The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1894-09-06
THE H'HCK8sNs SCHOOL.


q Few of the patrons in response te
the cordial invitation Of tho teacher
were presnt to encourage at the start
Among many other good things, Mr.
Stribling said that in building up q
school tic more teachers and pupils
that could be gotten together in one
school, the better it was for tho edu-
cational interests of all concerned. If
there iwere 100 there, he could en-
ploy two assistant teachers. If We had
such school here, there would bo in
it pupils who are now in Clemson,
Furman and Wof1ord. The money
spent on one pupil in any of these
colleges would be sufficient to board
and educate three at home, for the
expense of one Mt college is about
5000. He was friendly to the col
leges, but it was q well known fact in
and out of the colleges that pupils
went thcro before they were prepared
to enter The colleges were somewhat
to blame for this. Il college profo*-
sor had told him that he had GO or
70 boys in common fractions and de-
nominate numbers. These ought to
bo sent back to tho country school,
whero these things could be better
and more easily taught and
at far less expense Some people,
rather than spend 500 $50 at home,
would sen tho child off to college ut
an expense OF $3.50 or 5000. Ho
could easily call names if it would
strengthen the argument. Colleges
had four classc: Freshmen, sopho-
more, unior and senior. Those
who went to college not prepared for
any of these, did not re
ceive the care attention and training
they ought to have. lie was working
to build up colleges. Good high
schools were their best feeders
There were enough, if property sup
ported, to supply the colleges, bu,
from necessity colleges had built W
preparatory schools aud thus broker
down tho high schools. Thus tn,
gap between tho colleges and the ol,
field school had become too wide, an,
the greatest need Of the present sys
tenn was to have that gap fillod Will
substantial and reliable higl. schools
lie had thought seriously of tryin;
to establish one, but under our State
management of public schools, sucl
a scheme was not practicable. Th
publicss term was from ono to tw
months. When the State paid al
the expense of q school it ought t.
havo tho management Of it. Blu
somo were not satisfied. They wanted
from six to ten months school and
let the State pay what.it can, patrons
pay the balance anl have the control,
but if tho State pays anything at all
it wants to control the whole thing.
This was wrong. Those who paid
the most money should have the
control. If this was not legal it
ought to be made legal. Georgia
spent twice rs much on public schools
rs South Carolina, but there the pat
rOns were allowed to have the man.
agement Of tho schools. He wished
100 people wcro present to hear these
things. He had tried somo of the
books adopted by tho State Board
Not boasting ut all, but he knew he
could put in better books. Holmes
first reader WAS an instance. When
the State first adopted books it omit
ted a spcller; after attention was call
ed to it, adopted one. He
was no agent for books. The expense
in this was too heavy. 1t was q bur
den to him as well as the pupils, for
no usually provided himself with a
copy Of every book used in the
school. The best teacher ought to
bo procured to start children in thoir
studies. If properly taught in the
beginning, less teaching would be re-
quired as they advanced. But if not
properly started, they would need tho
moro teaching as they advanced. II
all tho schools were supplied with
teachers from Winthrop or from the
Peabody Normal School, much labor
and expense would be saved and bet
ter results had. Cities had advan.
tages in this respect. They employed
trained teachers, or soon trained
them after they were employed. He
Il.