The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1909-01-28
How Women Can Make Better
Schools.

TOW women IAN Make Better
Schools.
The work of a South Carolina
Association What it has accom-
what it hopes to do, and
what the work means to the
state.
The South Carolina School I'M
provement Association was or
gynized at Winthrop Normal and
Industrial College in the spring
of 1902, with a membership of
of ihirty-three college girls. The
membership of the Association
has grown very ropidly and now
we have over 5000 members,
consisting of vocational and pro-
fessional men and women.
The object of the Association
are the betterment of rural
schools and homes, the organiza-
ton of community life, and the
enlistment of citizenship in the
general cause of education. The
Association consists of three
branches, (1) State, (2) County,
81 Local.
HOW THE WORK is ORGANIZED.
The State Association is en-
deavoring to establish a local as
ISOLATION in every school district
in the State. About 500 local
clubs have already been organi-
zed and are doing good work.
The County Association aids
the State Association in the local
clubs. It plans the work for the
local clubs and pursues different
methods in different counties to
reach the desired ends, such as
letters leaflets, personal visits,
bulbs, flower seed, magazines,
books, pictures, flags and prizes
for the most material improve
ment.
The local associations endeavor
to do the following things: Have
new school houses built or old
ones repaired or painted, rough
and comfortless benches exchan-
ged for good desks, stoves pol
ished, windows washed, shades
and curtains added to windows,
pictures placed on the walls.
They also help in securing libra
ries and keeping them growing,
in bringing into the schools good
magazines and papers, in improv-
ing grounds, planting trees and
shrubs, shade trees and flowers,
in having Fairgrounds laid off,
in giving profitable and interest
ing entertainments, in having
local taxes voted and weak schools
consolidated, and in interesting
people Of each community in their
own school and children.
THE AIM is TO BUILD UP THE
STATE AND MAKE HAPPIERHOMES.
After all, the ultimate aim of
the Association is to make big
average citizenship and improve
the homes of the masses of our
people. There is no better way
to reach the homes of our coun-
FRY neOnle than through our
schools. Clean, orderly, attrac-
tive schools will soon make clean,
attractive homes.
In the last two years the Asso-
ciotion has created sentiment
which has led to over 200 school
houses being repaired, has been
instrumental III getting almost
as many new ones built, has es-
a large number of libra
ries, and has led people to help
themselves by stimulating local
effort through means Of prizes
offered for most decided material
Improvement in a given length
OF time. IhlS year the ASSOcla-
ton offers thirty-fve prizes. Five
of them are to be $500 each, and
thirty are to be $50 each.
THE KIND OF IMPROVEMENTS THAT
ARE BEING MADE.
Under material improvements
are included local taxation, con-
solidation, new buildings, repair
ing and painting old ones, libra
ries, reading rooms or tables, in
terror decorations, identifying
yards and better general equip
ment.
There are about eighty appli-
cations for the prizes already
filed. The prize money is to be
spent for further improvements
in the schools receiving it.
The following statement OF
how the money was expended
came from a school in Laurens
County that had won q 500 prize
Pump-------------------$15.65
9 c6