The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1914-06-26
SEEKS FUNDS FOR
COUNTY SCHOOLS
SWEARINGEN TO ATTEND NASH
YILLE CONFERENCE.
State superintendent DepreelteS Lack
of Coordination Among Agencies
for Training Teachers.

The State
1T will be impossible for me to at
tend the opening of the University
Summer School for Teachers said J.
E. Swearingen, State superintendent
of education yesterday. My absence"
continued Mr.. Swearingen, 'is due to
an effort to secure from outside
sources additional funds to be used in
the free public schools.
"The General Education board Of
New York city recently indicated its
willingness to cooperate with State de-
partments of education in the South
in seeking to secure better school ia
cilities in rural districts. The State
superintendent of education of South
Carolina, along with similar officers
from other States, has been invited to
a conference at George Peabody Col
Iege for Teachers at Nashville, June
1925. Attendance upon this confer
ence will prevent my attending both
the university and the Winthrop col
lege Summer School this week. l
hope however, to bring back from
Nashville further support for the
work of the State supervisor of ele-
mentary rural schools hitherto car
ried on by Prof. Tate.
''The great need of the public
school system of today is for trained
and efficient teachers. Any agency
helping to supply this need will re-
ceive the hearty support of public
school officers.
'In scores Of districts the taxpay-
ers have voted the money to support
adequate schools We now have every
right to expect results from teachers.
Our unsatisfactory method of ex-
animation and certifcation unfortu-
nately permits a large number OF
young, inexperienced and unframed
teachers to enter our class rooms.
The State board Of education now con-
trolls the ocertifcation of teachers by
preparing questions for use in the
semi-annual county examinations. The
several county boards Of education
must grade all papers submitted by
applicants for teachers licenses, and
these county boards, therefore regu-
late the scholarship and efficiency OF
teachers in their respective counties.
HFormerly, the State summer school
was orginized and directed by the
State board of education and was
properly coordinated and correlated
with the public school activities Of the
various counties. This system was
abandoned and Wofford college, rec
ognizing the need for higher stand
ards for teachers, revised the summer
schoo. work as a private undertaking.
The Wofford College Summer school
was successfully conducted for two
ears, until the legislature made an
appropriation for summer term at
Winthrop college.
Both the Winthrop Summer School
and the University Summer school do
better work if properly coordinated
and correlated with the State depart
ment of education and the several
county departments of education. The
public school system should not be
run for the exploitation and advertise
ment OF any institution Of higher
learning.
Neither of the summer schools
now supported at public expense is
State summer school in the truest
sense of the word. Neither can ac-
complish it's best results until its
methods and aims are such as can be
reproduced in the actual class rooms
OF the State. 1t is a mistaken policy
to invert our educational pyramid by
expecting it to stand on the apex of
State colleges rather than upon the
broad foundation of the free public |
schools in every community. 1 expect,
however, some good results, both from
the Winthrop Summer school at Rock !
Hill and from the University Summer
school in Columbia" /!
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