The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1912-07-14

tContlHued from fifsl RAGE
school---its vitaIizing. energizing and
steadying force.
Central Point of system.
Thus 1t may, be seen that the high
school is the central point OF IA State
| system OF schools. II draws Its pa
| tronage from the elementary school
and returns to the elementary school
| u part OF its teaching force; 1t sends
| its pupils to college and university
and, in turn, draws its own teaching
/ force from these institution
/ Statistics show that only one out
I OF six high school students goes to
; college; the rest remain at home.
! This makes 1t incumbent upon the
I high schools 10 offer such work As
! Will not only Mt Is pupils for college,
/ but for the practical duties of life
! " hieh will iHmed lately devolpe upon
I them in their respective communities.
The greater number of those who
GO 10 furthur certainly require that
! their interests shall be guarded. ON
| the other hang, the greater influence
/ In society and the State OF those who
| go on makes 1t imperative that every
I opportunity and every stimulus should
! be given them to reach the highest
| possible attachments. In most cases
| terests Of either class should be neg
| lected, although it may be necessary
! al times In use good Judgment IN
| striking a balance between them. The
| large schools can provide ample OPP
/ portunlty for ALL only IN the small
schools is there difficulty. These
| nigh schools are enIarging the OPP
| portunities OF the masses and in
| creasing the power of thousands,
which is absolutely necessary in
! progressive democracy,
TO sum up: We lind that the nigh
| school serves threefold purpose;
| that OF Strengthening the lower
| schools, preparing students fer the
| higher schools and furnishing to the
! many who cannot 60 TO college that
| training which hts them for the prac
tical duties Of life. Fer these reasons
| the public high school has become or
| i9 fast beG0ningJ the pet of the
| masses and this is as It should be, for
| IL represents the highest educational
| advantages OF so large u majority
| ,of our citizens. The growth of the
| public high school since 1860 has
| been phenomenal. Statistics show
| that at that time there were about
| forty such schools In the United
| states; in 1870, 100, in $50, 500: ia
1890, 2,b2G; In 1900, 6,h66: in 1905,
1855; while i have not the figures
| Tor 1910, judging from the fact thHt
| during the last five years Virginia
alone has established some three
hundred and that the nigh school
! increment has aroused such interest
! throughout the entire south ] feel
| safe IN saying that mere are today
lot less than ten thousand pubic high
| schools in America.
Seen "a BE Important
The universal recognition which
| ,hese schools have received through
cat the country testlftes - their i'm
/ portance. While the placing OF the
| high school within reach Of the coun-
try child was for a ,oHs time con-
sldcred thy many in our State)
| Utopian. 1t has IN j large measure
| become a reality. our first sep IN
the direction of establishing q sys-
ten OF secondary education for tho
state was taken by the general as
semhly Of 1906 When = bin was
passed appropriaung Afty thousand
| GtIrs for this purpose. The legts-
utUre Of 1908 increased his anuunt
to one hundred thousand dollars, and
devoutly hope that the day VIII
| come when It viii DO so Increased as
10 make possible high schools which
are thorough IN their organization
! and equipment, thus furnishing the
| country child opportunities equal to
those Of the city child
Draper, in his work on American
education, says. "A recent study o.
New York has developed rather im-
portant surprises, The greatest ~
these Is that. judged by results and
| by the only test We have. a test which
IL equally just to all. the high schools
which show the best results are not ~
the cities, hut in the larger Villages
and that the high schools IN the small
siliages-often under the same root
as the elementary school--average
as much good work in proportion to
| the students as those in the cities.
Some of the factors Involved IN the
| problem which are cited to explain
his fact are--the tributary element
| AIRY schools. physical life aQd intel
| ectuaI qualities OF tho students, the
absence Of distracting amusements,
| work with Individual students and
the earnestness which is commonly
associated with life near the soil.
| Books, apparatus and laboratories
! constitute very imortant factors.
There Ii sufficient reason for saying
that the equipment in books and APP
paratus in New York high schools il.
by reason of the excellent. policy of
the State followed for long time,
uniformly much stronger than that of
any other general system OF second
AIRY schools IN the world. The de-
cisive factor IN the problem Is inevi-
tably the teaching" Those responsi
bic for secondary education in Viz
glnia would do well to make careful
study OF this policy and-~-in so far as
is practica Ible--follow it. We must
not be satisfied with anything short
of the best The public high schoc'
is with us TO stay and our ideal
| should be ia have ii fuIfill its mission
} in the best possible manner. To do
this means sound plan definitely fol-
lowed for long time.
System lar From Complete.
AT present We have first, second and
third grade high schools. embracing
respectively a four-year. three-year
and two-year course with forty min
ute recitation periods. In the rural
districts the number of teachers do
! ing exclusively high school work tin
first grade high SCHOOL, varies from
one to three and in n/ny of the see
| ond grade high schools only one
teacher deyotes his whole time to high
school work. In some instances third
| grade high schools have only three