The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1904-04-09
EDUCATIONAL BUREAU
Under Direction of KATE MARKHAM POWER

| zens already, and they are of h high
est type of men in the State, are leav-
ing the country and moving into towns
only for the sake Of better school adj
v~antages. To avoid this moving from
the country and to hold there h best
type of citizenship Is an end worthy
of all cost and effort for an improve
ment in roads and schools. With good
roads and efficient schools the u
try is the ideal place for the bringing
up Of children.
An eminent educator has well said
that THE best physical laboratory OF
America is the w~ell-regulated Amerl-
can farm. Here the boys and girls
study nature first-handed. Here they
observe the growth and life OF plants
and animals. Here they breathe pure
air. become familiar with the beauties
and wonders of the natural world. Here
they make character. To have added
to all these opportunities h advan-
tages of a good school education, with
out any of the disadvantages that
attend the spending Of evenings, with
out chores or home duties, in the town,
is an educational condition that is al
most ideal"
With fewer schools as a result OF
consolidation the possibility for better
supervision is greatly increased. Close
superyisiOn is a necessity in an EN-
cient system of education, and with the
schools located as they are now IT is a
matter of im~possibility. How can a
superintendent in the period OF the
brief school term visit with any sort
of satisfaction to himself or good to
the system the numbers OF school
under his supervision?
Summarizing the benefits to be de-
rived from consolidation we find some
Of them are:
/. Fewer teachers are required, SO
better teachers may be secured n
better salaries paid.
2. Children are in better school
houses where there are better heat
ing, lighting, ventilation and more ap-
pliances Of all kinds.
3. Pupils work in graded schools and
both teachers and pupils are d
systematic supervision.
4. Better opportunity is afforded for
special work, such as music, drawing
and manual training.
5. Cost per pupil is reduced and eff
cheney of instruction is increased. This
includes cost and maintenance Of build
incs. apparatus, furniture and tuition.
6. Pupils are benefited by a widened
circle of acquaintance and culture.
Z. The school becomes the chief CEN
ter of concern in the district, and,
thereby, the whole population is drawn
together by a community OF interest.
8. Free distribution Of mail is being
extended by the national government
in the rural districts of Mississippi.
If the pupils should be transported at
public expense it will make possible a
daily distribution Of mail throughout
the district.
9. Finally, with splendid schools the
farm becomes the ideal place for the
bringing up of children, enabling them
to secure the advantages OF a good
school and social life and to spend
their evenings and holidays in the
country in contact with nature and in
work, instead of idly loafng about
town.
Eighteen States have adopted the
principle of consolidation with most
satisfactory results. and we might close
this report in no better way than to
tell lust how this idea was first ap-
piled and in what way it has developed
into such extended use in so many
States. But the space allotted to this
report p%recludes that, and we shall
conclude what we have to say by quot
ing from an article by William B. Shaw
in a recent number of the Review OF
Reviews to show what is being done
after this manner to improve the
schools of our own section: Some OF
the most interesting experiments in
rural school consolidation and improve
ment have been in progress for sew
eral years past in the part Of the coun
try that has heretofore been regarded
as the least progressive in educatlona
matters. In the States of North Caro-
lima and Georgia the conditions are
quite different in every way from those
prevailing in New England and the
Middle West, where the school consoli
dation movement has attained its
greatest impetus. Yet it has beer
fully demonstrated in each of these
States that it is cheaper and better
to transport a dozen children -four OF
five miles to a central school than Il
employ a teacher and provide a schoo
house for these children near thell
own homes. The State school com
missioner of Georgia has asked the
legislature to confer upon the county
boards of education the authority tt
consolidate the weak and inefficien'
schools of a number Of sparsely-set
tied communities into n strong cen
trail school whenever, in their judg
ment, such consolidation is deemed
wise and proper. In North Caroline
the number of school districts wa:
reduced last year more than d thou
sand; the patrons of the schools IL
that State continue to ask for con
solidation and Capitalization. Farthel
south. in Florida, one county-Duval-
has concentrated schools over an ares
of about one hundred square miles
Here, as in other Southern States
where the transportation system hal
been introduced, the wagons ar
owned by the counties. Drivers AM
teams are hired by contract let to thu
lowest bidder.
A conference of the county schoo
| commissioners of Georgia. held a
Athens in September last, devoted