The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1912-08-14

The whole dis .rict is out of date. 4
recent writer Of national repute has
this 10 say of the district system: 1t
was best adapted to time of iso-
lation. limited vision. and to the day
Of small things and petty interests.
: AS a system of school management il
L. unadapted to the business or the
/ educational needs of the present or
of the future it is inefficient. incon-
/ sistent. unintelligent, unprogressive,
and eApensive; it leads to the multi
plication IF small and poor schools,
and to the building OF an unneces-
sary number of small and cheap
school houses. and. when population
has Increased sufficiently to warrant
consolidation, the natural envy
| jealousy, and ultra-conservatsm Of
the different districts stand as a block
I'm the road OF educational progress
Ii has been condemned generally by
school officials for forty years and the
chief reason for its retention is that
the people in many States have never
known any other system"
| 1t has already been stated that our
system Is a mixed type. In so far as
the county is with us unit. what are
the conditions? Each one of the
| forty-four counties is absolutely in
dependent of the other counties, and
| almost Independent of anything else
Each county board can and does have
Its own standard as to the qualifica-
ton of teachers and the conditions on
which they are to be employed A
| county board of education may rec
| ognize or refuse a certificate issued by
any other county in the State with
| reason or without reason. The coun-
ty superintendents themselves have
| long felt the need of having this
remedied. Sometime previous to the
meeting of the General Assembly in
1912 the county superintendents of the
| State agreed to ask that body to pass
an act creating "a State Board of EX-
| aminers whose duty it would he to
prepare uniform questions through
out the State. To examine and grade
| the papers of the applicants. and to
| issue certificates good to teach in any
| county in the State. This seemed to
be wise measure and there seemed
| to be every prospect of its immediate
passage. LO. and behold, when the
bill came up for consideration in the
| committee of one OF the houses, there
| appeared on the scene the heads Of
two of the teachers employment bu-
reaus in the State and legal attor-
ney to argue against its passage. Let
me pause to say that teachers agencies
have "a legitimate function, but when
they step In and undertake to thwart
wholesome legislation looking toward
the building up and unifying of the
schools of the state in order to pro-
| tect their own business enterprises, it
is high time for the people of the
State to ask who Is master of the sit
uation. The chief argument made be-
fore this committee was that it would
require $500 year to pay the sal
aries and expenses of this examining
board That was true, but why did
not the gentlemen interested in the
defeat of this measure state how
much they thought the creation Of
this board would save to the ill-paid
teachers of the State. four-ffths ~
whom are women? l suppose it is
generally known that these agencies
do not secure positions for teachers
gratis. n teacher placed by one of
these agencies at sac. for eight months
Is bound to pay the agency five per
cent OF her salary. or SIC i'm this case.
The very fact that such u thing could
happen as did happen is the very
best evidence of our need of "A system
| strong enough to protect the interests
Of those most vitality connected with
| the schools.
Section 1914 of the school law pro-
Nides that pupils i'm any district may
be transferred to any school in any
adjoining district without even the
consent of the district board receiv-
| ing such pupils Ii is not difficult To
see that under this law it would be
possible for any district to compel
teach every child i'm it, At the recent
session of the General Assembly this
section was amended SO as to provide