The farmer and mechanic., 1915-08-31
SO the people OF Wilson have beer
busy in every conceivable direction
Has live School SUPERINTENDENT

busy in every conceivable direction.
Has Live School Superintendent.
One thing that is right striking is
the school system. one day Wilson
folks happened to notice that back in ,
salisbury q young chap named Coon |
Was doing good work in the schools. |
and they sent for him. and made him |
superintendent of the schools over |
here. They did better, they gave him |
a certain lee way, which was lucky for |
both of them. for the new man soon |
showed that he had a habit of taking |
the responsibility whether it had been
gwen him or not and the people found
! cut that Coon was another word for
1--we ideas IN school administration.
| Superintendent Coon is not as young
! 0oW as he was when they brought
] kim over to Wilson, but he is plenty
! young enough to make it safe to say
! te has the big end Of his work yet to
! do for the State of North Carolina il
! some Of these other pirate States that
are prcWling around and taking away
SO many of our best men do not cap
ture him from under our eyes.
I judged from looking at the school
| houses of Wilson that Mr. Coon is q
man who knows The value of discipline
| in education. He also knows the
value of giving the boys and girls all
the chance in the world. Wilson has
built two new school houses. Both
are models. They are really school
: houses, not simply big brick ware
houses where children are taught
things. From the minute the child
arrives on the school ground it real
ICES that it has come to school The
schools at Wilson are built on the
theory that a school is not a place OF
confinement and punishment. Play
grounds surround the buildings, and
! posies grow along the paths, and sys-
tenn is apparent on all sides. The
flower gardens are the result Of de-
sign The play grounds are planned
+ for g, definite purpose, relaxation and
, physical development.
! The play ground and the flower
gardens are merely indexes of the
o | character Of the work that is done iT
!, the schools. Indicating by themselve:
- | that the school houses they surround
are out of the ordinary the visitor il
not wholly surprised when he enter
| the buildings to find buildings that arr
" different from the ordinary. One o
;. the fine school houses was completed
. only a short time ago, and it ough
: to be a model for other schools of it
= class. It is largely the result Of tn
- superintendent demand that tn
~ house must be planned for the worl
80 to be done. 1t leaves nearly all pre-
conceived lines Of school house de
lf Coon and the architects had many
- debate before it was realized that thi
~ was to be a school house that disre
80 garded about all the old notions c
- school house construction.
ID Deals With individuals.
At The Wilson schools are not cor
e. Quoted on the principle of a saw mil
i where all logs come alike to the cai
ar riage and are run through the sa'
g. and out or the piiing docks and
a. piles Of uniform size and shape. NJ
j. Coon bases his plan Of education o
at the theory Of dealing with the ind
le vidual as unit, and he does not cor
a slider the grade or the class as III
ut factor to deal with. If a score
s. children come into the Wilson sChO'
e. at the opening of the session and er
s. ter the primary class, it is a foregor
nt conclusion that at the end Of tf
es term they will not be promoted as
o. bunch to the next class. for it is dea
nd the bunch will not be automato1
o. each of the same ability and eaC
at doing identically the same work.
he Under. the Coon plan the schoO
to are not divided into separate cells f
ey a limited bunch of offenders in eaC
ut one but into groups, the group Gel
al tering around one room which pc
al haps represents a grade. The TWEEN
It children that come into the primal
IL class are started off together at Il
to beginning because all start at the b
lie ginning But there is no speed lin
,g, Continued on Page Two.)