The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1904-04-09

give space THIS week 10 the following
report which was made to the State
association by a committee appointed
to look into the matter.
Because of the desire to get this
matter well before teachers and pa
irons before the next meeting of the
association we hope to have it read in
every home in the State to which a
newspaper goes. The report follows
below:
A report for the Improvement of the
rural schools in Mississippi would be
incomplete without the suggestion of
the vast improvement that might be
made in the way OIL consolidation of
small schools. A study of the rural
schools as they are now organized re-
yeals the fact that there are too many
districts and consequently too many
schools. There Is not a county in the
State within the knowledge of your
many schools. The original districts
have been divided and subdivided until
the number of schools has been in
creased threefold or more and until
the possibility for efficiency has been
diminished in the same proportion.
1t is a fact that there are thousands
Of schools in Mississippi with an en-
rollment each of twenty pupils or less.
This unhappy condition has been
brought about by the citizens of the
county acting on the false principle
that the nearer the school is located
to their homes the better it would be
for the children. Each meeting of the
county board of education, whose duty
1t is to locate schools, at its meeting
in July witnesses annually one or more
contests between rival patrons to bring
the school house nearer to their homes,
and in this struggle for proximity of
location the character of the school
and the conditions that make for the
success of it have been wholly lost
sight of. Among the chief evils in our
system of public education not the
least is the small school. In fact, our
candid opinion is that the little school
with its enrolment of from five to
fifteen pupils and its general accom-
paniment, the poor teacher, is the
greatest evil in the rural schools. The
~one-teacher school is the most eX-
pensive and at the same time the most
inefficient in the State. In such a
school the pupil is educated, and poor
ly at that, at a greater expense than
in the best equipped high schools. Ten
pupils taught by a $40-salaried teacher
costs the State 81 per pupil per month
"a rate of tuition 100 per cent. higher
than it costs to educate a pupil in the
best schools of the separate districts.
The economic waste of these schools is
fearful to contemplate, and if no other
advantage were gained, consolidation
would pay handsome dividends in the
way of decreasing the cost of maintain,
ing the schools. The remedy for the
evil of the small school is to abolish
it altogether wherever practicable, and
unite several of them into one large
school. where the children might be
brought together in much larger mum
bers. This union of schools would ne
cessitate some of the pupils going
greater distances than at present, but
that disadvantage would be more than
balanced by the advantages of the
union school from the enthusiasm and
interest gained by contact with other
pupils of like age and advancement.
In reducing the number of districts
there would be reduced likewise the
number of buildings and of teachers
and consequently, with one school,
where before there were two or more,
there might be better buildings and
better teachers. Wherever the plan of
abolishing the small school is imprac-
ticable, and it will be so in many cases
on account of bad roads and poor
bridges, Or none at all, consolidation
cannot be considered and the small
school must remain. Other means for
improvement must be resorted to, and
there are other ways towards advance
ment besides consolidation, but a dis
cussion of them does not lie within the
province of this paper.
In order to Illustrate the benefits of
consolidation, suppose we consider the
union into n of six small schools,
each with an enrolment of less than
twenty pupils. In the six schools there
were six buildings, SIX teachers and
probably not less than fifty classes. |
In the union school there would be
one building, three teachers and not
more than eight classes. The advan-
tages are incompatible and there is
but the one disadvantage, the pupils
having to go a greater distance. With
the n school theye could be a COM
Portable and c~ommodious building; in
short, a more efficient school in every
particular. To overcome the one dis
advantage of increased distance for the
pupil it is no uncommon thing for the
school districts in many of the States
of the West and North and some in the
South, notably Georgia, to provide
transportation for pupils to and from
school at public expense.
A question closely related to the
improvement of rural schools is that
of good roads. Every teacher should
be an advocate of better roads. for
there is no greater need in the State
than passable thoroughfares in the
country districts, and none, when sup
piled, that will do more toward the
promotion of educational facilities in
the rural communities. The roads of
the State have been grossly neglected
and that it is so is a little difficult
to account for, as they lead by and
through our farms, stretch out before
our view, and their often impossible
condition is known of all men. 1t is
strange that a general demand, loud
and of no uncertain sound, has not
come from the people for better roads.
On any plan for the improvement of
roads the teachers should without ex-
unite and assist with all their
influence, feeling that nothing will do
80 much to improve country school
as good roads. Better
schools and better roads are impera-
tive needs in our State. Mississippi is
pre-eminently an agricultural State and