The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1898-02-03

should Be placed ia the hands Of INTEL
ligens friends OF liberal public &C hooi
education. It II possible 90 to manage
The new systen that The new order Of
Affair." shall contain all the faults of
both district and township systems.
and but few OF the advantages OF the
latter. In such case failure must, of
course, be the result. Great respop-
rests upon the Supervisor and
the committee In the needfui and deli
cate work. IL is the duty OF the
County Supervisor 20 assist the COM
mi:tee in grading the schools, - and il
Is the duty Of County Board Of Eauca-
ton TO require the Supervisor 10 do
the work and pay him for 10 Economy
BY the Beard In preventing the super
visor from doing this work will lose
the county several thousand dollars
each year. After my election a.
County Supervisor, o! Sampson county,
my fret resolve was tss 1t has Away
been in the school-room) 10 heed the
injunction Paul gave Timothy wlen
be sent him out TO prescb, STUDY 10
prove thyself workman that n-ecerh
not 10 be ashamed" Ny county. like
the other counties II th. State, seemec
averse 10 any change. saw As super
visor that there was much circumspe
ton to BE- used, and really Necessary
to get all the information possible /. ,s
10 use TO the very best advantage thai
mocicum or common sense which
claim to have. l have been favored IL
George +. Butler, the author or prime
mover OF ;he new school law.
| procured the school statutes from
yrh
wholly or in part under the towu.hlp
system, but by comparison found
that our school law is different in most
Of its features from theirs, especially
in the grading system" We have
the coiored race-an important factor
in our schools. Their Interests mus
be jealousy guarded and cared for, ~
we'll as the interests Of the whites
Under the district system, when the
cOlorsd schools were controlled en-
tirely by colored committees, they
were very extrsyagant in paying their
teachers, therefore lG requires double
discretion to grade satisfactorily. My
first step was to have conference
meeting with the committees of the
different townships throughout the
county. l met them on separate days
III SoCh "" IueIn lIi
grading the schools. We used the Su-
perintend-nt's instructions, entitled
"Princjpal Points of the School Law
Explained" In grading the schools"
We took into consideration, LIST. The
advancement of the pupils; ID The
average attendance, and the iuteres,
manifested in education in the com
muniry; Sd. The number of pupils
within the boundary of the school,
and, lastly, the teacher suited for the
school, and what he or she was really
worth per month as a teacher. u,
thus "grading our schools" we have
saved Sampson county the present
school year over $4,000. The term of
our schools is increased over three
weeks for the white schools and four
weeks for the cOlOred schools. w.
made few changes in number and To-
cation OF schools because We desire d to
obviate any RADICAL changes, owing to
the apparent opposition among tn.
people to the new system; also r.aliz-
ing that they must be graduate,
brought into the "new order of things"
and feeling that a mistake in the be-
ginning might work an irreparable
injury. Our prices paid tea, hers PER
month range from $35 down TO $l7 per
month. The new law discontinue
third grade teachers and left only two
grades of teachers, but this does not
mean that there are only two grade-
OF schools, for 1t will be observed b,
all the Supervisors that there are few
schools ID the county of the same grad
or requirement for teacher, conse-
quently there are several grades of
schools, with as many grades Of sala.
rles for teachers as there are grades of
schools. Saving $4,000 year to a
county is not q small item for the first
trial under the "new law" When the
"grad,ng plan" is rigidly applied, as
we Will be able to do in a few years. q
much greater saving will be made. All
my schools, 137 in number, are now in
successful operation. The people
know that each school will be of the
same length as near as may be, and
teachers and patrons are almost unan-
imous In the praise of the system.
and it is daily growing in favor among
both races OF our people. l claim the
following for the "grading p'an": (a)
Equal school privileges; (b) Impartial
selection of teachers; &c, Increased
interest in and respect for the schools:
(d) Higher education extended: (e1
Economy of more wholesale and in
tellIgent expenditure. The old dis
trict was manifestIy and iniuuitously
unequal and unjust.
The grading system is advantageous
to poor neighborhoods. Under the old
plan, the money being apportioned per
capita to the district, teachers and pa
irons of certain districts would sue
coed in getting every family attached
to their district possible that they
could use to advantage in building NJ.
their own private school, thus leaving
few poor families to shift for them
selves as regarded school facilities.
Fundamentally, the whole matter rests
upon simple principle, that every
child of the State has an equal right to
the education provided by the State.
Grading he schools, and each school
OF equal length, is the panacea for the
great disparity heretofore existing. l
mud selecting the teachers at the same
time the schools are graded works ad
mlrably. 1t beats the old plan of the
teachers canvassing each committee
man separately and getting Mr. Smit h
TO say II Mr.. Jones is willing he is will
| ing. Then he goes and sees Jones and
tells Jones, Smith is willing for him to
have the school. Now he has two OF
the committee secured, gets the school
is not really the choice of any of the
committee and perhaps none of the
patrons, and the school is practically
| TIM