The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1880-04-28
Common Schools in Mississippi.
National Journal OF Education.

National Journal OF Education
In no region of American life, to-day, ::
there grander opportunity FOR q great anC
benehcent career than in the complete e.
adjustment OF the American system Of free
education IN our Southern States. E9pe
clally l. this true Of the States in the South
west, which bear u the old Southern coloni-
al empire OF the Atlantic seaboard a reIa-
ton similar - the Northwest and New
England. The Biennial Report, for the
wears lS13-79. Of the State Superintendent
Of Public Education for Mississippi, i
crowded with materials for thought To the
people OF that State L confirms our grow
ing lmpression,-tha the people OF the
south must look, more end more, 10 them
selves for the organization aud support of
the peoples free schools Outside the few
thousand dollars contributed by the Pea
body Fund, and a few excellent schools sus-
tanned by missionary effort from the North,
the 2pb, 600 school children Of the State
must depend upon the people OF Mississippi
for their instruction. [ Unfortunately, the
school lands donated by the general govern
ment, amounting all together to more than
od0Oo0 acres, in the language OF the State
Board OF Education, have been desperately
handled"
The present eommon-school fund i made
up from the sale of liquor licenses, land re-
demptlons, and forfeItures for breaches OF
the penal laws Of the State. Because of the
neglect Of chancerv clerks and county au-
dItors to report promptly to the State audi
tors, there Is great embarrassment in dis
trlbuting the 500 00J among the different
counties. Thus, for all schooling beyond
two months, the children must depend on a
local taxation. not exceeding three mills on
the dollar. From the complaint of the
State superintendent, it would seem that
the Boards OF Supervisors in some counties
neglect IL make the levy. Altogether, in
the year 1879 the expenditure per capita OF
average attendance in the State was 50 50 !;
whole number Of school children, 206 600 ::
average daily attendance, 100, 900; number
OF teachers $500, with salaries averaging
nearly $50 per month. There is a State
University and Normal School. Five
teachers Institutes were held in 1879. There
Is system of county supervision but as the
average salary OF the supervisor IS but $3.50
year, and local trustees are charged with
''inethciency and Indifference the whole
machine of public education moves slowly
Yet State Superintendent, Hon. j. \.
Smith, is able 10 report signs of progress.
The number of children in attendance in
1879 was largely in excess of any previous
year; and the length of the school term longer
than before. The public mind Is being turn
the system" "Prejudice and opposition are
gradually giving way to the light aud sxpe-
rience OF the age" and, what Is of great
Importance to teachers, ''school warrants in
nearly all counties are at par" The State
superintendent as represented in this Re
port, seems fully alive to the Importance of
public education, an out-and-ou5 free school
man, fully abreast with the times. 1t IS en-
couraging to hear that the dead-poiut is
passed in Mississippi, and that the people,
through all the confusion of a reconstruct
ing of society from its foundations, are lis
tening to the voices Of their most eminent
men of the past and present in behalf of ed
ucation. 1t may not be easy for people so
discouraged and distracted 50 poor in
ready money and scattered in residence, for
years to come, to rival the great, densely~
populated communities of the North in the
public school. But no man can predict
what even a people 50 embarrassed may
achieve if, thoroughly aroused to the most
sacred Obligation training of the chill
dren. The Southern men and women, that
are all the time waited and prayed for by the
best mind and heart OF the North, are they
who are not living in mournful memories of
the past, but, through the eyes of the chill
dren, are scanning the horizon for bright
omens of the good time that will surely
come to every American commonwealth that
Is resolved to help itself