The idea has met with favor on the part of everyone. The pupils of the two upper grammar grades are thus given an opportunity of enjoying high-school privileges. They have manual training, home economics, spelling, and music with their older companions, and enter into all the school activities with them. This arrangement gives every child a variety of teachers and a chance to progress by subjects rather than by grade. The plan is economical and has saved the district several hundred dollars, as the regular high-school teachers have been able to handle classes in the upper grades.
In 1915–16 the total sum expended for the first six grades was $37,663.41; in 1916–17, $47,174.96. The expenditures of the six upper grades, including the high school, were $26,930.76 and $25,364.84, respectively. In the high school the daily average attendance was 265.1 and 306.4; the cost per capita, $99,31 and $93.96. In the lower grades the average attendance was 859 and 980 and the per capita cost $44.55 and $44.66. The estimates for the high school for 1917–18 are $31,694.50; for the public school, $76,280.62; total for the public-school system, $107,975.16.
The public school proper is housed in six buildings, one of which provides a home for colored pupils. The high school has its own building, completed in 1904, and with modern equipment. It has been admitted to membership in the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, a privilege highly appreciated by the high schools of the State.
Because of the location of Globe in a mining section and the evident demand for such instruction, there were established in 1916–17 courses in geology and mineralogy. A collection of specimens for illustration and laboratory use has been begun.
The high school of Douglas offers a special course of study in domestic science and manual training. It printed an outline of the work required in 1914–15.
In Bisbee the board of education is at the present time working toward the six-and-six plan. This will throw the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades, now known as intermediate, along with the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth, into the high school. It is intended to build three junior high schools, and there are summer terms for backward and over-age pupils. In these matters Bisbee has been a leader in the State. On September 30, 1916, there were 2,583 pupils enrolled, being a gain of 243 over the corresponding period of 1915. It is planned to divide the school year into four terms of 12 weeks each, with one week’s vacation between terms. When graduates of the Bisbee High School are employed as teachers, they have a primary supervisor to help them in planning and supervising their work. Salaries for grade teachers range from $75 to $100 for nine months.[1]
In the high school itself at Bisbee seven courses are offered—college preparatory, business, art, manual training, domestic science,
- ↑ Arizona Teacher, February, 1917, pp. 15–17.
