Imperial County CA Archives History - Books .....The Children 1918 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 14, 2006, 5:14 am Book Title: History Of Imperial County California THE CHILDREN And this leads directly to some mention of the children who inhabit this Valley. What about these men and women of the future, who are here training for the duties and activities which the coming years will bring? How are they being fitted for the wondrous achievement for which their parents don't yet even dream nor form any conception? The work of development and progress here is sure to go on. The momentum of the past must impel the work of the future and lead to still greater efforts and grander results than those which are being recorded here. Their greater facilities for education must lead to a broader outlook upon the affairs of life, and their training and experience in this Valley will open their eyes to new possibilities in this favored region as they grow older, many of which cannot be foreseen yet by those in the arena of endeavor at the present day. Are these children being properly fitted to carry on the work which their pioneer parents have marked out for them here ? Surely their tasks must prove easier than fell to the lot of their fathers and mothers. And yet it may call for some qualifications of a different character, as new conditions arise. The schools of the Valley are progressive and well conducted. The teachers have been selected for their educational fitness not only, but with some regard as to their native equipment and tact for the control of the young minds committed to their charge, no two of them alike. The requisite qualifications for a successful teacher of any child are manifold and of vast importance, not always fully realized by district officials. The old notion that most any young lady with a fair school education, who wanted some easy position where she could earn a decent living in a dignified way, was fitted for a school teacher has been fraught with danger in the past, and has now been almost entirely abandoned. But there is a joyous bunch of youngsters here who seem to enjoy life in full measure. They have heard the story of reclamation, with its hardships endured by their parents in the earlier years. Some of these children never saw any snow and don't understand what it is. Nor could they enjoy coasting down an icy hill, as they live on a level plain; nor any skating, for there is never any ice here, nor even anything to make snowballs of. But any observant visitor to these school grounds will find no lack of active sports on the baseball plot or the links, where the merry music of juvenile laughter rings out upon the balmy air. And their evenings at home when the day's work is done are spent in music and indoor games, discussion of current events or jolly converse. The absence of saloons and other contaminating features so prevalent in other communities greatly lessens the temptation to evil and wrongdoing. Thus it is very obvious that this Valley presents an ideal atmosphere for youthful life to a degree not often found in other regions. And it is pleasant to record also the fact that the civil governments in the cities and towns of this new county seem to be in full harmony with the best interests of the young. A remarkable feature of the region is that in this community of 50,000 people no native of the county has yet, in 1918, reached the age of graduation from the high school. Additional Comments: Extracted from: THE HISTORY OF IMPERIAL COUNTY CALIFORNIA EDITED BY F. C. FARR IN ONE VOLUME ILLUSTRATED Published by ELMS AND FRANKS BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA 1918 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/imperial/history/1918/historyo/children228nms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/cafiles/ File size: 4.1 Kb