The Adair County news. [volume] (Columbia, Ky.) 1897-1987, 1914-03-11
What is the Matter With Adair
County Schools?
Editor News:

L do not wish to appear as a pessi- |
mist or as an alarmiSt, nor do | wish |
TO cast any reflection upon my prede- !
ceSSorS in office, but do contend that
the schools of our county are far be
low the standard of efficiency which
they should reasonably be expected to
maintain. While in some respects
marked Improvements have been made,
in others the schools are inferior TO
what they were twenty-five years ago;
and so it is question as to whether,
Oh the whole, much improvement has
really been made or not. [ shall not
enter into comparison Of the merits
and dement's of the schools now, and
the schools then, but l do propose to
point out some wrong conditions now
existing, and if possible. suggest RENE
dies for them. And just here L wish
TO answer a question that has several
times been put TO me within the last
year or so. Why do the best teachers
now get but $40 per month, as they
have for the past two years in Adair
county, while formerly they received
$50, $50, and some of them as high as
$40 per month. True, the per capita
was just 81 90 in 1912, while in 1911 it
was $40. But this should not make
so much difference. | confess that at
first this puzzled me until sat down
and made some figures. The fact that
under the new way of paying teachers
the merest tyronic teaching, with
third-claSS certificate and no expert
ence, teaching a third-claSS school
must nave SIS per month, answers the
question in part. This increase of
salary for the third-claSS teacher is
subtracted from that of the tirSt-clasS
teacher. There are number of dis
trictS in Adair county where under
the old per capita method of paying
teachers the teacher would get about
SIPS for six months work whereas now
she gets 500. The difference of $50
in each case is taken from the wages
of the better qualified teachers Then
take into consideration the fact that
of the IS white districts in our county
only 80 are large enough to meet the
requirements of the law, except in
case Of emergency, ana you have the
rest of the answer. Strictly speaking,
we may say there are not more than
80 legal districts in the county, out
SIDE Of our Columbia Graded School
and the ten coloIed sub-districts. |
Under this state of affairs the best
teacher with firSt-class certificate, |
State Certificate, or State Diploma, |
with Normal training and large eX-
perience gets only $500 per month |
more than the poorest teacher with |
third-class certificate, no experience
and no training This will certainly |
drive the better teachers out of tie
profession in no-yery long time. This
places no premium upon merit, There |
is no incentive to the boy or girl to |
prepare in earnest for teaching, when
the best talent, the highest aSpira-
ton, the cCmpleteSt preparation, and |
the ripeSt experience can rise only |
s. 90 per month above the lowest in
the profession But what is the rem |
edy? This is easier to ask than to
answer. The first suggestion l would |
make is this: Reduce the number of
istricts. Make them all legal dis
trictS, if possible. Make no new dis |
tricts, unless in so doing one or two
old ONES can be abolished, and the
Others affected by the formation of !
the new district be left at least as
large as before, if not larger. The IS |
white districts should be reduced to |
60in number. Outside of our Columbia |
Graded School. the average salary of
the teacher this year in Adair county |
is S37.0S per month counting assist |
ants and cOlOred teachers. BY reduc- |
ing the number Of districts to 90 we
can raise the averaget to $40 per month.
do not say that this reducing the |
number of districts to 60 will be done |
or even that it can be done, but the |
matter will be fully investigated just |
as soon as | can get the time and op-
portunity to do so l am opposed to |
the cutting and slicing process, and
my policy shall b., as far as it is con-
sistent with the best interests of the |
children and patrons, to lessen the
number of districts and make the
small ones remaining larger and larger
Z Tobias Huffaker. Superintendent