The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-12-01
THE PUBLIC SCHOOL QUESTION
incompetent and Underpaid County Superintendent
and. Teachers. A System Under Which Hit
eracy Has Flourished.
By Eugene Brooks Superintendent enroe Graded Schools

Some months ago there appeared in one
OF the daily papers an advertisement tc
this effect:
Wanted-The county board OF educa-
'icn Tor Clarendon county desires suit
acie asaA for superintendent Of the coun-
" schools. Address,
THE CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD
To advertise in North Carolina for a
County Superintendent of Public Instruc-
tioa is new step; especially, since there
has been for years feeling stronger
than "unwritten law that the county
superintendent must be resident of the
county at the time of his election. 1t
Is well conceded fact that there are
only a very few men in the State who
would not accept this position, unless they
are successful business men, Consequent
ly this advertisement at the time of it's
appearance, caused considerable comment.
or course it would. What kind of a
Board of Education did Clarendon count7
have, that 1t could turn down every sue
cessful teacher every rising young law
yer, every ambitious farmer, and every
preacher and doctor in Clarendon county,
and deliberately advertise, in the face of
ali these applicants, for a county super
fntendent? Some great change surely has
taken place. The entire machinery must
hN new and too modern. When Clarendon
coutny petitioned the Legislature fer the
privilege Of reforming her public school
system it seems to have ESCAPED pub :
lie notice. The change occurred only a
few years ago; but so successful has the
experiment worked that it is thought a
history of the same may stimulate others
to inquire into the situation and by agi-
tating the question little at this time
when the public schools are in session.
thus lend some assistance for the i'm
provement of the rural schools.
First, it viii be necessary to give the
situation existing in Clarendon county be-
fore the change, a situation existing in
nearly every county in North Carolina
today. We viii take as type the school
in Round Knob township, district No. L,
Clarendon county.
Early in October the committee assem-
bled for the purpose of preparing for the
opening of school; which preparation
consisted in hiring teacher. They did
not visit the building to see whether the
could improve its appearance The meet
ing was generally at the church when
the members happened to be together
After they had agreed to give the school
to Miss May, the chairman said that he
would send his little boy to cut down
the bushes that had grown up around
the door, and to ask Mr.. Jones if the
children might get water at his we'll. Mr..
Jones lived about 200 yards away. The
board rarely ever met in regular ses-
sior The applicant for the school gen.
orally visited the different members of
the board and received the consent of
each one to teach. then some Sunday
the board happened to meet and the mat
ter was discussed with perfect harmony,
There was not enough interest in the
whole thing to cause warm feeling unless
occasionally relative applied for the
position. Then the feeling was over the
relative and not over the school.
On the day appointed for the opening
Of school Miss May sent for the key and
register and with solemn tread walked
two miles through the mud to the school
house. The boys borrowed an axe from
Mr.. Jones and event after wood" while
the girls twisted off little broom sedge
that grew around the house, and swept
the floor. Miss May was only eighteen;
and she was elected because she was a
'home girl whom all the children knew.
Then. too, she was in needy circuri-
stances. and she could teach out the
money just as good as anybody.
The school house was situated on the
road side, just in the edge Of the woods
with only enough clearing in front for
the patrons to drive buggy in and turn
around. and this was all the space needed
The rear OF the building rested on the
border of the woods. while the sides of
the grounds circled out to the road
Bushes and broom sedge grew slantwise
from under the edge of the house and
brushed along the sides under the win
dows. fine refuge for bugs, Lizards, and
all manner of creeping things. There was
no lawn; in fact the word was unknown
in that sense. AS to it's being well kept,
the window was the sole gardner, the only
guardian of the premises. The school
house was 16x32, one end facing the road.
The door opened in the end, and a small
blackboard stood in an opposite corner
and few small charts, in another No
maps Of any description. There were
two rows of high, clumsy, hand made
desks, seats detached. irregular in size
and length: one row for the boys on
one side of the door; another row for the
girls on the ether side of the door, leav-
ing an aisle of over four feet with a
stove In the middle, around which was
a wide shallow box filled with sawdust
for the children to spit in 1t was merely
an accommodation, not a requirement.
Sometimes it was necessary to put as
many as five children on seat, the
largest generally in the rear and grad
ing on down to the smallest in front.
Frequently the desk did not grade with
the child and the little fellow was safely
protected from the teachers gaze: for
the desk rose over his head. The chill
dren amused themselves as best they
could until it came around for the teach
or TO hear their lessons. some cut
ting on those awkward desks. others
scratching an ineligible scfawl on the
surface. a few studying. The edges of
these desks were cut in irregular scallops,
the cutting of various dates and ages
reaching back to the beginning and leav-
ing a record of each session. The top
and sides were marked with an inaccu-
rate roll of all the children. Their per-
sonal regard for the teacher, their little
courtships. their petty jealousies-in fact
the school desks. the walls the door and
window facings contained inscriptions and
hiopooraphiec of va riouS dateS and ages