Continuation School Law of Utah

continuation school law for cities in 1911. It is interesting in passing to note that although the age limit then was only 16, Mr. Coolev. the director, reports that, in 1911, 5,000 children who had left school permanently, were brought back into these part-t'me classes in the city of Milwaukee alone. The age limit has since been raised to age 18. The British Parliament has recently enacted a very strong continuation school law. The age limit is fixed at 18, and the number of hours of schooling required is 288 annually. Employers are required to allow their employees to attend the classes and to include these hours as part of the working time. France has proposed even more stringent laws, extending the age limit for boys to age 20, and requiring 320 hours annually in the schools. Utah, therefore, appears to be in line with the best thought of the enlightened nations in h~r program for education. There can be no doubt but that a crying need exists for continuation schools. More than half of the boys and girls from fourteen to eighteen are permanently out of school in Utah. While the conditions in the nation at large are far worse than this, still the figures are alarming. All the money expended for public and private high schools is showered upon the less than half who are able and who desire to pursue the type of study offered in the present curriculum. The "more than half" have received no systematic consideration. And still, in this latter group are the sons of widows and of other

parents who, for various valid reasons, are dependent upon the earnings of the youths. In this group also are the boys and girls who lose interest in formal studies because their talents and aspirations lie in the field of industry and of business. The records of the correspondence schools show that very large sums of money are paid by these young people annually in an endeavor to get the education which our present types of secondary schools deny them. I recall a widow's son, about 17 years of age, who recently paid $70 for such a course which he puzzles out alone in the night hours after the days' arduous labors in an electrical shop. How many more boys are struggling along in the same manner

CONTINUATION SCHOOL LAW OF UTAH 607

I know not, but the Utah school census shows that 10,877 children between 14 and 18 years of age are not in any public or private school. I do not understand why this boy should have to pay $70 tuition and to study without a teacher when he wishes to sludy electricity, while another boy, better-off, who wishes to study history or Latin, and can afford to attend a full-day high school, pays nothing for his course, and has an expert teacher provided for him. Simple justice demands that both boys be treated with equal fairness. The part-time laws aim to play fair. Salt Lake City census of 1918 shows 5,167 young people between 14 and 18 years of age who are not in any school, even a three months business college. Assistant Superintendent Geo. N. Child, of Salt Lake City, conducted an industrial survey of 1,583 of this group; 228 were delivery boys, 218 clerks and wrappers, while 192 worked in factories, and 172 were mechanical or day laborers, and 156 were in offices. Fifty were messengers. Of the entire number of over fifteen hundred only thirty-two reported themselves as apprentices in any trade. It is evident, therefore, that almost all those at work are in blind alley jobs. And it is also evident that up to the present no effort has been made to guide these adolescents for individual and for social efficiency. The parttime standards and provisions are intended to rectify the sad neglect of the past. Utah, as usual, is among the vanguard of progress in education. Salt Lake City, Utah

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L =J The Camp Fire Photo by Leland B. Anderson

Irrigation and Education

By Professor (). W . Israclsen, of the Utali Agricultural College

IV. Perseverance

That ultimate success in irrigation and in education is inherently dependent on Priority, Purpose, and Place has been called to attention heretofore. But these things do not insure success unless they are accompanied by Perseverance, the fourth of the five P's. Many failures in irrigation farming have resulted directly from lack of Perseverance. The pioneer farmer of the Middle West long ago became accustomed to plowing his virgin land early in the spring, sowing his fertile grain and reaping a harvest in only one hundred days from when the soil and plow first met. Not so in the Arid West where large diversion dams must be built; canals having many laterals must be constructed; and rough surfaces must be smoothed to make the dormant lands productive. These things cannot be done in a day, a month, or a year, but many years of unceasing toil are required. Late in the eighties and early in the nineties of the last century, this country experienced an epoch in irrigation development long to be remembered. The period is commonly known aa that of "commercial canal building." Investors of the country were led to believe that phenomenal development of the West would very quickly follow the construction of large irrigation works; that in but a few weeks or months after water was made available for irrigation, a sudden transformation of the desert would follow. Many were disappointed. It was found that years came and went and but a small percentage of the lands under the irrigation projects were actually farmed. In many cases after a quarter of a century there yet remained fully onehalf of the land undeveloped. Project Perseverance was found to be an absolute essential. Likewise the individual farms demand Perseverance. Best results come only after years of effort. Each tract of land must be graded and smoothed; the soil allowed to settle in the loose places, and again graded and smoothed. Success comes ultimately to him who never despairs. It is similar in the seeking of an education. The fertile seed of persistent inquiry may quickly germinate, and insure an

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IRRIGATION AND EDUCATION 609

early harvest when sown in a "humid" mind, but frequently minds of exceptional capacity seem to be affected with a deep seated "aridity." To make such minds fertile, powerful diversion policies must be developed; new channels of activity, having many branches, must be constructed; and rough places smoothed. Nor can these things be accomplished in a day, a month or a year, but years and years are required. It is not difficult to believe that the world is just emerging from a period of commercial life building. Have not inventors and financiers been led to overestimate the transformation which would follow the rise of industrialism ? Have not the years come and gone with but a small percentage of mankind stimulated to a fuller maturity, a genuine educational growth? After a generation of opportunity under the advantages of a splendid industrial Progress, fully one half of our national life projects seem to have failed to reach this goal. National survival is dependent on democracy, and the perpetuation of democracy rests on national Perseverance in the dissemination of knowledge — in properly educating those who are to govern themselves. Individual acquirement of the necessary educational growth likewise depends on individual Perseverance. Permanent Progress comes only as a result of years of consistent endeavor. Every man must eliminate the rugged elements; apply the tests of experience and temptation; and prune off the rough places. Ultimate advancement comes only to him who is eternally vigi- — lant who develops Perseverance within himself. That unlimited Progress awaits the person who successfully meets the demands of the age concerning Priority, Purpose, Place and Perseverance will be pointed out in the next number of the Era. Logan, Utah

President Joseph F. Smith

A man whom we could not but love, A soul that ran, but did not flee; As brother, father, friend Commanded, yet obeyed A rock of strength, a fire aglow; Bowed not to wrong, yet on his knee A power to make and mend. For erring ones he prayed.

A guide who never once forgot The way to faith and cheer; He nobly wore, without a spot, The mantle of a seer.

George H. Brimhall.