The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1910-09-20
RURAL SCHOOL PROGRESS.

+ & =
During the past ten days it has been
my privilege to visit several communi-
ties in South Carolina which are max
ing commendable advancement toward
the consolidated community type OF
school which In my opinion Is destin-
ed to prevail in the prosperous agri-
cultural communities Of South Caro-
lima.
The first of these schools was at
Cross Keys, 12 miles from Union. The
people Of this community have built a
good three-room school building, and
last year enrolled 153 pupils. The
principal of the school Is Mr.. W. c.
Pitts, a graduate Of Clemson collee
and the two assistant teachers are
graduates of Winthrop and Limestone
colleges. On the opening day there
were p high school pupils in attend
ance, and there is every evidence of
interest in the school on the part of
pupils and patrons. The school has
good library, and is planning cam
paign for school improvement during
the coming year. Adjacent to the
schoolhouse is a baseball ground for
the boys and 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 dou:;t, be consolidated with
the central school as soon as the roads
OF the community have been some
what more improved. There Is a
growing feeling in the community that
the small one teacher school can not
dc the work Of the consolidated type.
Four miles from Cross Keys at Sc
dalia, three small schools have been
consolidated and a $4,000 concrete
building has been erected. This
movement has been led by Representa-
tive L. J. Browning and J. B. Minter.
Five hundred dollars for the building
was raised by private subscription and
$1,700 was borrowed. Everybody in
the community Is now engaged In al
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, 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
consolidated. This fact is typical of
all of the consolidated schools.
Last Thursday was spent in the
Gowdyville district of Cherokee coun-
ty. The people in this district have
two good school houses little over
two miles apart, and have voted
four-mill special tax to supplement the
regular school funds. This is distinc-
lively a white community, and both
schools have good enrollments. Mr..
Henry A. Wise, who comes from Jones'
vile as principal OF the McMaster
school in Columbia, has just finished
a two months summer session at one
of the schools. The people Of the dis
trict are convinced that they can neV-
er have satisfactory educational facili-
ties until the two schools are consoli-
dated 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 of the various classes, and will
give place to the social incentives
which make up so large a part of the
school interest. The feeling of the
community was we'll expressed by one
of its prominent citizens who stated
that in order to hold its best citizens
it is necessary to furnish better edu-
cational facilities. 1t was stated that
one of the best supporters of the
school had bought the lumber for
new house and was waiting to see the
outcome of the present consolidation
movement in order to determine
whether he should build on his farm
or in the town of Jonesville.
The last school of this tyDe which