University of Southern Mississippi - Southerner Yearbook (Hattiesburg, MS)

Page 10 text:

Srhunl Qlrehit fur 55111112 mark AIDA T. CLOWER HARRISON COUNTY -Q NE of the lpresent problems of the school is how it can be of real help to the home. One way in which to solve this problem is for the school to take into account home industrial work and regard it as of equal importance with the school work. By making it a subject of consideration at school the child's interest in his home tasks and in the school itself will be greatly increased. While this plan of giving school credit for industrial work, satisfactorily done at home IS comparatively new, it is one that will cost no money, will require little school time, and can and should be put into practice in every part of the State. The school must recognize the fact that the work done at home, if it is thoroughtfully, intelligently and carefully done is of equal value with that done in the various school subjects and must give the child just compensation for his time and effort used in performing home duties. If the child is given credit for his work at home it will stimulate his desire to help his parents do the tasks that need to be done and to do them in the most efhcient way. . The purpose of giving school credit for home work is to bring about more interest, better co-operation, and a closer relationship between the school and the home. The parents should be considered as teachers, and the school teachers will be given a better opportunity to study the habits and tastes of each child, which will re- sult in the development of the child's entire nature. It will give the child an in- centive to do, at home, some of the things that he has learned at school. In this way new ideas of working may be introduced into the home and perhaps adopted. Thus by coming into direct touch with the home and social life of the pupils the school will be in a better position to know the needs of the child and will therefore be able to plan the school work so that it may best meet these needs. The home also offers the best possible equipment for industrial work and the problems and situations to be met there are real. They provide for the child's initiative and individuality. But how can the school give credit for industrial work done at home? This may be accomplished by printed slips asking the parents to keep a record of the work the child does at home, and explaining that credit will be given for this work on the school register. In preparing these slips the child's age must be considered so that he will not be asked to do too much. The required tasks must not be too difficult, yet they must be real tasks. To add interest to the work, exhibitions are sometimes made at school or county fairs. U Wherever school credit for home work has been given it has proven to be practicable and successful. AIDA T. CLOWER. l ml

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- 31112 Nnrmal Spirit , ALLENE CATHEY DESOTO COUNTY X.: HE word Normal as here used has not its usual meaning, it is not the spirit that is commonly found in Normals, not the customary thing, but rather the unusual spirit of this particular Normal school. New students feel it in the democratic atmosphere, and drop in line. Visi- tors comment upon it and ask, I-low? Yet if they remain here long it is easy to understand. The attitude of the faculty towards the students is one to inspire con- fidence, self-reliance, and respect. They are not cultured, learned gods, that hold themselves apart, but are comrades, friends, and advisorsg they do not exist for the recitation rooms alone, but are with us in our societies, religious organizations, games, and every phase of daily life. The President of the institution, Joe Cook, places all confidence in the students. No iron-clad rules are enforcedg only a very few necessary regulations and Self-Control are insisted upon. His confident, frank treatment of the students demands the same from them in return. Another reason for the Normal spirit is unity of purpose. The student body is not a heterogenous collection of future doctors, merchants, lawyers, business men, society girls, etc., but is made up of men and women who have determined upon the same life purpose. Every student has at heart, and is to be a helper in solving the one great problemg the development of the country child. The moving student body helps to maintain democracy. The same students are seldom here a second or third year, and more often they come for a part of the session, go away to teach and return after their schools are out. This constant changing of students, though lasting friendships are made, prevents social circles and squads from being formed. There is no Freshman or Senior here, no distinctions are made. The entire student body is one big social circle, every one having equal rights. Democracy is encouraged, not for democracy in itself, but for its helpfulness. And we hope to carry this Normal spirit back with us into every rural school and community throughout the state, socializing and unifying the many factors of rural life now dormant. ALLENE CATHEY.

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Cflramping an at lgrufemiinn L HARRIS COOK FORREST COUNTY F it is true that travel broadens the mind, the teachers of Mississispi should be very broad-minded, for seventy-six per cent. of them move every year. If we believe in Formal Discipline, we should say that this travel would develop the child's ability to adapt himself to new situations, because each new teacher brings a new situation. In a certain community, the teacher has lived for ten years and has done a great work for that community. He has lived with the people, helped them to solve their problems, and has taken an active part in the community life. He is teaching now in a new building with modern equipment. He has formed his boys into corn clubs, his girls into canning clubs, has vitalized the curriculum, and started a move- ment, not back to the farm but stay on the farm. Through his efforts in the Farmers' Union, the people of his community are having their children study farming and are studying it indirectly, themselves. His people back him up, for they believe in him. He did not accomplish this workin one year or two yearsg it took time to enlist their support and co-operation. In another community, there have been new teachers almost every year, just as good men, no doubt, as the one mentioned above, but too much interested in travel to stay long enough in the community to learn its problems or assist in their solution. These teachers apparently have no aim. The work of the present year seemingly bears no relation to that of the past year. There is no club work, no school library, no Farmers' Union. The building is still standing as it stood six or seven years ago, poorly equipped and badly in need of repairs. Every spring, the teacher is attracted by wander-lusty so he closes the door, forgets the community and its problems, and starts out to find another school. It is doubtful whether long tenure of office would have made the second school an asset rather tnan a liability. But long tenure of' oflice would have help- ed. It is not wise for all teachers to stay in the same community all the time. One of the best things some teachers can do for their community is to leave it. The teachers, themselves, are largely responsible for the attitude of the com- munity toward the school, because many use the teaching proffession as a makeshift. In a certain community, for the past seven years, the teachers have been young girls, who were teaching only for the purpose of making enough money to buy their trousseaus. In another community, a man took the examination and, when asked why he was just beginning to teach, said, Times are so hard I could not get a job 'hustlin' lumber,' so I thought I would try school teaching. Thus the story goes: the traveling teacher is first here and then there, like some will-o'-the-wisp, never staying in a community long enough to be of real service. HARRIS COOK.