The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1907-05-31
OUR COUNTY SCHOOLS.

/ says. 1.-THE Directors reserve the righ
TO terminate this contract whenevel
the attendance falls below -
pupils for ten successive days.
Ii the district is small one, Is /.
suggested as limit; If the district Ii
a large one, the limit should be larger
Many good reasons could be given fol
such limits. Directors representing
various schools have recently come tt
the Superintendent's Office to confer
with view Of increasing the attend
ance in said districts. In one district
with school census of nearly 10C
pupils, the average attendance fol
several months was not more than u
In the district referred to the teacher
received about $4,000 a month for near
nine months Under such conditions,
if the attendance can not be increased,
the school should be closed and the
funds preserved and added to the next
years funds.
COMBINING DISTRICTS.
The inequality of schools aud the
combining Of districts are two things
that demand careful consideration.
Surely our small districts should be
combined. In law, and in principle,
all children have equal rights and
privileges. Every child and every
community should have equal oppor-
tunities for education. EdHcationally,
no community is better than another.
Tax payers in small district pay to
support schools just as those do in
largsi districts. In Kentucky and in
the majority of other States the
schools have equal lengths of terms.
In Kentucky every public school in
the State has equal term-six months.
In Tennessee, by special acts. the
counties Of Montgomery and Lauder
dale have had such arrangement for
four years, and as result the schools
in those two counties have made un-
precedented progress. The small dis
tricts have been united, every teacher
has a good salary, and every district
has an eight months school. Under
the new School Directory Law, enact
ed by the last Legislature, such con-
iitions will exist In every county in
the State, save in Obion County, where
still we have the old system of three
Directors for each school, or 25S for
5he county. Under our system of dis
5rict supervision, nothing general or
lniform can exist, save by common
Every district is separate
md independent. In our county we
rave So white schools. Excluding the
own and village schools, the pupils
listed Ia the various rural districts
ange In number from 156 to %. For
Illustration let's take the following
districts, known as Hazelwood, Hamp-
on, Old Republican, Stovall and Oak
Ridge, all primary schools with one
eacher in each school. The school
'opulation in these districts Is re-
26, 80, 45, 80, 125. The per
apita this year is s5. 90, therefore each
I these has, respectively, s130, sl60,
225, $3.50 and 1925. No one would dare
eny that pupils in one district de-
erve as good instruction as do those
I another district. No one would
rant that the children In small
istrEct are less intellectual than
hose In larger district. The aver
ge salary per month received by
sachers in Obion County is about
IS. AT that rate, the months taught
n the districts referred to above
ould be SO, 3 so. 10 and IS SO.
hat means, that the pupils in Hazel
God should receive 28-9 months
,hooling each year, Hampton 8 so {
onths, Old Republican 5 months, :
tovall 10 months, and Oak Ridge I
s months. Again, where do tii...i,f
der and best instructors teach? 9
a
The1e now are the best teachers con-
acting for the next school gearg
he hnswer Is, in the large districts. I
hile che small districts get none but d
'ung and inexperienced teachers and u
d 1cu1lsn who have tailed II other Il
hoals Once again, every Thought Il
] observer knows that children, like b
own people, prefer coneregating p
here the larger crowd assemblies. 81
enee it is Observable that, every II
ing being equal, the larger the dis II
ict the more interest there Is mani "
sted. II II be desired 70 improve the *
hool. and its educational interests, ei
e district should Be enlarged. II pos g