Twentv-five Cent* a Year. February 1911. Vol. XI. No. 11
Long wo o d School.
As nothing has been said for some
lime about our District School it has
been decided to devote this issue of
The News Letter to that work.
'! here are over sixty pupils enroll
ed in the two rooms, ranging in age
from five to seventeen years, and pla
ce! in the various grades from the
pri uurv to the sixth grade.
We find that tne children take a
gre 'er interest in their work, and
are mors attentive in class recitations
when they know that their grades
\c: ! be put on the board each week
and they try "hard hard, hard,” (as
thev sayI to keep their standings as
high as possible; thinking it a dis
grace to be below grade in any of
their studies.
One great trouble m our school
w<*;k is getting the ihildren to speak
di' i utlv. It seems to be a habit of
all the people to want to w hisper i heir
corntnunications instead of speaking
out ‘ iid. This lack of confidence
thev have in themselves is due no
d>uht to their native inheritance,
fur i istance, when a native is asked a
question he invariably replies “I
don'* know.” We are not troubled
with he chi dren speaking Russian
at > hool as in many other Alaskan
Schools. Most of our pupils come
from the mission where they are not
a'd -wed to spe-*k any thing but Eng
lish. We find that is a great help.
As a whole the work iu the schools
is very satisfactory considering the
difficulties that have to he overcome.
It is very trying some times and one
has to he very patient.
In teaching, as in any kind of
wotk, much depends on environ
ment. Our children have never seen
au electric car, or rail road train, or
automobile, many never s.*iw a cow
or Uorse, until they came to the mis
sion. Indeed few of them have seen
any place larger than the little vill
ages of Kodiak and Wood Island.
The only change in the monotony of
their lives is the coming of a steamer
once a month and they certainly go
win! when they see it.
To a person coming directly from
a school in the States where the
children have so many more opport
unities of seeing and knowing things,
it might at first seem that our child
ren were backward, but after consid
ering the conditions and limitations
which surround them it will he fouud,
I think, that they are as far advanced
in proportion as those who have had
greater advantages.
We have things more convenient
this year than last. New stoves have
been put in, which make it much
easier to keep the rooms comfortable.
But the most important improve
ment i« the furnishing of both rooms
( Continued page j)