The Lafayette advertiser. [volume] (Vermilionville [i.e. Lafayette], La.) 1865-19??, 1906-09-26

many have been enlarged and repair
ed, but there is, Notwithstanding this
increased facility, a greater demand
for school houses than the Board can
supply. In every case where a new
house has been built the increased at
tendance has compelled the Board to
make use OF the old building. There
are at present demands from seven
different communities in the parish
for schoOlhOuses and the old type of
building is O~vercrowded beyond the
point of comfort. Last session about
1900 children were enrolled in the
schools of the parish. The increase
in the enrolment exceeds by far the
ability of the Board to make adequate
provision for housing the school chill
dren of the parish.
BETTER SCHOOL FACILITIES FOR THE
RURAL COMMUNITIES.
Perhaps the greatest activity in
school work at the present time is
along the line of improving the rural
school. In Louisiana to-day the
average town is fairly well equipped
with school facilities, but the rural
school of the State is in a compare
lively poor condition indeed. This is
due to the fact that the teacher in a
town school has one or two grades to
teach and in the rural school the
teacher has six to eight grades. The
child in the town school receives
from four to six times the individual
attention OF the teacher, hence makes
better progress. AS long as rural
schools remain in their present weak
condition just so long will it be i'm
possible to make any Improvement,
and the only way to improve the
country school is by consolidating
two, three, Dr. four weak schools of
one teacher in a strong central school
of three or four teachers. This can
be done with no additional expense in
many cases, and with little additional
expense in any case. When the far
mel pays $50 or sixty dollars for a
moving machine instead of investing
81 in a scythe he is economizing be-
cause the $50 mower pays for itself in
a week and the rest of its life it is a
souce of great profit to it's owner. |
The farmer who uses a scythe for
making hay to-day is behind the
times, and is losing time and money;
for the same reason the farmer who
sends his child to a weak country
school when he could send him to a !
strong central school depriving his
child of increased educational facili-
tiles, wasting the child,s time and per-
haps blithing his future. 1t is time
and money lost and worse still, the
child is often sent to his life work |
without ever the rudiments of an ed
ucatiOn. This is not theory, it is a fact.
Take a child of fourteen in the rural
schools OF one teacher and compare
them with the child of fourteen from
the town schools of this parish and
note the difference. Is it because the
town lad is brighter then the country !
lad? No, it's simply a question of OPP
pOrtuEity. Examine the records Of
the Industrial School. Why is it
that the town pupil is ready for ad-
mission long before he becomes of
age and the country lad two years
older cannot enter at all? Simply be-
cause the town lad has had OppOrtun- .
tiles and has taken advantage of them.
It is time for the farmer to ask him.
self this question: SIS my son less de-
serving of an education than the mer-
chants son who lives in atown?:.' To
ask the question is to answer it. The
farmers son is entitled to the same adj
vantages as anybOdy's else son: he
and can have equal advanta-
ges and facilities educatiOnally and it
is all a question within easy reach of
solution in Lafayette Parish. Every
thing in this parish is favorable for a
splendid system of central schools
have an immense population.
sandy soil capable of making first
roads, if properly drained, a
wealthy parish and yet most of the
owned by nOn-residents. I am
very much mistaken in the good judy
of the farmers of this parish if
they DO not take advantage of this op-
p%Ortunity to establish a system of
schools equal to'any in the land. Our
children are entitled to nothing less.
1t IS encouraging to note that the
more progressive communities of the
have already made great strides
Capitalization. The Brous- ;
'ard school of six teachers is the only 4.
school in the fifth ward. Do you think l.,
he people of this ward would consent .
o dividing the school into six parts :
scatter the weak schools through
the ward? Such a step should be
'ank folly. If a good strong school i;
S a good thing for the people of !
3roussard and the fifth ward, would :
lot the same kind of school be a good !,
hing for the eighth and the second :
'
Another example of a school which ;
s rapidly becoming the central school :
or its ward is the CarencrO school. !
years ago there we're two teachers |,
n this school: now there are four and I
here will soon be six. This school is .
estined to be the strongest centralized =
chool in the parish, because it has !
he densest population surrounding it. :