The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1915-05-12

tBy J. b. McFerran).


port of Mr.. Fred n. Rankin, who
was sent out by the University of
Illinois at the formal request Of the
Farmers Institutes of that State
to make a personal inspection Of
the Consolidated School question, as
to the advantages or disadvantages
of that system. This article is a
continuation of Mr.. Rankin's report,
he being at this point in the report
in nothern Ohio. He says:
Capitalization Tor consolidation
in Ohio originated in Kingsville, Ash
tabula county, 1892, since which
time a large number of townships
throughout the Western Reserve
have consolidated their schools and
are Transporting their children. In
this part of Ohio we find the bulk
of the centralized schools, not only
those which have been longest in
operation, but also those which are
in all stages Of work, from the ear
Hest organization to complete GEN.
tralization. In some townships,
such as in Madison, in Lake county,
there are two or more centralized
schools, while in others ti,ey s..e
centralized about the villages. In a
number of instances the writer Wis
tied different townships which we're
all embraced in one district and the
children are brought to one GEN.
tralized school. The Kingsville
school bear all the marks of a thor
oughly organized and efficient high
school. There is a good library
which has been increased by a num-
Der of volumes bought by the liter
airy society Of the school. Twelve
grades are taught and at the time
of my visit there were IA pupils in
the high school. The Superintendent
is a graduate of Oberlin College and
receives a salary of $1,000. A sig
nificant indication as to how this
movement is regarded was the fact
that a vote was taken during the
present year by which two sub-dis
tricts which had not been included
in the centralized school expressed
their desire to take advantage of
the better opportunities and come in
as a part of the centralized district.
The vote on the question stood six
to one in favor of the movement,
and the writer was assured by sew
eral who were conversant with the
facts that almost invariably those
who were antagonistic to the move
ment were patrons who did not have
children in the. school. The two
sub districts cited above lay in re-
mote corners of the township and
were the last to vote whether they
would abandon their schools and
join the centralized school at Kings
vile. The following written state
ment from Mr.. Will Tyrell, of Kings.
vile, who was a member of the
Board Of Education will give a clear
understanding as to how he canvass
ed his district and the results. He
says:
Desiring to know the wishes of
the parents of my district, / only
visited those who had children at
tending school and found that with
one exception, all wanted their chill
dren taken to the Kingsville high
school. The one exception was a
boy of 8 years old and they thought
him too young to ride SO far. The
opposition comes from those who
have no children to educate or those
who care not as to their children's
education. The objections raised are
of no value when compared with the
advantages derived from the cen
Trailing plan" Having to start
so early in the morning is one of
the objections raised. But where
it has been in operation for two
years or more nothing more is said
about it. Another is greater danger
of contracting contagious diseases.
$50 far we have not suffered from