The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-12-17
AN OUTSIDE VIEW.

1t has come to be such a matter Of
course in North Carolina for us to
hear of local tax district after local
tax district carried for chools that
we are perhaps getting unmindful OF
the absolutely wonderful progress
which this state has in late years
made in educational affairs.
There have been many forces COM
| bining hat have made the increase so
rapid of late years, back Of it all
being the inherent desire of the people
to have better education given to their
children than they had. accentuated in
many instances in illiterate families
by the necessity of an education for
the boyS SO as to give to them the
power to exercise the franchise right,
but even with these as basic elements
there has been the need for a pro-
gressive spirit On the part of the
states educational forces, which has
been happily met by State Superin-
tendent Joyner and other leaders In
educational thought in the State. from
which u%nhappily there passed too ear
" the life of Charles d. MCIver, who
was an inspiration to the cause.
Potent factors in the rural sections
Of tie state hare been the addresses
made urging the needs of education,
ID VITA these go the results of various
S of Institutes held, and aiding
"a forward movement of the peo-
;c nave been the establishment of
rel ae.3col libraries, the building of
.-.Gtr1 school houses in the country
la G.. the influence of the organized
n, Of women for school betterment,
the li@c-al appropriations from the
.Etate for schools, the consolidation OF
! educational districts in the a~malgama-
nation of the many into the fewer,
and the spirit of hearty cooperation
/ between the county and the State in
educational work, the addition of the
special local tax for public schools
to that from the general fund.
These vast Improvements in our
schools conditions have come along
so quietly and gradually that we some
times lose sight of the really great
progress we have been making and
which we are continuing to make. a
clearer view of this can be obtained
by an outsider, who is accustomed to
comparing the work done in various
States, and on comparing the records
of what a single State has done in the
wears. An article on The South in
the current number of the Educationa
Review. of New York. of which Mich
oIas Murray Butler, is the editor, pays
such tribute to the States educational
~progress that it is worthy of atten-
-: =, 80 ~, ~, r@Jiro
Matthews, of Boston. Mass, who has
visited the State and studied its con-
ditions, and as an outside view OF
those it is a picture of advancement
that is very gratifying to all concerned
in North Cardinals welfare.
The article begins with a signifi-
cant statement, giving in a few words
the tone of the whole, for Miss Mat
thews writes 1T is so little the Gus
tom to turn to the South for an OBJ
iect lesson in educational practice that
the mere suggestion that one should
do so comes to one with something
of a sense of shock. Yet it is eX-
actly to a Southern State, and to the
rural portion of an i%lliterate South
ern State the western half of North
Carolina. that one must turn il one
would find in actual practice educa-
tiona1 methods superior IL those of
the present moment, North In sew
eral ways, at least, has western North
Carolina already touched educational
ideals" In continuing this statement
she says it has largely come about
from the linking of the influence of
the home, the church and the school,
without any sectarianism getting in
the way.
That North Carolina is taking this
ideal position Miss Matthews LAYS to
these causes; first. Sectarianism has
not become an issue: second. North
Carolina has centralized education:
thlfd( the graded SCHOOL, fourth,
tne rural school house building; fifth,
! original n wide experimentation. In