The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1878-10-03


Nh EG;Tos: Allow me, through the col
umns of your valuable paper, to make q
few suggestions az to the manner in which
the efficiency of the free public schools NAV
be increased:
The first great requisite Is better school
houses. So far as 1 have been able to OBJ
serve. there are but few school houses in
Anderson County that deserve tie name
they bear Many of them are miserable
| log huts, not having sufficient room to &C.
commodate well the pupils in attendance ::
! admitting but little light: without s7si.
desks for the convenience of pupils; ex-
tremely cold In winter and oppressively hot
In summer; and not having even play
grounds attached to them. If stranger.
In travelling across the country, were to
| take our school houses as criterion Of onr
| civilization, lie would come 10 the conciu-
| sion that We are far behind the ago. This
! evil can and should be remedied. The Re-
vised School Law Of the State of South Car
olina, section oS, declares that the "Boardy
! of Trustees shall have authority, and 1t
shall be their duty, to provide suitable
school houses In their districts, and to make
the same comfortable, paying due regard to
any school house already built or site pro-
cured, es well as to all other circumstances
proper to be considered, so as to best pro-
mote the educational interest of thoir dis.
trict."
Since the Boards of Trustees have ALL.
thority, and 1t is made their duty, to pro-
vide suitable school houses, lot them at
once set themselves to work in this direc-
ton. In locating and building school
houses, let them take into consideration
convenience of access, suitability of the
grounds and surroundings, healthiness of
the neighborhood. Let the schools b,, go
located that, as near as possible, all the
children in the different school districts
shall have the opportunity of attending the
free public schools. Let the school house
be built, fpossible, in beautiful and quiet
grove, near cool, gushing spring. Let 1t
have attached to it @ suitable play ground.
After' q house of tho proper form. aize and
arrangement has been constructed and
made comfortable, lei the proper attention
DO given to furnishing It with furniture and
apparatus.
The school houses having been built and
furnished, the noxt thing that demands or
attention is, when is the ,nost fit time for
opening the public school,2 We believe It
would be best to open them in November.
For this belief we will assign two or three
reasons: 1st. We believe ono public school
term Of five or six successive months better
than two terms with an tefval of q month
or two between thf 2nd. PupiIs can
study better in the : .es and eas.v sf5r;1,,
months than in the months OF july and
August these months being in one of the
terms, when the time for instructing in the
free pubic schools Is divided into two
terms. .Gd. When the public schools are
divided into two terms, as Is necessarily the
case when they open in January, at the bo-
ginning of the second term the work of the
school IL greatly intsrfered with by classify
Ing the scholars anew; and, after they
have been thrown into tho proper classes,
many OF them have to leave school by the
tirae that their minds have bean trained to
study. We do not see why there should be
any objection tn the public schools opening
in November; the busy season on the farm
is now sufficiently over to enable farmers
again to send their children to school.
We see no reason why the public schools
may not be run ten months as well as five
This can be done by supplementing the
State school funds by ievying local school
tax: and aince nns.e hss@=e 7oicc ir voting
for such levy, nor in controlling the funds
after they have been thus raised, except the
property owner, there in no possible chance
of their being diverted from the proper
channel.
In order to carry out The above sugges-
tions, 1t will be necessary Cor the Trustees
of the different school districts to call meet.
ings of their respective districts to take into
consideration matters relating to the In.
terest OF the free public schools. An OBJ
lection might be raised 20 this c.: the
ground that the people could not be pre-
vailed on to attend such meetings, or at
least In sufficient numbers to be able to
carry out any measure that might bo pro-
posed. But the Trustees could announce in
their call that such meeting would take
place Immediately after the adjournment of
their township Democratic Club 1neeting,
and then goodly number Of persons would
already be on hand.
NJ. N. NircHKLL.