Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1904-04-09
EDUCATIONAL BUREAU
Under Direction OF KATE MARKHAM POWER.

air, become familiar with the beauties
and wonders Of the natural world. Here
they make character. To have added
to all these opportunities the advan
tages of 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 n result OF
consolidation the possibility for better
supervision Is greatly increased. Close
supervision Is a necessity In an eff
cient system OF education, and with the
schools located as they are now 1t Is a
matter Of impossibility 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 schools
under his supervision?
Summarizing the benefits to be de
rived from consolidation we find some
Of them are:
]. Fewer teachers arc required, so
better teachers may be secured and
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 under
systematic supervision.
A. Better opportunity is afforded for
/ fn1 uin bru " T4s
and manual training,
s. Cost per pupil is reduced and eff
cheney of instruction is increased, This
includes cost and maintenance of build
ines, apparatus. furniture and tuition.
G. 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 community OF interest
s. 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
tho district
o. Finally. with splendid schools the
farm becomes the ideal place for the
bringing up of children, enabling them
to secure the advantages OF 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 loaflng about
tCWn
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 Just 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 precludes 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
Us the least progressive in educational
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 been
| fully demonstrated in each of these
States that 1t is cheaper and better
to transport n dozen children four or
Ave miles to a central school than to
employ teacher and provide a school
house for these children near their
own homes. The State school com
missioner of Georgia has asked the
| Legislature to confer upon the county
| boards of education the authority to
consolidate the weak and inefficient
schools of a number of sparsely-set-
tied communities into one strong cen
tral school whenever, in their judg-
ment, such consolidation is deemed
wise and proper In North Carolina
the number of school districts was
reduced last year more than a thou
sand the patrons of the schools in
that State continue to ask for con
! solidation and Capitalization. Farther
south, in Florida, one county--Duval-
| has concentrated schools over an area
of about one hundred square miles.
Here. as in other Southern States,
where the transportation system has
been introduced, the wagons are
owned by the counties, Drivers and
teams are hired by contract let to the
lowest bidder.
conference of the county school
commissioners Of Georgia, held at
Athens in September last. devoted
much attention to the subject of school
consolidation and transportation OF pu-
pills. In the course OF this discussion
Superintendent Smith, of Greene coun-
ty, stated tnat, in his county, three
schools had been consolidated wi.n
great success. Wagon frames and
horses were purchased by the county,
and contract was made for the trans
portation of children to school at five
cents per head per day, Previous to
the schools was II 1-2 cents per pupil
per day the cost now, including that
of carrying the children, is 12 l-2 cents
per day This testimony was followed
by statement Of Superintendent
Rogers, of Washington county, giving
the history of school which four
years ago had twenty pupils and paid
the teacher Il salary Of $50 month,
and today has one hundred pupils,
with one teacher at $50 month, and
a second at $40, and third at $50, the
school being carefully graded. Twenty
six of these pupils are transported at
cost to the county Of S. per term for
each pupil. All this was brought about
by abolshing two little schools and
transporting the pupils who could not
otherwise reach the school house. The
increased interest that this school has
aroused has caused the people willing
ly to raise the money that it takes to
maintain a we'll graded school. Su-
perintendent Rogers also reported that
in many instances, by the use of
wagons, children were reached who
lived near the swamps and the river,
and who would not otherwise have
been able to attend any school. In
that county whenever it is possible to
do so one of the older pupils is en-
ployed to act as driver, and this is
thought to be a good policy because
the driver is brought under the direct
supervision of the teachers.
All the superintendent who had had
Experience with consolidation agreed