The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1914-12-03
MONEY FOR THE
RURAL SCHOOL /.


One farmer with a cheap automobile
has more invested I'm that one piece
OF mechanism than the average rural
community as a whole has In its school
plant: and the owner of the auto fre-
qllently spends as much on b upkeep
OF his one car as tho community spends
for the total maintenance Of the school,
including the teachers salary. This Is
n OF a number OF significant compar-
isons brought out by the Hon. w. u.
Feagin, state superintendent OF edu-
cation for Alabama, in a survey re-
ported to the United States bureau OF
education.
To illustrate further the plight Of the
schools. Superintendent Feagin shows
a dilapldated rural school in contrast
with the handsomely constructed jail in
the same county. costing several thous-
and dollars. This JAIL" he says, has
sanitary drinking fountains. shower
baths, clean floors, plenty OF light,
good ventilation. and Is otherwise at
tractive. Could a person from the dis
trict In which this school Is located be
blamed for preferring the jail?'
Naturally country schools make
little appeal either to pupils or teachers,
under existing conditions. Pupils drop
out and teachers move. Out OF 5.42S
pupils entering the first grade In the
schools inspected In the Alabama sur
vey only 60 completed the work OF the
fourth yea OF the high school. OF the
teachers, 76 per cent are holding their
present positions for the first time.
Of the remainder Is per cent are teach
Ing their second session in their first
school, and only 10 per cent have stayed
more than two years in the same place.
The Alabama survey was an attempt
to provide a definite background on
facts on which to base a campaign for
improvement. The controlling purpose
of the investigation was not TO es-
tablish an opinion or theory, but to
find out the truth. The survey was not
made by outside specialists imported
for the occasion, but by regular Off
Gals of the state education depart
ment, who selected three typical
counties and personally visited the
schools. The results will be used for
definite Improvement In he schools or
the state.
''The conditions found are by no
means peculiar to Alabama" declares
DR.. Claxton, United States commits
sioner of education. "They can b. du-
plicated anywhere. In Tennessee a
few years ago, for instance, inquiry re-
vealed that in several counties the
cost Of the county jail was greater than
the total cost of all the schoolhouses
in the county, and in more than half
the counties of the state the cost OF
courthouse and jail together was great
er than that Of all the schoolhouses,
while in a majority of the counties the
average annual salary Of the teacher
was less than the cost Of feeding a
prisoner In Jail.
This Alabama survey is conspicuous
because it is a carefully drawn picture
of the traditional public indifference to
the problem Of adequate support for
schools in rural communities. We still
spend much more for luxuries-even
harmful luxuries-that we do for edu-
cation. Until a community spends at
least as much for education as 1t does
for any one OF the material necessities
of life-food. clothing, and shelter--ir
Is no doing it's full duty"