Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1908-09-30
Short School Terms. AS has al.

sTGS-SS-SSS'- Ts'1e'1ssXse1s'5
Short School Terms. AS has al
ready been noted, the average length
Z of the white schools Of the State last
year was less than six months. Tc
be exact, the average for the town
and rural schools was III days; the
rural schools alone, Ito days. While
this IS a better showing than. ".
made a very few years ago, still our
schools are in session little less
than two-thirds of our own standard
school year of $50 days, or nina
months. In other words, the white
people Of the State are giving their
children less than two-thirds. of the
schooling which 8 they declare a
child ought to have. -.
Here again is a lack of school
funds, which our people, !. insist, are
able to sprovide. In many rather
thickly, settled and prosperous dis
tricts the schools close after six or
seven months because the funds are
exhausted, yet not dollar of local
school tax is collected. I know dis
tricts. with from 80 to 60 white
children, which depend upon the pit.
tance Of $300sto 1926 to run, their
schools. Is it reasonable to expect
such a district to keep its school
open or to keep competent teachers9
In some of these very communities
I have been told, with a. tinge Of,
resentment, that the schools are bet
ter than those to which the fathers
and mothers vent That may be.
true, and it may also be true that
these same fathers and mothers are
hewers of wood and drawers of water
today, simply because they are un-
able to cope with those who have
been better schooled He is a very
despicable parent who is willing to
withhold schooling from his child on
the ground that he himself had few
or no advantages.
However, short school terms are:
by no means entirely due to lack of
money. Strange as it may seem,
there are many districts which close
their schools at the end of six, five,
and even four months with half as:
much money left in the county treas.
ury as they spent on their schools.
I know schools which have to their
credit enough money to run them
twice as long as they have been run
any year within the past FIVE. In
faet, scme counties are making what !
the officials call a good financial
showing, at the-expense of the SCHOOL,
children. For instance, Fh
county had on hand June 80,
q balance of $35,S3S to the ere
the school fund, while she. had
only S7 7,050 on her schools
year. In other words: the S
had at the close of the sch,
year n MSS iIitisege
{ eIlf Ire cost Of the schools
year Financially that may
good showing how is it educational 4
Ily7 Let us see: Florence county |
kept her white schools open last year
six months; she paid her white teach !
ers an average of $3.50; she save
each white teacher an average Of 36
pupils to teach. Chester : county
makes but. little better showing She
kept her white schools open seven
and one-fourtns months, paid her
white teachers an average Of 1896 a
year, and gaee-eaeh teacher an aver
age Of 81 pupils to teach. Yet
Chester county closed. these schools
with balance larger than the total
expenditure that yeaf:ss + abbeieRe 5iI
running the schools strictly on
cash basis, and I know that 2lt> is
necessary to close the books on the
Both of June with enough sbalanee !,
to run the schools <urtil thesaext tsxe
collection has been made. But is 1t
sound business or common sense to g.
cut off the school year, pay beggagiE
salaries, and give each TEACHER ,to9s
many pupils to teach, in order to
show a money balsnce7 Of course
under. such policy our school boards:
can boast OF having money on hands
AssI see it, we have more need for
money on the children. A man could
doubtless make fortune on salary
of $500 a year, if he were to go
naked and hungry, and keep all his
earning at ten per cent compound
interest; ;-but what would he be get
ting7 = -
After all, do cur people wish: to
keep the schools open nine months
in the year? Repeatedly I have had
fathers (mothers very. rarely) OPP
pose the attempt to lengthen their
school beyond six months. Their
contention is that the children can
not be spared from the farms and
the mills for a longer period. EK'
cept in eases of extreme poverty II
the homes of very unfortunate peo.
pie, this argument means nothlul
less than that the child is looked
upon as bread winner: The paren
is either too short sighted or too
selfish to give his ,sld tie oppor
tunity to become even. o. eread. ;Wln
ner. save in the humblest calHngs
Such a parent needs to be show
how his child may be trained unit
he becomes a master of something
and a citizen useful to the State
Every child should be taught t
work-to work intelligently an'
pro6tably, but his ultimate success
and usefulness should not be sacr1
feed to immediate selfish gain.
Poor School Houses and Poo
Equipment. There are at least %tw
yery distinct kinds of poor schod
houses: The building itself may b
worthless; good building may b
unfit for school purposes. 1t is pos
sible to invest modest sum 0
money in a good school building, an