The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1900-05-08
!; Better County Schools
ByC. w. DABNEY.
By C.. w. DABNEY.


populate ION, or every 30 OF those regis
tered in the schools. The actual aN-
cragc daily attendance upon each ol
these schools for the whole wear Is
under -. There are TOO few children
in the public schools The number
registered ami the average daily at
tendance i dl>trcSSinglN luw a~ com
pared With the registration amt at
tendance in the Eastern aud Western
States. where. however the populd-
fion iS dcnSer and where they have
better roads, better school houses. and
better teachers.
Another most diScouraging feature
is the short annual session. Zoo
many of the pupils forget all they
learn from one wear to the next when
they only go 10 school for three q"
four months AT a time. Good results
cannot he generally accomplished Hu-
til the school term IS extended 10 at
least eight months. Another great
difficulty iS the small annual salaries
paid public school teachers. making IL
impossible To keep Il class OF profeS-
Siona!l trained teachers or any Kind
of teachers permanently. The total
amount paid for teachers salaries in
public schools in 1895 was S25,ooo,ooO.
aS we found above. an average OF less
than $500 per anuum Tor each teach
er. little less than $40 per month for
the five months that the average
teacher iS occupied. Omitting again
the States mentioned above. the aver
age for the South is i little over SI2O
year. or $50 a month for the four
| months that they teach. As result
/ Of this partial occupation the teach
! ers have to follow some other b,5Si-
ness for at least six months OF the
! he
/ chiefly Young men and women who
| are preparing themselves for college
! or are using the public schools as
! stepping stones To something higher.
/ Few persons viii prepare themselves
i deliberately for WORK in the pubiiC
schools when they cannot be en-
! ployed more than four or five months
in the year al $50 or $40 a month.
The great need. then. of the South
! IS more money to support n longer
term and pay better salaries for bet
ter teachers. The question is. how
i shall these people who have already
done 50 much raise still more money
for the public schools? The South
ern people must and will support
their own schools: they must thcm
i selves raise the money by taxation
! with which to do it, Too much Of the
/ public money is wasted in paving sal
| aries Of unnecessary officials. Much
more collected i'm the form OF official
fees. never goes into the public treas
! urv. 'EducatiOn is the first inter
est of a people,. and every other pub
! lie interest should be sacrificed 10 il.
/ The closest economy should bc prar-
ticcd by the counties and States with
regard TO everything else. all unucc-
essarV offices should BE topped Off and
every dollar possible should bc paid
! into the common school fund. IN"
schools have been multiplied too much
for the sparse population. They
! should be consolidated and the child
i rCn brought to the school,
/ in public conNclauccs rs they do ~
| Ohio and other States. II has been
found that ii costs less to convey the
children TO school than il does 10 keep
! up extra school houses and employ
| extra teachers. When they are
brought together nj ono pace we can
i have better houses and better teach
crs Here again the great difficulty
i our bad roads. OF this | shall speak
/ in the next letter.
The country people. while proud Of
he progress that has been made in
! the public schools. are still deeply
/ dissatisfied and sincerely anxious 10
improve the facilities for educating
! their children. The young people up
ON Whon' we mus depend for the irI-
ture development Of our beautiful
i land are rapidly leaving the country
/ to make careers III the cities or IN
| other States. ! he only way to hold
them is by providing educational adj
vantages which viii prepare them 10
make their country homes 20 pros
porous and happy that they viii not
I want to leave them.
CHARLES W. DABNE1.
University Of Tennessee.