The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1914-08-18
DEVELOPING HIGH SCHOOLS
TO MEET MODERN DEMANDS
This Is a Work Which Has In 1t Forces of Great Value
For North Carolina in The Advancement OF It's Edu-
catiOnal Interests

am frank to admit that some or the
provisions of the law itself. as well as
certain necessary applications OF the
law in starting the system. are IN a
| measure responsible for this misap-
prehenSion. But the chief reason lies
in our attitude of mind regarding all
our educational work. We are SIM
NV in the habit of looking at our
school work from the restricted point
of view of school convenience rather
linking about it in terms of eff
cheney. Let me explain my meaning
by a concrete illustration:
| In one of the piedmont counties Just
a short while ago this Is what was
taking place in the way Of providing
high school facilities: There were
more than twenty schools that were
| attempting to do high school work.
| The i school instruction in these
twenty-odd schools was costing the
county and the several communities
$12, 0O9-this amount. min you, in
addition to the cost OF the elemen-
tary grades-and there was not one
high school in the countp, outside of
one city high school, that was really
worthy OF the name. Not one offered
a four-year course, or had it's work
organized after any approved plan, or
offered any instruction Of a vocational
or industrial soFt, or gave the pupils
who attended it any opportunity to
\ get Il nigh school oUuCdClOn.
Suppose the $12, 600 thus spent in
effectively had been put into two Gen.
trail high schools properly located
with reference to the geography,
highways, population. and educa-
tional needs of the county. Without
one cent of additional expenditure
each school would have a an an
nual fund of Sc. 900 for maintenance
which would have enabled it to pro-
vide good general high school courses
covering fur years., and some vOca-
tiOnal work a. well. to organize IT'S
work properly, and to gut good teach
ers in charge of the different depart
ments. The work could have been
made worth while.
The Big Obstacle.
But the big obstacle in the way of
doing just this thing was the fact that
each little community wanted high
school instruction offered in it's own
local school, and it vas not caring
t much about the content of the course
: or the quality and the instruction
I These communities We're thinking
about their high schools in terms o
: local convenience n not in terms OF
!. educational efficiency. The fact tha'
t the 400 boys and girls pursuing higf
S school courses were getting very little
0 in return for the money and effort in
t vested did not figure in the Gaze a
all. 1t is true, of course, hat not al
e of the 400 could ave attended tn
n central schOols-possibly 100 woult
& have been debarred from attending
But the vastly increased power ant
/ skill and training of the 800 VIII
would have attended would hav
more than made up for the loss il
e numbers.
y Now it we are accustomed to thin
d in terms of school convenience rathe
g | thnn IN 1870 81 I~O1 ~ uy
% wOul say continue the instruction a
y the tWenty-odd places-weak. inefi
s. cient, u~nOrganized, national though
n De-mere instruction is all we are at
l. ter. And this is the attitude that to
4 many take today, and this attitude
N really one Of the biggest Obstacles
t. educational progress that we have t
$, encounter, especially with referenc
to to our high school development. An
lg right here it may be said that misd
rected sentiment for the poor boy
'ls whe would be deprived of trainin
On beyond the elementary school cOurs
is in some instances an obstacle. Blu
or as a matter of fact, the plan alread
n suggested for the organization of OF
m high school work would prove to
u of invaluable benefit to the very DO.
he and girls who now deem themselv1
)IS unable to go to the central school on
en- side Of their local districts. For TT
., nrSt place. they would be enabled
be get a far better elementary schO
be education: and in the second plac
tn the central choOlS would be so Ope
pc lated and managed as to provide o
ry ~pOrtunities for students who iesir.
ill to do 50 to practically make their e
en- penses while working their W;
we through school,; and when tlroug
lu- they would be equipped TO make the
raj way in the world. The success of Il
of schools that nave provided dornlit
~ rieS and inexpensive boarding faci
ro- ties atteSts the feasibility and t
practicability Of the plan proposed.
Good board in the jamestown Hi:
he School in GuilfOrd county cost Ia
is year only seventeen cents a day. T
to another school L once saw tWel
fiji Young ladies doing their own cookir
On bringing their provisions from hon
ole renting a house and doing their hOus
is keeping While attending high SchO