The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1889-08-29
SHALL WE HAVE IT:

and girls between the ages Of six and
sixteen, and seven or eight white
schools of all grades. The material,
then, is abundant. The system must
come sooner or later, and the sooner
the better, if we expect to keep up with
other sections of the State. Spartan
burg, Greenville, Florence, and num-
Der of other towns, some not so large
as Newberry, have graded schools IN
successful operation.
But what are the advantages of
graded schools? Briefly these: thorough
organization, greater division Of labor,
and a more systematic course OF IN
struction. One teacher is not cumbered'
confused and over-worked by having to
impart instruction to thirty or forty
pupils in all stages of advancement in
dozen different branches. There are
the same advantages that result from
organization, and division of labor in
every department Of industry.
The central idea of the system is that
one teacher has charge Of all pupils
through a certain stage of the pre-
scribed course Of instruction. This en-
ables the teacher to become an expert
in the grade of which he or she has
charge, and to Go therefore, more
efficient work. 1t is in part, the college
system carried into the work of ele-
mentary instruction..
Another great advantage is that 1t IS
much cheaper than the present system
or lack of system. That is te~say, a
town can have much better Schools, at
less aggregate cost tsfhe community,
upon this plan than any other. Of
course it wouldrequire a small addi-
tional taS&Gon, but the majority OF
those WHO hs- tuition to pay, under
tbg present lem, would have much
Hess to pay IN the form of taxation un-
der a system of free graded schools.
To illustrate: Suppose a man owns
$1,000 worth of property and has two
children to educate. He pays at least
$40 wear for the two under the present
system, while under system Of free
graded schools levying 4 mill tax for
it's support he would pay only $50.
But what would it cost? Well let US
see what it would cost, organized upon
the cheapest basis, consistent with
efficiency. There would have to be one
white and one colored school. The
most important man in the system Is
the Superintendent, who would there
fore have to be good man. But as ne
would have only two schools to super
wise, he could do part of the teaching
in the white school. There would be
needed one male assistant i'll the white
school and three females. One male
principal with three female assistants
could manage the colored schoes. The
salaries of these would be as follows:
WHITE SCHOOL.
| Superintendent and Principal....... $500
| First Assistant ant................".......... 5so
| Two other assistants at S300each.. 6oO
One other assistant............ 30 s2'zo(
! coLoRHD SCHOOL
| PRINCIPAL. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
! Two assistants at $3.50 each...."...... ZOO
One other ZVo 81 w
But where-is this money to come
from? Well, we get $1,000 from the
ordinary two-mill school-tax; we have
about four hundred polls, which are
good for S4O0; there are sl,5OO,oOo o.
taxable property in the city of New
berry, on which the insignificant tax o1
II mills would raise the sum of S2,250'
So that the account would stand thus
FOE SCHOOL PURPOSES.
Apportionment from two-mill tax~~..s'ioC'
Poll 9o'
Tax of ~ mills on 81, 500 2o
Total............................ 's'o0
But this is not all. After the first
wear we could get at least $500 from the
Peabody Fund.
Is there any investment that will pay
Newberry better? Think of it-a good
system of graded schools for only s2;;OoC
more tax than we already pay.
Was there ever better time to begin
this enterprise? The Fire Department
tax of one mill will be levied only once
more. We are no longer paying the
Three C's Railroad tax, and possibly
will never pay it again. We would be
at no expense for buildings. The Male
and Female Academies, and the Hoge
School House would answer every
purpose for years to come. Newberry
lags behind no town in the State in In
dustrial enterprise and progressiveness
How long is she going to stand still ID
educational matters?
1t was an earthquake in Greece that
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