The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1910-08-25
TIL: RIGHT MANIN THE RIGHT
PLACE-.NEEDS OF OUR
SCHOOLS.

portant point in fitness | noted
that our lawmakers must have
complete understanding of the needs
OF our schools. | attempt here to
call 10 notice only a few helpful
changes which should be brought to
our schools quickly.
Ore most essential remedy to be
applied to the schools is the placing
of a limit on the maximum work at
tempted by the teacher. In this day
of poorly equipped teachers, and
trustees and patrons who lack dis
criminative judgment in this matter,
the law should limit the number of
grades allowed t, the teacher. Any
teacher with as many aS twelve pu-
pills should not be allowed to teach
more than three grades. How, think
you, must be the work done by Il
teacher hardly able to command Il
second grade certificate who is trying
to teach six grades, while our best
equipped schools have Il teacher for
each grade? Try this arithmetic
problem - one teacher who has
twelve pupils finds that there are
four beginners, five in the second
years work. Now, each of the be-
ginhers must have SO minutes each
day, or a total of 120 minutes; the
second year pupils must have four
periods of % minutes each, total
of 100 minutes: the third year pu-
pills must have five periods of %
minutes each, total of l25 min
utes; now 20 minutes for singing
and opening exercises and % min
uteS for receSseS: total of all these
gives Us 420 minutes ;or seven hours
work from 900 o'clock until 400
O'Clock an excellent days work in
the school-room with every moment
of time well occupied. 1t is indeed
difficult work to accomplish perma-
nent results when the day is thus
divided into IS periods-and yet
many teachers are forced to divide Il
day into 81 or 40 periods. The diff
ference between success and fai urs
in the work is this difference in ar
rangement. The ability of the teach
or concentrated into six or eight pc
RODS of 45 minutes each means sue
cess-while a small amount of abil-
ity scattered over 81 or 40 periods'of
10 minutes each results in failure
and the teacher gets the anathemaS
of her patrons because their children
learned nothing during the term.
Limiting the work to three grades
maximum would do much toward
making our one-teacher school OF
some permanent value in our edu-
cational system. Such a limit would
mean consolidation of the many
schools into schools with two and
three teachers, As soon as this il
secured then the limit should he re-
duced to two grades to the teacher.
Our present number of high schools
is sufficient in most sections. How
to get the twelve or more one-teach-
er schools around each high school
consolidated into schools with two
and three teachers teaching through
the seventh grade: let these be feed
ers to the high school and then our
school, system VIII DE IN SatlS1ac-
tory condition under which rapid
strides will he made in educating
the people. But very little has been
accomplished by the one teacher re-
quired to teach all the grades even
u to the niuth, as one told me re-
Gently. And practically there never
will be ANYTHING accomplished in
that way. We cannot blame the
present spirit of carelessness toward
the school upon the poor illiterate-
he sees no results of the schools and
considers his money and his child's
time wasted in such an institution,
onl IL, iS nnrract