The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1908-08-28
MtSSlSSlPPi'S EDUCATIONAL NfDS.

White people Of Mississippi 1t is
the blood II both pilgrim and cays
her and has been banded down
through the centuries without faint
gr corruption. No people or nation
has more right To be- proud If an
ses,rP ihsa has tins people nor Can
any rsast Of brighter record IN
deeds q yAlar beth On the field Of
battle and IN the halls o. statesman
ship Page 90 page mIRhi te wrl;-
len re53gHtIgg The deeds ot uuf
great men, cur LAuars. our Georges.
and even Of ibgse who sre sail On
the stage O.! public srau;y Bat
our purpose is mol io point ~ the
pages at the past, bot to tram yogc
vision "a The future bF araas.ne
ggDr interest 10 preae8i conditions
and future possibilities
Since the Organization Of the
public school system Of Mississippi
.aere has been wonderful develop.
G3eDt Of our Intellectual and mate
rial i-r-mes As our school sys.
TEN has developed cur people have
grown ia power and in wealth
This Is ne coincidence, but il an H.
!uStratloG Of a general law that the
wealth-earnlng power Of the people
IL IN direct proportion 10 the char.
acter and the amount OF the educa-
ton they receive. Our schools
have not been poor because we are
poor, but we have been poor and
are now poor because our schools
have been poor With all the i'm
pr0Yement in our educational facili-
ties We find our school system in
many respects crude and u~nsatis-
factory - failing to give our boys
and girls a fair chance in the race
Of life with those Of other sections.
Our towns and cities are doing we'll,
but even their schools are weak in
some points, especially in that no
training is given TO dignity labor.
Manual training and domestic sci,
ence, absolutely necessary TO make
the hand delft and skilled, are no
part Of the course Of study. In this
particular, even our city schools are
behind those OF every other state in
the Union.
But the great problem for our
State to solve, and solve quickly, is
the problem Of the rural school.
We believe that the boys and girls
of our rural sections should. have
equal educational advantages with
those Of our towns and cities, and
that all Of our youth should have as
good opportunity as the youth Of
any section Of the country.
In comparing educational condi-
tons in Mississippi with those Of
other states we find, () that 81
states and territories have longer
school terms than Mississippi; (2)
that l6 Of them spend more on the
education Of each child than does
Mississippi, (3) that the average
rural term in the United States is
% per cent. greater than it is in
Mississippi; AZ that the amount
spent for public education in the
Union is more than Sl3 for each
adult male, while in this state it is
only IS for each adult male. We
find that Mississippi spends less ac-
cordlng to per capita wealth than
does even Massachusetts, where the
average wealth is very high. In
Massachusetts, there is spent for
education 3 IS mills on each
Of property value. The av-
erage wealth Of each inhabitant is
Slii9, which makes it cost each
person $49ll a year for education.
This is Just about one-third OF one
per cent, on his property. la Mis-
each person is estimated TO
be worth $l25, on which he pays a
rate OF 265 mills, making a yearly
Of Sll65, which is less than
3 10 Of one per cent on his proper.
ty. These figures are based on the
last census and are here given be-
prominent persons have been
heard to remark that Mississippi
has gone Internationally mad and
is doing more for education, accord
ing to per capita wealth, than any
other state in the Union. Statistics (,
show that this is not true.
In this comparison we also find
u Ia