The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-03-02
PRESENT CONDITION OF OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS
By S. II. THOMPSON.

room but for such reasons as I have
stated they received appointments.
have known old and Inefficient people put
into the sehool-room as q matter Of char
/ ity. have yet to find any member
of the family of one of these local rural
boards who wanted to get a school and
| fai.SI. I had q local politician to tell
me in one of the James river counties
that he could not have obtained a school
for either Of his daughters. though both
| OF them were full graduates of the State
Female Normal School, but for a politi-
cal s.'pull' he had, through which he sue
ceeded.
| These are merely suggestive obstacles;
many more could be given The cases OF
| abuse Of the schools could be multiplied
almost indefinitely Neither are they Pc
culiar to any small and local district, but
| cover large area of the State. have
! selected them from various counties
Each of the cases given except one refer
/ to white people Another class OF CD
| stacles Z have chosen to denominafe gen
! eral, because they cover a wider hetd anu
are more general In their appll I,.l....
| Among these I shall name u the County
4 Superintendent. For the really compe-
| tent and helpful superintendent have
! profound adrnira ton. Some Of this class
II claim as my personal friends. ana l
know they have done a noble work III
encoura ging and fostering = true sent
| ment concerning the public schools. But
in many cases have known .l1e once 80 ~
he simply a position given to men 5=Iof
I service and for favors-sometinles as a
| matter of charity. It, too, has been usen
| as a POLITICAL power, or as means VI
i fayorine friends. I have not fotno as
/ much Of Observation-Disclosures as some would
/ have us suppose, yet I know one instance instance
/ where the superintendent IN every case
showed special fayors TO the 11iei.ipeis ~,
/ his church. Some times they have peen
/ most cruel tyrants. A lady VINO had
/ heen trained in the State Normal told me
| she taught a. country school ana received
/ there for $50. It cost her $40 70 atteiiu
a. Summer Normal and she did THIS unuer
| a threat of the superintendent, that aii,
! less. she did so she would not ne alioWeu
/ to teach IN his county knew aiio.hei
who scattered CONSERVATION and distress
in his official visits t:y his cruel and blt-
| ing criticisms. have been struck Win
/ the fact that so many of these county
/ s,nerintendents are old and often decreplt
| men.
Political influences. believe IN
! political parties and political creeus. l
/ have no words of condemnation Tor elther'
! hut when the children of the Common
/ uea1t}, rnust be sacrificed to subserye po-
/ litica1 ends I think it is time that the peo-
] ple should call a halt. I am personally
/ ACQUAINTED with counties in virginia
/ where SUCH things are done. spent Ten
/ days in village of some four hundred
/ people. living in splendid homes ana they
! themselves having much OF refinement ana
| culture I found here an old friend whom
I had known in his boyhood He was
/ the father of four children. two of whom
were of school age. This gentleman told
me that it cost him twelve dollars per
1 month to send these children to school,
| I asked him why ne did not send ms chill
! dren to the public school, as 1ound III
/ my town most excellent advantages III our
/ graded school. He replied that they VIZ
!. tuaI1v had no public school in the town;
| that the public school was taught IN
/ room of a. widow lady's house, by the
/ widow herself, and she was SO lnefflclenc
| that it was a waste OF time TO seno "
/ her. When I expressed my 1aStonlsh-
/ ment and asked for reason ne sala:
81 am a Democrat and have always voted
/ that ticket. but we have a peculiar state
! Of affairs in this community. Some OF
| our leading citizens are strong Repuoii-
| cans. and one of the ways OF punlsnlnS
1 them for it is to deprive them OF their
school, Their politics costs me and some
| of nv other neighbors twelve collars
| apiece per month, because we are com
PEELED to employ a private teacher. HOW
| long will Virginians stand such polltlcS
4
! case of attainment equal to feudai days
| Some may say that this is an extreme case
| and no other like it can be found In the
/ State It is to be hoped that 1t IS. Dul
! the fact that such a state or affairs IS
! possible ought to cause every true ci1l-
| zen in the Commonwealth to rise UP ana
demand a change in the mana cement OF
/ our schools and such a chanse tfAat THESE
abuses could not be repeated.
/ 2 Too many schools. j am firmly
| convinced that we ought to have fewer
| and thus better schools Ill the country.
They have in some quarters been multi
/ D,led beyond reason. / have in mind a
| community WHARF, one can stand OH
I hill and see not far away three school
| houses and Two othefS die put d 1i1'i-
| further Off.
These are some of the existing obsta-
! cies as they present themselves to my
| mind which cause the system to yleid
/ such little fruit compared to what mas
/ been expected of it. / wish III conciu-
| sion to merely mention some OF the neeas
/ OF our rural schools. Aside from the
/ need for better Eouses and equipments,
| better teachers to use the equipments
! that are already at hand, our schools
/ stand in great need or
| l. A cordial and lively sympathy from
| the intelligent people OF the state, poth
/ in the county and the city. Those VINO
| live in town and city, where good. SCHOOLS
/ are the rule, where everything IS con-
i duciye to culture and refinement, do not
/ know and cannot understand thesa
things. we need their sympathy and
practical aid. Then, too, we need the
Esympa thetic touch of the large taxpayer
| TOO often he pays his taxes with a Srunt
/ Of dissent and then disulisses the whole
! subject from his mind. He should con-
slider this an investment and look after
i his money and demand a legitimate re-
| turn from it.
i We need proper understanding OF
! the real Importance of the public school
system to the State. We have allowed
the petty politician to use it for his own
| ends too long. We have Grumbled at 1t
/ AMI abused it, allowed it to be used as
charity, ignored it and so far as the
| country school is concerned, we have
allowed it to be the football OF unfavor-.
! able circumstances in too many cases.
| We need to have it deeply impressed
upon the people that this is not only an
| investment Of dollars and cents to be
looked ofter.J ut that 1t in