The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1908-11-04

The High School Situation
Counting the increased facilities
added this year, it is easily demon /
strable by figures that the public
high schools of the State, aided and
unaided, have increased in efficiency
more than twenty-five per cent since |.
January !, 1907. n more than onc-
fourth OF them the efficiency has
been doubled withia that time. The
chief increase is in the quantity
and quality Of the teaching force,
thus giving longer recitation De-
RODS, a wider range n1 studies. and
heightened COURSES Of study. The
State appropriation Of $4,000 has
been the chief instrument by which
these Improvements have been
brought about, but it must be ad-
nitted that even with this lever Ii
has been a task Of magnitude to Sc
cure this increased efficiency. It has
required courage and watchfulnes>
on the part Of the State High Schoo!
Board to prevent the schools from
taking the State aid for the hlgo
school, then turning it into the com.
mon school department without on:
particle Of increase Of cseacy /:
the high school.
The Introductory statement nigh
lead the uni1forned 20 think tha
our high schoolE are ROW satisfacto.
~. Far from it. There sre cow 30
far from l4o public high scaoo'
coming within the minimum defnE
ton Of 2 high school under the pres
ert high school law-o1s tesch:
giving all his tino 70 not fewer thal
fifteen pupils above the sevont:
grade or seventh school year. 0
these 40 schools, 20 have on,
high school teacher each. so schoo"
have two teachers each, and the re
naming ones more than two teach
ers each. Only six schools have eacj
the full teacu.ng time Of Ave teach
erS or more.
IN nearly all the one-tescher 5igi
schools the recitation periods have
been advanced to 80 minutes each,
nothing less than 90 minutes being
accepted in the aided schools. l.:
those with two or more high schoo:
teachers, fully three-fourths have
40 and 45-minute periods, while Z
few have one hour periods. IN g.:
aided school Of this class nothing
less than 80 minutes is accepted
The greatest single gain has beer
this frightening Of the recitation
periods, and upon the whole rhe
situation in this respect is salts
factory.
Some noticeable improvement il:
TIE competency OF the teachers ha;
5een made, but in this respect condi;-
ions are far from satisfactory. Many
places are willing to pay from s1,20t
to $500 for. a supervising principa:
but give him cheap assistants. l.
is utterly useless to talk about get
ting e competent and experienced
vomar, fitted to DO high schoc
teaching, at $40 month. or nal
who has shown hins5ls qualified
at $50. It IS painful TO me to sa>
this, for among Just such teacher;
are some 0: my best personal friends
But I know only too well that tn.
standard Of the high schools depend:
upon the standard of their teach
ing force Let me tell some thing:
7 have seen and heard. I have ses-
more than one high school teacnsi
wrestle half-hour with an ordiaa:;
problem in Wentworth's Practic.,
Arithmetic. book usually compi y
ed N the 9Th grade. In Tacr's Phys
zeal Geography. g BOOK really too
difficult for the Sth grade where Il
is rsualiy found, nave seen teach
ers cover enough ground in one 80.
minute recitation to have giveL
profitable work for three such pc
RODS. In one history recitation
have seen the class --ead the tex
axe fourth reader for o1e-half the
time. then listened to he teaches
ask twenty to thirty wholly unrelated
questions each suggestive Of tns
answer expected. Day after day j.
see teacHsrs vai1ly attempting &c
teach Snslish grammar aad puactu'
aaoa from the rules aad the few
examples given IN the textbook, and
seemingly oblivious to the fact that
svery textbook the child uses Is Hul!
OF the very illustrations needed
Latin is usually referred to as dead
language; it might with propriety be
called deadly in some instances.
Not a few hig schools pupils after
two years of Latin study are unable
to separate a word into its sylables.
or to determine the length Of a syi-
liable. In translation it is no u1-
common thing to hear such as this:
''Gallia-Gaui, est-is, onots-ail, dtvts,-
divided, i1-in, partes-parts, tres
three" etc. AS a specimen product
OF the Tigor Of the Latin grated
upon the Aexibilit. Of the English,
note this: The army having beaH
drawn up more IS the nature Of the
place and the slope Of the hill and
tie necessity CT the time than as
the order and plan of military things
demanded, since the different lesions
some IN one part and some ancthe!
wore resisting the enemy and the
tliek hedges ks-ins beea cast down,
etc. 1899 Caesars GsiEc War, Book
II, ctapter go The teacher wso
accepted ttis jsr=sa hc:;Is ccl-
loge diplens. and Is exempt from ex-
animation OF fitness TO teack. On
Cs-,,nre-FC