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Show 6 COMMISSIONER. OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. sections of the country, including 21 different States, and this plan is now followed. SUPPLEMENTTHIEN CGO URSE OF STUDY.-AS SO many of the Indian children come frqm very primitive homes where many of the ordi-nary lessons of dally life are never taught, it seems advisable to select some subject for special study each year and thus definitely stamp certain valuable impressions on the memories of Indian young people. For the past year the subject, 'LPrevention of waste," was selected. This was done because the entire Nation had been asked b the Presi-dent to practice economy in every possihle way. The snXject is one of reat importance to Indians, and the time and effort given to its stu fi y were well spent. Not only have the young people been bene-fited, but results are seen also in the fact that it has been possible to support the largest number of Indian children in the schools that have ever been enrolled, with all schools in full-time o eration, and to the best of my knowledge, with no resulting deficits. '$his coopera-tion of the schools in the study and consideration of a special subject of interest to all is worthy of record. PERSONNEL.-AS was said in my last annual report, during the war period and immediately following the call of patriotism and the lure of better salaries than could be paid to those employed in the Indian schools took hundreds of instructors away from our service and the same conditions made it very difficult to find people to fill positions. The result was that the general efficiency standards became greatly lowered. At the beginning of the year plans were formulated for the improvement of the personnel of the school service. A reading course was announced for all school employees, and throughout the year the supervisors have encouraged efforts for self-improvement on the part of all instructors. Arrangement* were also made for summer school work for as many instructors as could possibly be spared from their respective schools. Certain State institutions were designated in each supervisor's district to which all instructors were encouraged to go for a few weeks. The summer schools opened in June with a fairly good representation of the teachers, ,but for financial and other reasons, fully as many chose to attend ~nstitutions other than those designated. The advantage of selecting certain institutions was that large enough groups might be brought together for round-table confer-ences. It is believed that attendance at the State institutions, where hundreds of public-school teachers are gathered, will be mutually helpful. Those employed in the Indian schools will have oppor-tunities to associate with the public-school workers and thus to become better acquainted with the trend of public-school work, and the teachers of public schools will have a similar opportunity to learn of the work of Indian schools. This is important because of the ever-increasing attendance of Indian children in public schools. While at the beginning of the school year it was difficult to get applicants enough to fill all vacancies in the Indian schools, there was a very large increase in a plicat.i ons during the year, and just at its close the Civil Service ommlssion reported that there were nearly 500 names on the list of teachers. This will make it possible to make selections with great care as vacancies occur, and the pros-pect now is that the standards of efficiency can be raised rapidly. |
