The Lancaster news. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, 1914-12-08
TEACHERS INSTITUTE.
Successful Meeting in Spite of the
Rain

successful Meeting in Spite of the
Rain.
The first Teachers Institute for
Lancaster county was held during
the county fair and it was our pleas.
ure to attend these meetings. which
were full OF interest to all who are
Interested in modern methods in ed
ucatlon. TO our minds the sessions
vi the institute were among the
nost profitable features of the fair.
ror thls reason we he'd hoped to
hnu space In this issue for a detail
eu account OF the meetings, but both
tlme and space are lacking and we
can therefore mention only first
Important features and even these
quite briefly.
In spite OF rain and sodden skies
there was an excellent attendance
upon the several sessions. more
than forty teachers having been
present. Each one evinced keen in
terest In the discussions. showing n
desire olearn from the wide ex-
per1ence of visiting educators. the
practical methods employed in their
work.
At the opening session. held
thursday evening, prayer was Of
Iered by Rev. ]. HI. Thayer Th. d..
me address of welcome, delivered
ny non. Claud N. Sapp and Super
lntendent G. r. Wessinger of the
Lancaster graded schools was for
sponded to by County Superintendent
v. A. Lingle in behalf of the visit
ing teachers. After singing led by
Prof. w l.. Feaster. prfncipal of the
central school, there was a splendid
talk by Hon. e .Swearingen su.
perintendent of education of the
state of South Carolina. He was
followed by Rev. III. r. Murchison,
who made a few practical remarks
upon The Child, the Home and the
School,"
FRIDAY morning the, visiting teacE
ers inspected the Central graded
school, which was artistically dec
Grated for the occasion and heard
the various classes recite their les
SINS. Th1s was very Instructive to the
teachers who witnessed the recita-
tions for some Of them had never
seen another teacher manage a
class on recitation.
Friday afternoon Mr.. Swearingen
spoke upon the needs of Lancaster
county. AS most OF our schools are
one-tencher schools, Mr.. Swearineen
dwelt particularly on the conduct of
these schools. He recommended
that one teacher have no more than
seven grades to teach, indeed he
urged the disapproval. of the pay
warrant of any teacher who teaches
more than seven grades. He ad.
vised that Latin and Algebra be
banished from all such schools.
which should not be made merely
preparatory schools for colleges.
Mr.. Swearingen referred to the de-
plorable fact that last year % out
OF every 100 Lancaster voters made
their marks on books of enrolment.
He emphasized the fact that a pub
llc sentiment must be created max
ing IT goal to he sought that every
chlld should go to school. Then we
must make an effort to bring ;hc
children in for every child should
attain at least fifth grade stand
ara. FIRST. try to get every child
in school. Second, find why alb.
sentees are not there. -Four essen
tials be mentioned are p.oper
gradation. classification of work
looking after teachers in and out
of school and organization for a
working efficiency i'm the Office of the
county superintendent. He said
there should be a county supervisor
to visit school and suggest bet
ter methods for the teachers, the
OF whom never get be-
yond the high school. There are 10
counties in South Carolina which al
ready employ women supervisors for
this work and they are increasing
the classroom efficiency Mr..
Swearingen said the aim of every
teacher In this county should be to
give to every boy and girl of Ian
caster reasonable chance to get
an education and he expressed the
hope that the financial depression
will not bring about 1essening %
efforts in educational matters.
There were other features of the
institute which we cannot cover In
this issue for lack OF space but we
will give a synopsis at least OF ,he
addresses of Miss Sarah Withers
and Mrs. Hetty Browne of WINTHROP
College and superintendent Hump
hries of Kershaw in the next issue
of The News.