The Grenada sentinel., 1908-07-25
MISSISSIPPI EDUCATIONAL CONFERENCE

some side paths of his own through the
wilderness of prejudice and Ignorance.
When he emerges at the end of the
road it will be to point the people to
this greatly desired training school
side by side with the better teacher,
the longer term, and the more comforta-
BILE house.
1t was no small thing to secure the
right men for speakers at the confer
ence, but it was eventually done, and
every hour of the various sessions had
its special interest. There was not one
dull speaker on the list, nor one talk
tnat was not attractive and interesting.
/ OF course Mr.. Powers made the most im-
portant address, during the course OF
which he outlined the policy of the
present administration, and notified his
hearers that he would call upon them
for support in his efforts to secure the
bond issue for the training school, and
for $250,000 from the next legislature
for the common school fund. Judging
| by the applause which greeted these
statements, there will not be one man
lacking when the votes come to be
counted on these questions.
MIR. Powers has made great many
friends already in the office which he
holds, and the Educational Conference
won for him many more. His Normals
| this summer have proven successful, and
the teachers are satisfied with him and
MS methods. This is a most fortunate
state of affairs, as there is always bet
ter work when there is harmony among
| the workers.
The three presidents of the State in
| nd oh of
them received all the honors and admir-
alton that man could ask. In the dis
! tinguished chancellor of the university,
DR.. A. A. kincannon, we found the host,
the friend, the teacher all combined
And at the same time the State found
in him her careful, painstaking ex-
ecutive officer in charge of the many
improvements which are rapidly trans
forming the old campus into a thing of
beauty and a JOY, if not forever, at
least for many years.
A very interesting feature of the con-
/ ference was the illustrated lecture by
DIR. Kern, the county superintendent of
| Winnebago county, Illinois, which he
calls Along the Country Road with the
School Boy" 1t is a revelation, and
those who saw and heard it must carry
| back to their work fresh inspiration
and determination to compass in their
work, something of the wonders that
| this man achieved in his bare land.
Would that every farmer in the State
who allows his hands" to ruthlessly
cut and burn his splendid trees just to
make new ground" could see the value
these rich Illinois farmers, on the open
prairie, set on q tree They make as
much ceremony about planting little
sapling and then give it as careful cul-
ture as we give to the most rare and
expensive plant from distant nurseries.
And it is because of the fact that beau
| tful trees are rare with them, and that
they are valuable, just as they are to
us, but we have not, as yet, learned
| these facts. When DR.. Kern took up
| the work to which he is devOting his
| life, his schools were as bare as are
ours. But indomitable will and perse-
verance, genuine stick-tO-it-aveness and
a clear brain have accomplished wonders,
and today the graded schools of his
county with their splendid buildings
| lin place of the log huts by the road
side) their beautiful grounds and ar
! tistic interiors, are the admiration of
the entire school world. When Nature
has done so much for us this man can
not understand why it is that we do
not start in and help her out to the ex-
tent, at least, of preserving the trees
around the school yard instead of cut
ting all of them and leaving the house
| in a dusty clearing.
| Would that every father and mothe:
who is wont to take tho chil'len" out
of the all-too-s -short-term school when
ever the cotton gets in the grass, or
| for similar reasons, could see and under
| stand this lecture! Could this be
brought about there would be no neeI
for educational conferences. The pee
pie would do, of their own free Wall,
all OF these great and good things winch
I, Mr.. Powers and Mr.. Scott and MIR. Rose
and all of the other patriotic educators
hope to do one of these glad days.
it is sad fact that the white chit
dren of some of our counties are taught
but one hundred and eleven days, and
that by teachers who receive but about
SIC a month, all the year round-tbat
is. (And they have to live during the
time their schools are cioscd.)
1t is a depiorable fact that twenty
per cent of the children of Mississippi
are not even enrolled in any school; Of
those enrolled, only thirty y.Six per cent
attend; our average attendance Is but
fifty-two out of every hundred children
among us. .,
We are accustomed to boast nightly
about what we have done for our chill
dren. But / say it with regret and
humiliation, there are now forty-siX
States and territories spending more for
the education of each child than we do.
There are longer school terms in thirty
seven States and territories than ours
are.
We are the only State in the Union
without training school for teachers.
Our children in the country average six
months the year, while the average in
the United States is eight months, al
most. We spend but an average of five
dollars for each adult male in Missis-
sippi, while the amount spent for each
adult in the United States is thirteen
dollars.
And-ashamed though I am to tell
it-there are thirty-six States and ter
ritories having smaller percentage of
iiEterate adult male white citizens than
We have.