The Tupelo journal., 1904-08-05

darkest hour of the direst poverty that
followed on the heels of bloody war,
and that enabled them to repair their
broken fortunes and rebuild their
blasted homes and recultivate their
devastated fields. They are now be-
ginning to have time and means to
build up their public schools.
Purpose Of Statement Of Facts.
Far be from us any intention of ridi-
Guile, blame or encouragement in re-
citing these facts in regard to the edu-
cational conditions of the Southern
States. To those familiar with the
obstacles that had to be overcome
social and political revolution, destruc-
ton and reconstruction, poverty, rob-
berry, misrule-the wonder is that
these conditions are as good as they
are. For a people that have so he
roically and successfully ~surmounted
such obstacles and made possible In
one generation a new and glorious era
of industrial and educational develop
men, we have only admiration, graft
tude, commentator. We would re-
mind this generation of SOutherners,
however, that some sacrifice for their
children is necessary, and h a with
half the sacrifice that their fathers
and mothers made, Southern children
can be given such educational facili-
ties as will enable them to begin the
work of manhood and wOmanhood
without handicap, as compared with
the children of other sections of our
common country.
Necessary Physical Equipment.
Realizing the defects of the public
schools of the South, we beg to sug-
gest out of our experience and obser-
walton some remedies:
At the foundation of every success
full school system lies the practical
problem of necessary physical equip
ment in houses, furniture, and grounds.
This question of the character OF a
public school house is a far more Sc
rious one than it seems to the I'M
thinking. Nobody has any respect for
anything that is not respectable. A
respectable school house with re-
spectacle equipment and decent sur
%roundings is necessary for conducting
successfully the business of public ed
ucation. and is essential for command
ing the respect of the community for
that purpose. Men judge the char
acter of the business very largely by
the character of the place of business.
Surely, then, the house in which this
sacred work Of training the children
of the republic for citizenship and so
cial service, a work that has to do
with mind and soul and body, with the
moulding of character and the crea-
ton of ideals, should be a place worthy
in all respects of such work; a home,
not a howell; a place of beauty, not a
place of ugliness; a place OF comfort,
not a place of discomfort; a place OF
cleanness, not a place OF u~ncleanness.
About it the grass should grow and the
sun shine bright, the flowers bloom
and the birds sing, and the trees wave
their long arms, hat the children,
while listening to the lessons taught
by men and books, may receive also.
from the potent, silent influence OF
proper environment, the sweet mes
sages of peace and love and culture
and beauty.
Qualified Teachers.
Houses and grounds and equipments
are largely dead mechanism without
the vitalizing touch OF a properly
qualified teacher. 1t is, after all, the
teacher hat breathes the breath OF
life into the school. We need better
teachers and must have them before
we can have better schools. But we
are now getting better teachers than
we pay for. With short school terms.
small salaries, poor school houses, I'M
classified and undesirable schools,
and other conditions that render sue
cess almost impossible, we cannot
hope to command and retain first-class
talent in this business Of teaching the
! rural schools. After all, back OF this
| question of better teachers lies the
question of better pay. For meager
salaries, men and women cannot at
ford to put themselves into the long
and expensive training necessary for
the best equipment for this delicate
and difficult work of teaching. With
the short terms and the necessity OF
dividing their attention between the
service of two masters to make a bare
living, they scarcely work at the bust
ness of teaching long enough to mas
ter it or to make of it a real profess
sion. In the past, because of peculiar
conditions ir the South, we have been
able to command, eve for the meager
salaries that we have paid, a teach
ing force of more culture n refine
ment. perhaps, than could have been
commanded anywhere else on the con
tinent. AS the South, however, rap
idly ome more and more into her In
dustrial and agricultural heritage, and
the channels of profitable employment
multiply, we cannot hope to retain the
| best men and m in the profession
of teaching unless we make their
compensation somewhat commensu-
rate with that offered in other fields
of labor. At present the annual sal
airy paid the teacher who works IN
the immortal stuff of mind and soul is
less than that paid the rudest workers
in wood and iron-leSS than that paid
the man that shoes your horse or
ploughs your corr or paints your
house.
Competent Supervision.
The evidence of the most success
full school systems in every section OF
the country, and of the most success
full county, town, and district systems
in the South, proves ~conclusively the
necessity and the wisdom of compe-
tent supervision. Without competent
supervision and direction nc great
business can succeed. Each county
system of schools must have a compe-
tent head. 1t can rise no higher than
its head. The supervisor of the coun-
ty system should be a man trained to
his work, with ability to make and ex-
ecute plans for the improvement and
training of the public school teach
ORC. 10 direct camnaipnS for aduca-