80 FISHERY AND FTTR INDUSTRIES OF ALASKA IN 1912. 



term, excluding 13^ church and Russian hohdays and 4 American 

 national holidays. 



The curriculum is the simple one of reading, writing, spelling, and 

 arithmetic, adjusted to five grades besides the primer class. History 

 is introduced in the third grade; geography, good health, and gram- 

 mar in the fourth. 



The offer of six prizes in reading and speaking English proved a 

 stimulus which produced excellent results. The difficulties of the 

 teachers' task, however, are so great as to call for immediate atten- 

 tion, as shown by the following extract from the report of jMt. Philip 

 R. E. Hatton, of the St. Paul school: 



In closing my report for the year I beg to call attention to the urgent need for an 

 assistant teacher and a new school building on this island. 



It is impossible for one person to teach a school of 43 children, varying in ages 

 from 6 to 16 years, and obtain anything like satisfactory results. Forty-three pupils 

 are too many for one teacher in any locality, but teaching these children can not be 

 compared to the work of teaching school in the States. These little Aleuts, imtil 

 they reach the age of 10 or 11 years, can hardly speak a single word of English. They 

 have to be taught to speak and to understand when spoken to before anything else 

 whatever can be taught them. 



Every pupil in this primer class, moreover, should be taken separately and taught 

 slowly, with everything explained thoroughly. But there are twenty-odd members 

 in this class, and five other classes waiting to be instructed. To give the school 

 proper attention, at least half an hour should be devoted to each recitation of each 

 class, and I could hardly spare 10 minutes to each class and do the rest of the work. 



It is almost impossible to maintain order in the schoolroom where so many of these 

 children are and continue the work. The little ones can not be given work enough 

 to keep them busy all the morning, and it is not in their disposition or home training 

 to sit still while congregated in the building. 



Most of the children show an aptness for learning and would all make rapid progress 

 if they were only given the chance. But the infant class, the largest, has no chance 

 to get a start. If these children are to be properly taught, it is essential to separate 

 the higher grades from the infant class and teach them in separate rooms. 



For this, of course, a new schoolhouse will be required. Even the help of another 

 teacher in the same room would be but small improvement. No schoolroom is large 

 enough for two teachers to work in at the same time. The present building is too 

 small to have rooms partitioned off for different classes, and the building itself is far 

 from being a modem or comfortable structure, having been built, I imderstand, in 

 the seventies, and without any convenience. 



I would recommend, therefore, that a modem and attractive schoolhouse be built, 

 well ventilated, and with one or more playrooms for the children. The weather 

 here in the winter is such that the children can not play outside without getting wet 

 feet and then colds, and worse sicknesses are the certain results. A comfortable and 

 attractive building is needed to induce the children to attend school willingly. Such 

 a school could be built very cheaply, since all the labor of construction could be 

 furnished free by the natives. 



It will, of course, not be possible to have a new school building ready for use this 

 coming winter, but there are several unoccupied houses in the village, one of which 

 could be used by a part of the pupils for a year or two, if it is made possible to so 

 separate them by sending up an assistant teacher this year. 



