Kemper Military School - Yearbook (Boonville, MO)

Page 9 text:

And this our life, exempt from public haunts, Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons m stones, and good in everythingf- SHAKESPEARE. .A Letter' to Parents of Boys V V GAVE N CONNECTION with the rearing of your son you are, no doubt, confronted with numerous and perplexing problems. You have for him X f ideals of learning, culture, character, and 'manhood' that he seems more or iiiiiigllif 151.20 Exif' t0HlfnSZiZffSf11 tiifi nliferiilfiiiiiilf illdtiiufffif needed to devote to the solution of the prdblems that he pfesents. Many of the problems that beset you and your boy are beyond your control. In the last twenty years the attendance of high schools has increased between 300 and 400 per cent with the result that the schools are woefully crowded, and classes are so large that boys who need personal attention receive little or none, lose interest in their work and drop out or fail. If a boy has graduated from high school and goes to a large university he receives little or no personal attention from the faculty, has no opportunity to particif pate in activities unless he is of outstanding merit, becomes lost in the crowd or is carried away with distractions, loses interest in his work, and drops out with very little profit from his university experience and sometimes with positive loss. The small college, which avoids some of these pitfalls, frequently offers too few attractions to interest the boy. Furthermore, modern conditions have handicapped the boy with idleness. The present day father grew up busy with chores of helping his father. The present day boy has no chores, and business is so specialized that few fathers can find a place in their business for their sons. The result is disastrous for the boy. He frequently has most of ll5ll T

Page 8 text:

,. . ...,, : ?f4'ei:i2Qr -w f'1'1 H .f Js '4 .. 1-W -W f -1- f -, -'ff ' - ' ' ' 'f X COLONEL 'I' A JOHNSTON Pveszdent

Page 10 text:

Education - a debt due from present to future generations - PBABODY fKF.MPERYMMILIVTARYMIVSCHVOOLA the afternoon and the evening with nothing to do but amuse himself. His companions of both sexes are as idle as he, and a condition results that is profitless, harmful and always potentially dangerous. Idleness does not make muscular or moral fiber, or furnish visions and ideals, or prepare a boy for man's estate. Another problem of adolescence is sex. The problem is aggravated by cofeducation. At this age girls mature more rapidly than boys to the disadvantage and embarrassment of boys in class competition. Boys do far better school work when in classes composed of boys only, where the subject matter is presented by men and for boys. As bad as the problem is in school it becomes most acute after school hours when boys and girls, both idle, are left to provide their own entertainment for the rest of the day. Picture shows, good and bad, long rides in automobiles, unchaperoned parties, uncontrolled athletics, and other pleasures too frequently fill their time. Parents are too busy or too much out of touch with their children to know what their children are doing, or hnd it impossible to regulate matters because of the lax discipline of other parents. A correspondent for the Saturday Evening Post presents the matter thus: I have been a good deal interested lately in scientific management, the main principle of which seems to be that a man ought to look over his work carefully and find out where he is weak. In some ways I am a successful man. I have built up a good business - my credit at the bank is firstfclass and other business men listen to my opinions with respectg but as a parent I am a flat failure. If I had no better control over the subordinates in my office than I have over those members of my household who are supposed to be sub' ordinates to me, I should be 'broke' in six months. I know a number of men who are trying to hold down jobs for which they are plainly incompetent, and I have considerable contempt for them. I think they ought to clear out and turn the jobs over to men who are competent. I know, too, from my business observation, that an incompetent boss usually demoralizes the people under him. If he isn't up to his job, his subordif nates - especially the younger ones - don't really have a fair show. I argue that, as an incompetent parent, I must be having a bad influence on my children. As I look over the families of my friends, I conclude that at least 50 per cent of parents are no more up to the job than I am. Also, I notice this: If I had charge of my nextfdoor neighbor's children I wouldn't for a minute let them do some of the things they do now, ale though my own children do pretty much the same. I like his children very Well, yet I am not so besotted but that I would stop them from doing things that are harmful. Very likely he would stop my children too. I thgnklwg need a class of professional parents to take charge of children and be just and kind to them - but not oo is . Kemper Military School offers itself for this service. You may well appreciate the happy condition that exists at Kemper where all boys are under the same rule, where there is no divided authority and where this danger time is filled with profitable activities such as military drill, athletics, recreation, supervised study, etc. It gives boys who have reached the high school or early years of college the education and training necessary to complete their preparation for college, university or business life, and at the same time applies expert methods, developed by long and successful experience, to character building and the foundation of the habits and aptitudes of the efficient man, especially striving to create an environment that develops the best in the boy, and suppresses what is wrong or harmful. Kemper is no educational experiment, as is indicated by the facts detailed elsewhere - showing its history of eightyffive years of continuous operation in one locality, under only two heads. The School has grown to its present status through its own merit, without the aid of churches, boards, or benefactors. It has a' wide patronage. A large faculty of collegeftrained men of experience and approved character insures small classes and thorough supervision. It is considered by the University of Missouri as one of its best preparatory schools. Its graduates are admitted without examination to all colleges and universities in the United States that admit on certificate. It meets the Il6ll