- Kod iak Kapsualles —
(By Bill Mason)
(Continued from Page 1, Sec. 1)
buy a box of crayolas, a set of wa
ter paint, a tablet and five pencils
and still have some change left
from a 50 cent piece? . . You
marched to school for the very
first time dressed in a home-made
pongee shirt (or was that before
your time)? . . . After school you
played wood-tag, pump-pump puli
away or stink-base? (no TV’s or
radios). . . . You lined up outside
the classroom door in single file
and didn’t advance until the sig
nal to enter was given, and you
kept your hands folded on top the
desk until you settled down to
serious business? . . . The teachers’
rulers were used for other pur
poses than to draw straight lines
on the blackboard? . . . And when
you were selected as the one to
clap together the erasers for being
good all that week? . . . And when
your room won the traveling at
tendance award (usually a picture)
for having the best attendance at
the PTA meeting for the month.
Seems like only yesterday,
doesn’t it?
* * * *
Nor can we forget the little
first-grader who waited until all
of his classmates had left the
room and he cautiously ap
proached his teacher. Miss
Jones.
‘ Yes, what is it, Jimmy?” she
asked in a pleasant voice.
“Can you tell me what I
learned in school today, Miss
Jones?” he asked.
“Why, Jimmy?” she asked in
an astonished tone of voice.
“Well, every night when I get
home my Daddy asks me what I
learned today in school and I
don’t know what to tell him.”
* * + *
It must have been in the same
classroom that Miss Jones was
dwelling on the spelling lesson,
and asked the same little Jimmy
how to spell CAT.
The youngster paused a mo
ment and then with an air of de
termination in a loud voice spelled
out “C-A-T!”
“That’s very good, Jimmy,’ she
complimented him.
"Good! H - - -! That’s PER
FECT,’’ he said as he sat down.
* * * *
In a more serious vein ami
this comes in the form of in
quiry, we wonder how much
Alaskan history is taught in the
schools of our state.
The state which was once the
largest in the U.S.—Texas—in
cludes it as a must and there is
not a single child who goes
through elementary school in
the Lone Star state who can’t
recite every detail in the life of
Sam Houston or give you a blow
by blow description of the Ala
mo, and it seems to stay with
them throughout their lives.
Consequently each Texan is
sort of a walking and often to
our disgust — a talking one
man Chamber of Commerce.
* * * *
Over the years we have probably
gained much and lost much in this
profession of educating children.
It wasn’t too many years ago
that the daily class program
opened with a pledge of allegiance
to the American flag and the sing
ing of the national anthem. It cer
tainly didn’t harm any youngster.
And do you recal when you had
to memorize the 48 states and their
capitols. We’ll bet that a half
dozen seniors in the graduating
class from last year here or any
where else could not do that.
Then there were such require
ments as reciting the dreary
“Thanatopsis” as a requirement
for graduation from the eighth
grade.
Probably none of these could be
justified in the light of modern
education but on the other hand,
it might be pretty difficult to jus
tify the fact that you can’t read the
handwriting of 90 per cent of to
day’s graduates; few are real good
spellers; fewer still can add a col
umn of figures and get the right
answer; and in this move towards
a one-world one per cent of the
seniors can’t tell you what states
border Kansas or Illinois.
* * Ik ±
And a final note on schools.
Having taught a few years our
selves, we are appreciative of
the plight of today’s teachers.
Frankly, they do not get the co
operation and help from the par
ent that the teaching profession
did years ago. Discipline prob
lems can’t be solved by threat
ening to fail the high schooler or
report him to his parents.
It is evident that Kodiak has
good schools. If they weren’t
good, it would be one of the first
things a newcomer would be
told about.
The Board of Education has j
thankless job at the best. Their
work is never appreciated and
if something goes wrong they
are the first to be condemned.
We have been told that Dr. A.
Holmes Johnson was instrumen
tal in keeping the building pro
gram moving ahead as a board
member, and other members of
the board with an assist from
Rep. Pete Deveau were instru
mental in keeping the salaries
up.
Give these people your sup
port and welcome the new and
old teachers back in Kodiak.
They carry on the most under
rated job in American society.
AT CENTURY 21
Visiting the Alaska exhibit at
the World’s Fair on Aug. 12 were
Alice Parmenter, Marya Spring
hill, Kathy, Chester and Mark Carl
son.
%
GOING TO BUY
A NEW FATHOMETER?
SEE THE NEW DUAL ROSS FISHERMAN FLASHER AND RECORDER
Prices From $360 and Up
SEE
i ' '
The New Compact
Radio - Telephone
250 Watts Input 12 & 32 Volts
DEVEAU ELECTRONICS
Ph. 486-2672
Base School Enrollment About 325;
Faculty Named, Classes Start Sept. 4
Enrollment in kindergarten
through eighth grade at the Kodiak
On Base School is expected to be
approximately 325. Registration
took place Wednesday and Thurs
day of this week.
Classes for all students, except
those in the afternoon kindergar
ten, will begin at 9 a.m. on Sept.
4. Those children attending the
afternoon session of the kinder
garten will be notified and should
come at 1 p.m. on Sept. 4.
The faculty for the coming
school year will number eleven.
Miss Betty Schaaf will be teaching
fifth grade again. Miss Schaaf,
from Idaho, is returning for the
third year. She has been attending
summer school in her home state
and plans to visit Century 21 in
Seattle on her way back to Kodiak.
Mrs. Besse Sexton will be teach
ing second grade. Mrs. Sexton
spent the summer at Greeley, Colo
rado, attending Colorado State Col
lege. She is coming back to Kodiak
for the second year.
Mrs. Brenda Sherrill will teach
one of the first grades for her sec
ond year here. She is a native of
North Carolina.
TEACHES SEVENTH
Willis O. Benson will teach sev
enth grade this year. He has lived
and taught in Florida in recent
years.
Mrs. Jean Pool Bock comes to
Kodiak from California. Mrs. Bock
spent the summer on a cruise to
the Orient. She will be teaching
sixth grade.
Miss Helen D. Case has lived in
Alaska for several years. She
comes to Kodiak from Homer with
time out for a summer in Europe.
Her teaching assignment here will
be in third grade.
Miss Marlene G. Hartman’s home
state is Iowa and she will be teach
ing fourth grade in the base school
year.
Miss Norma Kolbinger will teach
kindergarten here this year. She
has taught at Fort Wainwright
(Continued on Page 6, Sec. 1)
NORMAN PHOTO SHOP
Portraits—Commercial Photography
Paintings & Etchings by Alaskans
Alaska Gifts & Curios
(Opposite Orpheum Theatre)
PHONE 486-5282
For The Best in Heating Oils
USE
U NION OIL’S
N EW
| IMPROVED
l
F VEL-WITH
L ESS
A 8H
More
E MERGY
**1 STOVE OIL #2 BURNER OIL
order from
KODIAK OIL SALES
PHONE —486-2411