districts throughout the state are having to vote additional levies above the maximum which may be levied by the School Boards in order to pay the teachers and save the schools. — Fivr —