The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1904-04-09

l SCIOOl USluS CdtGAuliJ 6hoAN0' "~NNJ
six of these pupils are transported at
a cost to the county of S. per term for
each pupil. All this was brought about
by a~bolishing 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 1t takes to
maintain a well graded school. Su-
perintendent Rogers also reported that
in many instances, by the use or
wagons. children were reached who
lived heal 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
that the attendance was largely in
creased as a result of the better faclll-
ties afforded by central schools; and,
in one instance, it was stated that
land near-the central school which
formerly could be bought for IS an
acre has recently sold for 500. 1t
was also stated that there is a grow
ing sentiment in Georgia in favor OF
schools where more than one teacher is
employed. They are finding out that
work done in schools where two or
three teachers are employed is much
better than the work done in schools
where there is only one teacher. Two
teachers can teach eighty pupils bet
ter than one teacher ear teach twenty
five" State School Commissioner
Glenn, of Georgia, gives 1t as his judg-
ment that this movement will go for
ward rapidly in the State. until all OF
the weak and ungraded schools
in the rural districts will be cOnsoli-
dated into strong, ~well-graded central
schools.
State Superintendent Joyner. of
North Carolina, has recently issued a
special bulletin on the subject of con-
solidation of districts. AS an object
lesson in his State, Superintendent
JOINER cites Durham county. where
the number of districts has been re-
duced from sixty-five to forty-nine, and
still more than nine-tenthS Of the chill
dren are within less than two miles OF
the school,, and less than n hundred
of them are as far as three miles
from the school, while many improved
school houses have been built in the
county. In many other counties OF the
State, where districts have been con-
s%olidated. funds have been raiSeld by
private subscription tor the erection
Of school buildings, and citizens are
apparently ready and willing to go to
this expense if assured of better in
struction and equipment in the CEN
trail schools.
One of the school districts Of Knox
county, Tenn, the county in which
Knoxville is situated-is now attract
ing much attention as the seat Of an
attempt to establish a model rural in
dustrial school. in which instruction
will be given in both indoor and out
door manual training. The people OF
this district-the tenth-are intel
,igent citizens, and are dissatisfied
with the schools now in operation in
their district, of which there are nine
for white pupils and two for colored.
The census of 1900 showed that there
were in the district 803 whites of
school age n 124 colOred. The av-
erage compensation for teachers has
been S32 a month. The people of the
district have now determined to unite
the nine white schools in n efficient
central school. in which will be taught
elementary Iorms of manual training
knife work, carpentering. scientific
cooking, sewing, elementary agricul-
ture, horticulture, bee culture and the
like. Ten acres of and will be Sc
cured as a school site, and this will be
added to if necessary. 1t is intended
that this school shall be a growth, and
probably at least four years will be
required for its completion. The prog,
ress of this model school will be
watched with great interest, especially
in Tennessee and the South, and will
no doubt provide a stimulus to like
undertakings in other sections.
These notes on the school consolida.
ton movement, North and South, show
that the scheme has been found prac-
ticable in one form or another under
widely diverse. conditions. The sys-
tens under which school funds are
raised and expended differ greatly in
the different States; but we have seen
that whatever the system may be a
way has been found to bring about the
merging of feeble schools into strong
ones to the satisfaction of patrons, and
that this has been accomplished with
seemingly equal facility in district
township and county systems. No
scheme of consolidation or centraliZa'
ton can be devised that can be ap'
piled with equal success to every To-
cality. The local situation must be
considered in each separate case. Be
cause the people of Ohio have succeed
ed in centralizing their schools under
the township plan, it by no means fol
lows that the people of Georgia or Mis-
sissippi can do precisely the same
thing in precisely the same way, work
ing under their county system. Fol-
some communities that have not yet
adopted any plan of action, Ohio's
methods may seem practicable; for
others, particularly in the South, the
experience of Georgia, may have more
useful lessons. No advocate of con
solidation, so far as we know, believes
) that identically the same scheme cal
: be employed in all the States.
Boston's Charity Wit.