Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-07-14
Primer and Reader.


old book contains only 1900. Thus
!the old primer, pasteboard bound,
lcheaply made, poorly illustrated, gave
only 10 words Of reading matter for
one cent, while the new primer, cloth
bound, fully and beautifully illustrated,
gives 225 words Of reading matter for
one cent. The judgment Of the school
world upon this new book may be in
ferred from the fact that 1t has been
adopted in eleven states. So, also, are
the readers adopted superior to those
| discarded.
Reading is the most important sub
!ject taught in the school, because the
child's progress in all other studies
depends upon his ability to read. That
series Of readers which enables the
child to gain this power In the shortest
possible time Is In the end the best and
the cheapest. Such series the under
signed members of the board claim to
have adopted.
Biographies.
In the comparison between the old
and the adopted primary Biographies,
the following Is the fact: The book
thrown out was confessedly unsuitable
and was not supported by a single
member Of the board. The board was
| finally limited to a choice between
the new primary Frye at 40 cents and
the new primary Maury at 45 cents-a
difference of cents and not OF IL
cents, as alleged.
PhysioIogies.
It Is equally unfair and misleading
to compare the cost Of the three book
series Of physiologies adopted with the
two book series discarded. The third
and added book Is to be used as an
L II In nf hn feyh
| school classes, and was adopted in
response to the most marked move
ment Of the day-the call for the edu-
cation Of the people in health laws and
preservation. In the two lower books,
those adopted are so far ahead OF the
old books that there Is no comparison.
The primer of sanitation alone II
placed in the home Of every man In
South Carolina and read and even
partly followed would save in one year
more money than the adoption will
cost.
Arithmetic.
The comparison between the old and
the new arithmetics Is an instance Of
the glaring injustice done to the board.
The following Is the statement given:
Cost of old arithmetic, elemen-
cost 5sfS'c of old arithmetic, ad: :'''''
vanced.. .4O
Total >. :. .. .. .. ..$O.62
Cost of the new arithmetic. ele-
mentary :. =. :. :. :. .32
Cost of new arithmetic. inter
coct Of new arithmetic. ad-
vanced :. :. -. Al
MaHinc the apnarent increase on
fact, the new advanced arithmetic
quoted as Al cents in the second list
above was on the old list, and IL re-
adopted book.
The proper comparison should he:
Cost of old Went. arithmetic
Cost Of old Went. arithmetic.
adv. :. :. :. >. 40
Cost of old Milne arithmetic,
adV... ~
Cost of new Milne arithmetic.
Cost of new Milne arithmetic,
inter. .36
Cost Of re-adopted arithmetic,
adv. a..>e.. - Al
Total. go. :. :. .... ...$1.09
This makes the increased price only
cents. A change in the two lower
Iarithmetics was considered advisable,
since. in the judgment Of the board
they were out Of date. Such being the
case, the adoption Of the Milne was log
ical, inasmuch as the advanced Milne
was already on the list and the whole
oil 1u tnyf1a Ian6
independent schools Of the state.
Saving to the State.
Those who have commented on the
cost Of the adoption have overlooked
the positive fact that this board has
secured what Is confessedly the best
contract ever obtained from the pub
fishers in this country. For we main
tain that the credit for this contract
Is due to no one man, but that the
contract was the product Of the COM
bined judgment Of the whole board and
was unanimously adopted by 1t. By
this contract, for the first time in the
history of. book adoption, ANY old
book" in the hand of the child has been
given a definite money value and will
be taken in exchange for any book OF
lower or higher grade in the same
series. By the same contract, too, the
length of time allowed for exchange
has been increased 25 per cent.
Both the method and the saving In
this exchange provision may be illus
trated with the readers. BY the con-
tract the old Johnson Primer, which,
when new, cost the children IL cents,
has now an exchange value Of Is cents.
That is to say, an old Johnson Primer
and 10 cents will buy q new Wheeler
| Primer, the retail contract price or
which is 25 cents. Or the same primer
and 10 cents will buy a new Wheeler
| first reader, the contract retail price OF
which is 25 cents. In the same way, an
old primer may be used at this Valua-
tion Of Is cents to help pay for any
reader-frst, second, third, fourth or
fifth, whereas, in the past primer
Further, an old first reader, which
cost 20 cents when new, has by con-
tract been given a money value OF 15
cents and may be used to help pay for
a primer or any other reader.
In the case Of the biographies, the
old primary geography, which was
discarded by the board, and which cost
when new 33 cents, has by contract
been given an exchange value OF 23
cents, being only 10 cents less than 1t
cost when new. That is to say, an old
| SShto
pay for the new book adopted. Or the
old primary geography and 65 cents
will pay for the new advanced geogra-
ply. So, too the old advanced geog-
raphy and 22 cents will buy the new
primary geography Could any one
deny that money has been saved the
state?
Cost to the State.
1t has been claimed that the board
by its action wantonly destroyed prop
erty values estimated at 100000. This
sum is just a few thousand less than
the cost of all the school books bought
in South Carolina during the years
1906-1911. How preposterous this claim
is will appear from the following:
1t assumes that all these books, even
those bought five years ago. are still
| in usable form in the hands Of the chill
dren and are now worth what they
cost when new. 1t assumes also that
If all the old books had been re-adopt-
ed, the children Of the state would not
have had to buy any new books during
the coming five years. 1t forgets that
each book now in the hands OF the