Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-05-24
Naad Eor hiah Schools.

There Is no question OF tne neSu loi
the establishment Of first-class hlgn
schools throughout South Carolina,
and especially in this immediate Vi
cinity; but the great difficulty seems TO
be to arouse proper interest among
those most concerned.
If all of the intelligent white people
in York township, or even majority
of them could have been induced 10
come out to hear the talks OF Prof..
w. H. Hand in Yorkville last Tuesday,
there would be no further trouble.
The establishment Of high schools
would be assured even II individual
citizens had to goh down in their pock-
cts to raise the necessary means py
private subscription; but the fact that
the attendance was so small on such
an important occasion evidences the
necessity of lots of good hard work
before anything like satisfactory re-
suits can be accomplished.
No right thinking parent, perhaps,
has a greater concern than for the
welfare of his or her children, and
there is not one who does not realize
that after proper home training the
most essential requirement for life
of usefulness is a good education. we
do not think that there can be a rea-
sonable doubt about the correctness Oh
either of these propositions; but Still
when we consider how little is actually
being done in the way Of providing the
means for thorough and efficient prac-
tical education it will have to be ad-
mitted that we are not showing our
faith by our works.
While some are more efficient than
others, it is fact that there are few
really efficient schools in all this Sec
ton. Prof Hand, in his talks, is dem
onstrating this very clearly. He shows
how each child is lucky to get an
average of fifteen minutes actual in
struction a day, and the absurdity OF
expecting reasonably satisfactory re-
suits from such a condition as this is
apparent.
course, is that the teaching force Is
generally too small in proportion to
the number of children to be taught,
and this comes primarily from a lack
of means to employ a sufficient num-
ber of teachers of the right kind.
Under the conditions prevailing in
most of the common schools, it is
necessarily impossible to classify the
pupils in such manner that all can
come in for anything like an equal
share.
These are among the elementary
troubles of present conditions, and 1t
Is clear enough that the establishment
CT high schools would not only help to
do away with these troubles, but would
contribute to the solution Of other
problems. Prof Hand the other day
made it very plain that every college
in the state is doing a considerable
amount of preparatory work, and
showed that the reason for it was be-
cause this work has not been done In
the public schools below. That such
work can be done much cheaper in To-
cal high schools than in colleges is
too plain for argument, and the busi-
mess sense of establishing high schools
at home rather than pay double high
school expense to the preparatory de-
partments of the colleges is self-cOn-
firmatOry
Another very strong point made by
Pref. Hand is that the establishment
of first-class school in any commu-
nifty, whether primary or academic
institution enhances the value of con-
tiguous property more than enough to
Justify the necessary outlay even from
a purely business standpoint. There is
absolutely no question of the correct
ness of this assertion, the only possi-
BILE qualification being that the school
shall be properly managed by cOmpe-
tent trustees and that the teaching
force be of a character able to give
better service than is to be had from
any other near by school Of the same
kind.
That it would pay the people OF
York township including the town, TO
establish a first-class high school in
Yorkville, we have not the slightest
doubt, and it is sincerely hoped that
these people will at once go about
giving to the matter the attention its
importance deserves.
And what is a good thing for York
township in this regard is also good