The daily commonwealth. (Greenwood, Leflore Co., Miss.) 1916-1919, 1916-12-22
SCHOOL CONSOLIDATION.

Il EN Hl SAl1OOA
The matter of general education in this coun
try has reached a point where more and serious
consideration will have to be given the question
OF consolidation of rural schools.
OF one fact there can be no question, oul
country has reached a period in its hisory whe1
its people must be given education. Ignorance
and i~uiteracy are no longer compatible with
twentieth century life.
Every person at all familiar with conditions
under which the country schools are maintained,
knows that under these conditions it is absurd
to even hope that a child may obtain a competent
education therein. With a school house to ev-
ery two or three miles of territory, dividing up the
attendance and multiplying the number Of teach
ers, two unavoidable consequences result-terms
are shortened and inferior teachers are en-
ployed.
1t is a fact, patent to all intelligent observ-
ers, that to attain to any proficiency in teaching,
the person must choose this as his or her life
work, and must labor to equip themselves for eff
cient service. To this end there must be sufficient
inducement. The utter a~bsurdity Of q three or
four months term at 1925 or $50 per month
furnishing that inducement, is plain to all.
One Of the greatest possible detriments to the
proper education Of a child is an incompetent
teacher, and that the conditions just described are
fast flooding the land with q lot Of incompetents
is plain to all. And the child is the sufferer.
Where he should be rightly and thoroughly
grounded in all the different branches, in reality
he frequently has but an imperfect, and some
times even a wrong ground mark to build on, the
-a.,l4. tof XrL;,h i, ~o ,nnp IN tho xuoofu11v irof1-
Gent lives of so many Of our people.
Again, it is too plain even for argument, that
no community can educate its children on three
and four months terms of school. Practically the
entire accunulations of the short term are forgot
ten during the long vacation.
There are, then, two indisputable requisites
to the proper education Of rural population-com-
petent instructors and school terms sufficiently
long. OF course, in the densely populated dis
tricts, schools can be maintained of sufficient size
to guarantee the length of term, as this depends
almost entirely on the per capita, and given the
term, with an adequate salary, the competent
teacher is easily secured and the children's best
interests conserved.
But in the sparsely settled districts this is
not the case, and here arises the imperative need
Of Observation-Disclosures the number of schools
thereby increasing the funds available for each,
thus i~nsuring the desired results of a longer term
and more competent teacher.
As to Just how consolidation may best be &C
complished, must be left almost entirely to local
conditions to determine. The public conveyance
plan is working well in many sections. The de-
velopment of good roads is also having a benef-
cial effect and aiding in the solution. But as we
stated, this is entirely a local question and must
be worked out locally.
The important point is that the people be
brought to see the absolute necessity for sufficient
consolidation of our schools to accomplish the de-
sired results. Given this conviction, we have no
fears but the solution of the problem Of ways and
means will be worked out.