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Show 26 REWRT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. book in this list will depend upon its value as a text for Indian pupils as may be determined tentatively by its careful e~aminat~ion. Whether a text-book will be retained on this list will depend entirely upon its merits as demonstrated by its use in the class rooms. INDUSTRIAL WORK. The course of study for Indian schools has always made provisions for industrial training. In its inception the Indian educational policy was evolved out of that larger educational system that obtained in the United States a half century ago. At the present time, hbw-ever, the offspring probably leads rather than follows its worthy progenitor in that it attaches even greater value to industrial train-ing. So rapid has been its advancement along these lines and so commendable have been the results, that it has favorably reacted upon the policies of state educational systems. To maintain the efficiency of the work in industrial training, day-school teachers particularly have been urged to make much of their opportunity to acquaint their pupils with the elementary truths relating. to every industry represented in any degree at their schools. Gardening, farming, stock raising, the use of tools, housekeeping, etc., should all be accorded great attention. Much will be expected of day-school Deachers. Their little comu-nity is the pointof contactbetween the Indians and the whites, between the lower and the higher civilizations, and its position of primal im-portance must be fully appreciated in order that commensurate results may be obtained. From the day-school plant there should radiate into the Indian world all that is good and suitable for the Indians' advancement. Efforts properly initiated here lead to satis-factory results all along the future lines of work in behalf of the Indians; mistakes made here, likewise have equally lasting evil results. Teachers in the day schools, who are frequently man &nd wife, should be in sympathy with their work and capable of adapting themselves to their environments. Those who are tactless or unre-sourceful as to means and methods of accomplishing their purposes will have but meager success in these positions. WORK OF THE CONSTRUCTION SECTION. Projects completed and under contract for 1908-9, and representing an expenditure of nearly $400,000, range hom a small one-room day-school building to a complete boarding-school plant of six build-ings at Chin Lee, Ark., and one of ten buildings at Puyallup, Wash. Included in this list are dormitories, schoolhouses, assembly halls, mess halls, gymnasiums, hospitals, laundries, warehouses, pump and gas houses, b a s i jails, saw andqriat mills, ice making and high ant1 |
