The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1906-05-01
A PLEA FOR HIGH SCHOOLS.
Movement for Establishment Of High,
Schools Growing In Interest.

WenI VI PuDllc %nlSn SCnOOlS appears
to be growing in interest. The fol-
lowing article by Supt. w. II. HalM
Of the Chester schools is Of peculiar
force at this time: 60. ..,, y .
After more than two centuries since
it's settlement, and with all its pros
perity, and with all it's boasted edu-
cational growth, South Carolina has
district and township upon township
with no other school in it than Oh
elementary one, open for four of five
months in the year. Not pupil can
pursue course in a high school with
in reach of his home. He must be
content with the three Rs, or go else
where to get beyond that narrow limit.
Boys and girls of capacity and prom
ise are shut off from an education
because they have not the means to
go from home to find adequate
schools. Boys that have in them the
material to make useful men in every
department of life must long in vain
for the advantages of higher school
ing. The community itself must
keep OH the lowest plane of intelli-
gcnce, because its sons and daughters
must grow up with no more training
than that given in the elementary
schools.
In such community can always be
found some families unwilling to let
their children suffer for that school
ing. These families must either send
their children away from home at a
heavy expense, or they must move to
some place where better schools arc
to be found. Every such family is
Il distinct loss to the community from
which it goes. After even one family
has left, it is just that much harder
for those remaining to keep up their
school and their church. One more
for good has gone. \ home in that
community is a little less dcsirablc:
land becomes little cheaper; the
average intelligence is Il little lower,
and the prosperity Of the community
is checked. 1t is only Il question OF
time until others will leave. ~ good
school of high grade would have kept
these families there, brought other
families in,> raised the intelligence Of
all, increased the value Of land, and
given the community an increased
confidence in itself.
Often name conveys either no
meaning at all Or it conveys al er-
roneous one. One Of the most unfor-
tunatc fatcs connected with our en-
tire education system is the misnam-
ing Of institutions. The very name
Of al institution may do the cause
of education injustice and harm.
Half-educated young women who
know not Froebcl, but who keep play
schools and call them kindergartcns,
have done real kindergarten work un-
told injury.
In like manner the village school
of 33 pupils, ranging from beginners
to first lessons in algebra and Latin,
is miseallel high school. Often it
has not full high school course Of
even one year; often it has no regular
course at all. There are many rea-
sons why il cannot have either. Chief
among them is that ii has neither
sufficient teaching force, nor enough
pupils ready for high school work.
II would be somewhat unusual to
find in such Il school more than five
pupils doin" real high school work.
IF these five pupils have a full course
of study, what time has the teacher
left for his 30 other pupils scattered
all along through the primary and in
termcdiate gradc7 If the primary
and intermediate pupils receive the
proper attention what time is left
for the high school pupils?
Schools of this class can be found
by the score. They serve the fatal
purpose of deceiving the people into
believing that they have what in
reality they have not. They know
the rank Of their schools, and they
seek other and higher institutions.
And by the time the pupils of this
class get their schooling they are en-
tirely weaned away from their old
homes and former associates. Some
people seem never to understand why
their home communities arc kept con-
stantly drained Of the best young
men and women they have produced.
They forget that training and culture