The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1910-09-21
RURAL SCHOOL PROGRESS.
ments Noted I'm Rural Schools of
the State.


communities in South Carolina which
are making commendable advance
ment toward the consolidated COM
munity type of school which In my
opinion is destined to prevail in the
prosperous agricultural communities
Of South Carolina.
The first Of those schools was at
Cross Keys, twelve miles from Union.
The people of this community have
built a good three-room school build
ing, and last year enrolled 1873 pupils.
The Principal Of the school is Mr..
w. c. Pitts, a graduate Of Clemson
College. and the two assistant
teachers are graduates OF Winthrop
and Limestone Colleges. On the
opening day there were twenty-five
high school pupils in attendance. and
there Is every evidence Of interest
in the school on the part Of pupils
and patrons. The school has IL
brary. and Is planning q campaign
for school improvement during the
coming year. Adjacent to the
school house Is q baseball ground for
the boys and a tennis court for the
pupils Of the high school. The dis
trict has voted a special two mill tax
for the support Of the school and is
now considering an increase Of this
special levy. There are two other
small schools in the district and these
will, no doubt, be consolidated with
the central school as soon as the
roads Of the community have been
somewhat more improved. There is
a growing feeling in the community
that the small one-teacher school
cannot do the work of the consolidat-
ed type.
Four miles from Cross Keys at
Sedilia, three small schools have
been consolidated and a $2,5OO.OO
concrete building has been erected.
This movement has been led by rep
resentative l.. j. Browning and Mr..
j. E. Miller. $4,000 for the build
ing was raised by private subscription
and $1,70o.oO was borrowed. Every
body in the community ia now en-
gagged in an effort to wipe out this
debt. One Of the first acts of the
Board Of Trustees was a resolution
that all teachers in the school must
be college graduates. Mr.. Adams, a
recent graduate Of the University Of
South Carolina, will be the principal
for the coming year. At the first
session OF the consolidated school
there was an increase Of 21 pupils
over the sum of the enrolment in the
three schools which had been con-
solidated. This fact is typical Of all
of the consolidated schools.
Last Thursday was spent in Cody
Vile District of Cherokee County.
The people Of this district have two
good school houses a little over two
miles apart, and have voted a four
mill special tax to supplement- the
regular school funds. This Is dis
tinctively a white community, and
both schools have good enrolment.
Mr.. Henry A. Wise, who came from
Jonesville as Principal OF the Nc
Master school in Columbia, has just
a two months summer ses
sion at one of the schools. The peo-
pie of the district are convinced that
they can never have satisfactory edu-
cational facilities until the two
schools are consolidated into one at
a central point and three teachers
are employed. This will double or
treble the amount Of time which a
teacher can give to the pupils r the
various classes, and will give a place
to the social incentives which make
up so large a part Of the school in
terest. The feeling Of the commu-
nifty was we'll expressed by one of its
prominent citizens who stated that
in order to hold it's best citizens 1t Is
necessary to furnish better educa-
tional facilities. 1t was stated that
one of the best supporters Of the
school had bought the lumber for a
new house and was waiting to see
the outcome Of the present consolida-
tion movement in order 10 determine
whether he would build on the farm
or In the town Of Jonesville.
The last school OF this type which
we have visited is the Zoar school in
Saluda County. The district in which
the Zoar school Is situated Is occu-
pied for the most part by white pep-