The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1905-02-24
PUBLIC SCHOOL FACTS.
AS Cleaned From the Report of the
State Superintendent.

AS Cleaned From the Report of the
State Superintendent.
The Hon. A. S. Mynders has is
sued the only complete report Of his
important Office in the history oil
the State. From it may be deduced
proper conception of the status
of the public schools as they are,
not as the imagination of some ora.
tor deems them to be. From the
various items much valuable infor.
nation may be gained; some Of
which should make our faces flush
with shame, and others to which
we may point with pride. On the
whole it shows that commercial BILE
progress has been made; but better
far, it shows that at last the State
supervision of our public schools
has been placed in the hands of a
man who looks on it with profes.
sional pride, who is determined to
place Tennessee on a higher basis
as regards education, and who does
not look on his high Office as a ie-
ward merely Tor political services.
All honor as we'll to the Governor
who has so splendidly departed
from the not honorable course of
too many of his predecessors.
This report should be in the
hands of every teacher and friend of
public education. If the Legisla-
ture should appropriate sufficient
money for the free distribution Of
thousands of copies, so that teach
ers and the public generally could
study it, discuss it's contents, and
compare the work of their respect
i've counties with that of others,
there would be a much stronger
movement in educational lines. In
efficiency loves to walk in darkness;
when some county courts who are
so niggardly with the purse string
that they are willing to let their
grow up under inefficient
teachers and inefficient superin-
tendents, see themselves held up in
all their deficiencies in public print,
they will begin to open their eyes
and wake up to try for a more
prominent place IN the educational
column.
For the cause of public education
in Tennessee is waxing strong
We hear ten words said about pub
lie schools to-day where FIVE years
ago we heard one. The quali6ca-
tions for County Superintendent
have been vastly advanced; and the
demands of teachers for higher
preparation for their work are
strong. The inefficient teacher is
rapidly approaching his limit.
May the day soon come when the
men and women who stand before
the children of Tennessee be such
as will be fit leaders through the
period of school life.
Deeming the people of Obion
County would be interested in some
comparisons Of this county with
Others of like scholastic population
in the State, | present below some
deductions from Supt. Mynders'
report. have purposely omitted
in making comparisons (unless 9TH
erwise stated the statistics of the
counties containing our greatest
centers of population, viz; Shelby,
Davidson, Hamilton and Knox. ii
have employed chiefly counties
whose scholastic population is
equal or greater to that of Obion
County.
Scholastic population white pu-
pills only. Outside of the four coun-
ties above excepted, there are seven
counties whose scholastic popula.
ton is greater than Obion's: Clai-
borne, $3.50; Gibson, 1924; Green,
11.024; Hawkins. S,847; Madison,
8,514; Sullivan, S,804; Weakley, 1O,-
25S; Obion, 8, 1892.
Enrolment in school. Claiborne
enrolls IS per cent of her scholastic
Gibson, IL Green, 65;