78 ALASKA FISHERIES AND FUR INDUSTRIES IN 1915. 
ment is then more rapid. <A feature of instruction inaugurated in 
the spring of 1915 was a sort of civil catechism. The children were 
asked to tell their names and ages, the names of their parents, the 
names of the various officials, what they studied at school, and, 
according to their capacity for understanding, facts concerning the 
islands and the more common physical surroundings and phenomena. 
Possibly the school term should be extended to the end of June, 
and during the vacation of two months one teacher should be 
required to call all school children in the village into the classroom 
once each week. The idea of this is to keep them under discipline 
and to prevent as far as possible their forgetting many things which 
usually escape their minds during the four months’ vacation. 
St. George Island.—The 1914-15 school year opened Septem- 
ber 26. As a result of the school building having been enlarged, 
the interior remodeled, and other improvements made, a comfortable 
and attractive room was available for the school work. Regular 
visits were made to the school by the physician, and matters of sanita- 
tion were given attention. The personal cleanliness of the children 
and the care given to their teeth were carefully watched. While the 
usual courses of primary and common school studies were not lost 
sight of, special effort was made to so ground the children in the use 
of the English language that they will use it in their everyday life 
outside the schoolroom, a condition which does not now obtain. 
Some of the difficulties encountered in the matter of giving instruc- 
tion to the children are indicated by the following extracts from a 
report submitted by Mr. and Mrs. George Haley for the school term 
ended May 29, 1915: 
One of the greatest obstacles in the progress of the pupils here is the fact that they do 
not speak English. With one or two exceptions, English is spoken in none of the 
homes, so when the child comes to school at the age of six years his vocabulary is 
usually limited to the words, ‘good-by,’’ “‘yes,’’ and “no.” It is not difficult for a 
child to acquire a working knowledge of a foreign tongue under the proper conditions. 
Many of the children of the foreign-born citizens of the United States hear only their 
native tongue in their homes; but when they enter the public schools not only the lan- 
guage of the school but the language of the playground is English, and the playground 
is where the child gets the greater part of his practice in speaking. It is in free con- 
versation that one learns to think in a foreign tongue. Such children usually are 
desirous of speaking English—it may be with no higher motive than because “the 
others do” —and the parents encourage progress in English, feeling that whatever line 
of work the children follow after leaving school it will be an aid in their advancement. 
Here the conditions are very different—the medium of communication of the play- 
ground is Aleut, so as soon as the threshold of the school building is passed there is no 
attempt to speak English. Then apparently the parents feel no interest in their child- 
ren speaking English. It may be that they see no advantage in it. 
The textbooks in use are standard books, but they do not always meet the needs of 
this school. The primary reading book often lacks interest because it relates to that 
which has never come into the child’s experience; for example, the child whom the 
author had in mind is enthusiastic over “the robin that builds its nest in the elm tree,” 
