=School a life enterprise.=--There are all grades in the school, from
the kindergarten through the high school. There is but slight disparity
in the size of the classes, for the parents instinctively set apart
thirteen years of the time of their children for life in the school. To
these parents school and life are synonymous, and when a child enters
the kindergarten he enlists in the enterprise for a term of thirteen
years. The homes as well as the school are arranged on this basis, and
this plan of procedure is ingrained in the social consciousness.
Deserting the school is no more thought of than any other form of
suicide. If, by any chance, a boy should desert the school, he would be
a pariah in that community and could not live among the people in any
degree of comfort. He would be made to feel that he had debased himself
and cast aspersion upon society. The looks that the people would bestow
upon him would sting more than flagellation. He would be made to feel
that he had expatriated himself, and neither himself nor his parents
would be in good standing in the community. They would be made to feel
that their conduct was nothing short of sacrilege.
=Public sentiment.=--In view of the school sentiment that obtains in the
community the eighth grade is practically as populous as the first
grade. Attendance upon school work is a habit of thinking both with the
children and with their parents, and school is taken for granted the
same as eating and sleeping.
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