Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-11-26

take a college course. Such ideals o
scholarship do not often impress young
minds with the power Of knowledge.
1.-The three grades Of certificates
now allowed are too narrow in theil
scope. This in a measure, explains
the varying practice in the forty-twt
counties. There is a difference between
primary and high school instruction
which no examination can destroy
Yet the kindergartener and the geo.
logist in the first and the eleventh
grades Of high school, at present
measured by the same standard.
There is a growing demand fol
practical training in agriculture, do.
mestic science, industry and kindred
topics, which can be adequately met
only by the employment Of specialists
in these departments. Such teachers
are now provided for by the issuance
of certificates upon diplomas, but Sc
per cent Of those now at work in the
class room have never entered COL
lege lecture room or laboratory. The
great majority will probably continue
to secure their certificates upon ex-
animation. Hence the necessity OF
making this examination an adequate
and trustworthy test.
Forty-Two Standards.
Instead Of a uniform standard for
the entire state, the present method In
effect creates a separate standard for
each of the fortytwo counties. The
various county boards Of education
themselves recognize these differences
and variations, for there is no comfy
between them. Teachers holding GER
tiiicates from one county board often
wish to take schools in another coun-
ty, but find to their dismay that they
are not legally qualified. The certi-
ficate from their home county Is pro
duced, but 1t Is not recognized be-
cause the standard Of the county board
of education, oy which /. was issued,
Is discredited. In some instances the
laxity of the county board Is so no.
torious that applicants leave their
homes to take the examination under
more favorable conditions, because in
this Mecca failure is reputed to be
only a remote possibility.
These lax boards allege that the
scarcity of teachers justifies their leni-
ency. Many schools, they assert
would remain closed, were the stand
ard risidly insisted on. They, there
fore, dispense certificates with liberal
hands, and let loose upon their more
careful or more conscientious neighbors
a swarm of incompetents claiming the
right to teach in any public school of
the state. Special districts, organized
under special acts Of the general as
sembly, have asked and have been CIV
en- the right 10 require additional local
examinations, because the state sys.
| tenn Of certification, did not supply
satisfactory teachers. This connection
was unfortunate, for the progressive
school men who sought and secured
1t would have insisted on better stand
ards for every free public school, II
they had been denied the privilege OF
additional special district examination.
With one county board recognizing no
certificate but its own, half dozen
others practicing a sort Of educational
reciprocity and the great majority rec
ognizing every certificate offered, 1t Is
Impossible to establish uniform
standard for the state.
Certificates on Diplomas.
| $50 far as / have been able to
learn, South Carolina issues more GER
tificates on diplomas than does any
other state. This Is not because we
have better colleges, but because our
law has cheated many so-called col
leges whose chief reason for existence
is the issuing Of diplomas equivalent, at
present, to q life certificate to teach.
| Graduates of colleges, real and So
called, in other states complain of un-
fair discrimination, unless they too
are accorded similar recognition. The
| freedom of our classrooms Is widely
advertised among monohippic institu-
tions, and actively exploited by con-
vassing agents from every quarter.
Twenty colleges for whites and ten
ior negroes now issue diplomas, which
..ititle their graduates to a first grade
I certificate in any county in the state.
Many school officers have the erroneous
notion that graduates Of these colleges
need not even take the trouble to Sc
/ IL A,-ft O.
conception has been extended to cover
any sort of diploma from any sort OF
school anywhere, so that scores OF
teachers are willingly or unwillingly,
Willingly or unwittingly, violating the
law.
| For the first time in the history Of
our public school system, the high
school act has made 1t possible for this
department to inquire into the certifi-
cation Of teachers. The high school
board has provided this year. that any
high school employing a teacher with-
out a certificate shall forfeit its right
to state aid. 1t might naturally be
supposed that these schools represent
| the acme Of scholarship ana protes-
sional spirit; yet investigation showed
that fully one-third Of our high school
teachers were without valid certiIi-
Gates. If the present law connot be
enforced 1t should be repealed. Where
teachers held diplomas from accredited
colleges, 1t was an easy matter to COM
ply with the requirements but in a
number Of counties extra specia, ex-
aminations were asked for to meet III 5
emergency. If this condition prevail
ed among the high schools Of the state.
what must the condition be among our
weak rural schools, where 70 per cent
Of our boys and girls receive the
only education they can get?
| Wherever diploma represents
what it purports to represent, the
holder fresh from college halls should
not be afraid to take an examination
required of applicants who have never
enjoyed college advantages. None but
the graduates Of normal schools should
| be exempted from examination, be-
cause they alone look upon teaching
i