The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1912-05-31
THE TEACHER AND THE STATE.

THE TEACHER AND THE STATE.
In a strong and thoughtful editorial
the News and Courier calls attention
to the small salaries paid our teachers
and the comparative neglect of secon-
dairy schools.
For many years The Herald and
News has been urging that a peoples
first duty is to the common schools
where the masses receive, or should
receive. the rudiments of an education.
If a State is to have an intelligent Cit
izanship. there must be adequate COM
mon schools.
We are not opposing our higher in
stitutions of learning. We would not
have one of them that has been built
torn down. We would have some of
them, supported by the State, conduct
cd more economically, in view of the
fact that the common schools, the
backbone of the State, are receiving
comparatively and relatively, a mere
nittance. and are forced to struggle
along as best they may on the support
which they receive.
We need improved common schools
We need higher salaries for the COM
mon school teachers, securing the best
teachers possible, and we need COM
pulsory education. The teacher in the
common schools of the present is ex-
erting an influence which will be felt
largely and directly upon the citizen
ship of the future. The wonder is that
with the salaries that are paid, we
are able to secure as good teachers as
we have.
We desire to reproduce in these col
umns, with our hearty endorsement,
the editorial in the News and Courier
above referred to:
eff it happens that our form of gov
ernment proves a failure, and Mr..
Roosevelt says that it has already SO
proved, it is probable that the his
torian of the future will find cause
for it in the lamentably small salaries
paid to teachers and in the compare
tive neglect of secondary schools. The
essential thing in a Republican form
of government is the intelligence and
education of the citizens. Govern
ment merely reflects the State of mind
of the people. If they can be fooled
and readily deceived it is but matter
of time before the demagogues are in
control, and the transition from dema-
5gogue to dictator is the matter of a
night only.
"One has but to consider the names
of the great men of the nation to draw
up an indictment of our schooling sys-
TEN. A very large proportion of our
best lawyers, our best statesmen, our
best professional men of all classes,
were at one time teachers, and they
would have continued to be teachers
had the future held any promise OF
financial reward or ever of real honor
But one by one the brainiest men have
been forced into other fields Of endeav-
or. The policy is fatuous but it con-
! tinues. In every State of the Union
are seen struggling teachers earning
wages far below those given the brick
layer. Particularly true is this in the
secondary schools, the very heart OF
our educational system.
zone reason for this is that philan-
thropists continue to endow colleges
but few seem to give any attention to
the secondary schools. When a man
has good secondary education he can
complete his own equipment. The
average high school student of today
has received almost as much training
as the average college student of a
century ago. Yet the number OF en-
dowed secondary schools can be count
ed on the fingers. Not only are they
not endowed, but in most cases they
are not adequately supported by the
State. We have been making our edu-