The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-08-15

porous and Happy-Agriculture,
Made a Subject in the Schools, One
of the Factors in Securing This
PrOsperity-Tfle States School
System, by the Way, a Model of
Progress and Effciency--Its School
Farm Idea, and What They Have
Done With IA Lesson to the
Whole Country.
(By Stanley johnson in Boston Even
ing Transcript
Four-fifths of the population Of
North Carolina live In the country
the reverse of conditions in the
Northern States. in the latter the
crux of educational advance is in the
cities; as in New York, the public
schools are educating blind. deaf,
defective, crippled, tubercular and
tiOns the niggardly appropriations,
owing to a lack of enthusiasm, hard
ly afford a sufficient training in the
Three RS" Southern educators
have been building a system Of pub
lie schools long after their establish
ment and, in some instances. after
their decadence in other States. In
Nj TIC states nc 6l1 uCluIc 10 ~
able in its ~adaptability to the needs
of the majority of the people; n
realizing that the stability Of future
prosperity Is directly dependable
upon agriculture they have made
the training in the schools a smooth
pathway to the farm, en~deavoring TO
lift up the status Of rural life to a
plane more in conformity with the
sanitary and moral precepts of the
time.
In this improved educational
propaganda the Tar Heel State
leads in many respects, owing to the
nearly ten years administration OF
it's distinguished State superintendent,
DR.. j. Y. Joyner, with the efficient
staff of the State educational depart
ment. DR.. Joyner, it will be remem-
bered, presided over the gathering
Of the National Educational Associa-
ton last summer in Boston, during
the critical moment when the future
usefulness Of that organization de-
pended on the election of Mrs. Ella
Flagg Young as president. The edu-
cational interests Of the
section have learned to follow DR..
Joyner's policy for rural uplift, large
ly from the amazing progress accom-
plished in less than a decade. This
advance may be expressed in terms
of s~choo1houses, since for eight years
the average has been a new one
every day in the year, including Sun
days and holidays. During the first
six years Of DR.. Joyner's administra-
ton the value of the entire school
property in the State rose from
$1,466,770 to s4,250,429; the old for
bidding and forlorn schoolhouse has
been banished forever by legislation;
special taxation in school districts to
supplement the funds from State
and county appropriations has be-
come general; and in many sections
the funds supplied by civic authority
have been augmented generously by
the gifts and labors of the people
themselves. Ten years ago from
$500 to $500 was regarded as suffi-
cient for a new SchoolhOuse in the
country districts Of the State; now
they range from $500 to several
thousand dollars in cost. Districts are
vigorous movement for the
ton of transportation Of pupils to
the schools.
Fundamentally, DR.. Joyner's wish,
as expressed to the writer, calls for
a system of public education that
shall hold the growing generations
to the soil. to conserve the popula-
tricts,as it is today. In regard to the
new farm-life schools. recently
authorized by the Legislature, DR..
Joyner expresses the aim ito give
instruction and training to hundreds
Of country boys and girls annually in
the best methods of farming, dairy
ing. O~rcharding Stock-judging and
stock-raising, the handling and max
ing Of crops, cooking, sewing, and
other subjects pertaining to house
keeping and home-making on the
farm, thus making farming more
profitable, farm life more livable,
farm homes more comfortable and
more beautiful"
Keeping the People in the Country
Il hope the day will never come
in the South" he says. when a ma
jority of our people will cease to live
in the country. In great crises in
the history OF every nation the hope,
the strength, the salvation have GEN