The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1916-08-04
Illiteracy in Florida.

The term "illiterate" includes all
persons ten years of age or over I'M
able to write their own language,
the majority of them being also I'M
able to write.
There is a great discrepancy be-
tween the number of illiterates in our
cities and the country districts.
In the United States as a whole
the white children of natives are more
illiterate than the native born chill
dren of foreign parentage, due, OF
course, to the fact that the most OF
our foreigners are in the cities. The
proportion of illiterate children of ma
tive born children of foreign paren-
tage is only about 8 per 1000.
The proportion of illiterates in this
State are approximately as follows
THE figures given represent only
white population, females being
slightly more illiterate than males,
and the proportion Of negro litter
ates being several times greater than
the figures here quoted.)
| At least 10 years Of age SO per
1000 are illiterate.
| II to IA years of age "a per 1000
are illiterate. ..
is to 20 years of age CT per 1000
are illiterate.
q to "a years of age So per 1000
are illiterate.
25 to "a years of age 65 per 1000
are ilIiterate.
35 to A years Of age 90 per 1000
are illiterate.
Florida ranks down 3Sth in the
States in regard to illiteracy among
its white children, sixty nine times
more illiterate than the State with
the loves percentage.
In Jacksonville the illiterates
among the white children from 10 to
Il years of age is about per 1000.
The greater ilIiteracy in the coun-
try does rot necessarily indicate that
the regard for education is less there
than in the city. One cause Of the
difference is the difficulty of provid-
ing school facilities for a scattered
POPULATION.
The development of the school
transportation system, already inau-
gurated in many country commune
ties, will tend to remove this disad-
vantage Another circumstance also
operating to the disadvantage Of the
country population is their smaller
per capita local appropriation for
school purposes.
Realizing that a certain amount Of
public instruction is indispensable for
the general good of the State, legis-
latures of many States have imposed
q State school tax.
This system, by which the weather.
school districts are made to assist
the poorer. will naturally tend to les
sen the difference between the city
and country in the matter of litter
acy.
Many parts of our State have taken
advantage of the Law passed by the
last legislature, and have voted for
compulsory school attendance. 1t is
up to us to not be the last.
Petitions are in the hands of per.
sons in various parts of this, the First
School Board District, EAST of the
St. Johns River, and including Fruit
land Peninsula), and the voters are
asked to sign them, if they see fit,
in order that the persons in whose
hands they are may send them back
to the writer for presentation to the
County Board of Public instruction,
On the petitions already returned
there are enough signatures to call
the election. as provided by law, but
let US make it as unanimous as pos
sible.
BY many this law is not understood.
4 parent is not compelled to send a
child to a county school, but that
child may have a tutor, attend pri-
vate or parochial school, Just SO that
the training is satisfactory to the
School Board.
In the event that any sub-aistrict
within this School Board District
votes against the compulsory attend
ance law, that sub-district is exempt
from its provisions, even though ev-
cry other sub-district if the Board
District votes for it.
VIII those who yet have petitions
in their possession make an effort to
@es them fully signed up and return
thcA to me?
D. C. MAIN, VI. D.
Il l.