Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1908-11-11

The High School Situation.-Count-
ing the increased facilities added this
year, it is easily demonstrated by fig
ures that the public high schools of
the State, aided and unaided, have in
creased in efficiency more than TWEEN
ty-ive per cent since January l,
1907. In more than. one-fourth of
them the efficiency has been doubled
within that time. The chief increase
lis in the quantity and qaulity of the
teaching fcrce, thus giving longer
recitation periods, wider range of
studies, and heightened courses Of
study. The State appropriation Of,
$4,000 has been the chief instru-
ment by which these improvements
have been brought about, but it must
be admitted that even with this lever
it has been task Of magnitude to
secure this increased efficiency. 1t
has required courage and watchful-
ness on the part of the State High
School Board to prevent the schools
from taking the State aid for the
high school, then turning it into the
common school department without
one particle of increase of efficiency
in the high school.
The Introductory statement might
lead the uninformed to think that our
high schools are -aow satisfactory.
Far from it. There are not far from
14O public schools coming within the
minimum definition Of a high school
under the present high school law
one teacher giving all his time to not
fewer than fifteen pupils above the
seventh grade or seventh school year.
Of these 40 schools, 25 have one
high school teacher, each, 80 schools
have two teachers each, and the re-
naming ones more than two teachers
each. Only six schools have each the
full teaching time of five teachers or
more.
In nearly all the one-teacher high
schools the recitation periods have
been advanced to 80 minutes each,
nothing less than 20 minutes being
accepted in the aided schools. In
those with two or more high school
teachers, fully three-fourths have
4Oyand 45-minute periods, while few
have one hour periods. In an aided
school of this class nothing less than
80 minutes is accepted. The great
est single gain has been this length
ening of the recitation periods, aad
upon the whole the situation in this
respect is satisfactory.
Some noticeable improvement in
the competency of the teachers has
been made, but in this respect condi-
tions are far from satisfactory. Many
places are willing to paw from 81 200
to $500 for a supervising principal,
but give him cheap assistants. 1t is
utterly useless to talk about getting
a competent and experienced woman,
fitted to do high school teaching. at
$40 a month, or a man who has
shown himself qualified, at $50. 1t
is painful to me to say this, for among
Just such teachers are some Of my
best personal friends. But I know
only too well that the standard of
the high schools depends upon the
standard of their teaching force. Let
me tell some things 1 have seen and
heard i, have seen more than one
high school teacher wrestle a half
hour with an ordinary problem in
5Wentworth Practical i lli ssti
book usually compile ted ,n glith
sg1 sgess' IS Physical feogFapEfss
Ea book really too difficult flie
eighth grade where it is usually
found, II have seen teachers cover
enough ground in one Commute reci-
tation to have given profitable work
for three such periods. In one his
tory recitation I have seen the class
read the text like fourth reader for
one-half the time, then listened to the
teacher ask twenty" to thirty wholly
unrelated questions each suggestive
of the answer expected. Day after
day I see teachers vainly attempting
to teach English Grammar and Pune
tuation from the rules and the few
examples given in the textbook, and
seemingly oblivious to the fact that
every text the child uses is full of the
very illustrations needed. Latin is
usually referred to as a dead lang
uage; it might with propriety be
called deadly in some instances. Not
few high school pupils after twc
years Of Latin study are unable to
separate word into its syllables. OF
to determine the length of a syllable
In translation it is no uncommon
thing to hear such as this: "Galiia-
Gaul, est-is, omnis-all, divisa-divided.
in-in, partes-parts, tres-three," etc
AS a specimen product of the vigol
Of the Latin grated upon the flexibi.
lity of the English, note this: "The
army having been drawn up more as
the nature CT the place and the slope
of the hill and the necessity Of the
time than as the order and plan of
military things demanded, since the
different legions some in one part and
some another were resisting the en-
emy and the thick hedges having been
cast down." etc. (See Caesars Gal
lie War. Book III, chapter 22.) The
teacher who accepted this jagron holds
a college diploma, and is exempt from
examinations of fitness to teach. On