The Twin City star., 1916-08-26
RURAL TRAINING
SCHOOLS SOUTH
Necessity For Better Prepared
Teachers Clearly Shown.
MANY AGENCIES AT WORK.

Eight Southern States Are Co. operat-
: ing With the General Education
Board For the Improvement of coun.
try School Faciities-Attitude of Su-
pervisors Is Friendly.
There is being developed in the south
a new type of school for Negro youth
known as the county training school
This development is being fostered by
the Slater board, cooperating with
public school authorities in the coun
ties, says James l. Sibley in the South
ern Workman. Any system of publicly
supported education in the south is
based upon the county as the unit.
This is as true of the Negro as OF the
white public schools The fostering of
q county system adequately supported
and adequately supervised occupies the
efforts of educational forces at work in
the field at the present time
A number of agencies are helping In
this development. Eight southern
states, through cooperation with the
general education board, employ super
visors of their rural elementary Negro
schools, who devote their time to the
Improvement of these schools in the
several counties and also help to bring
about better supervision on the part of
the public school authorities. The
Jeanes fund assists In this develop
ment by bearing portion Of the ex
.pense necessary 4te employ the silper:
vising Industrial teachers.
Their effort has been not only to
teach elementary industries to boys
and girls, but to stimulate general i'm.
provement in the physical condition of
school buildings and grounds and to
reach the homes of the children, thus
developing a spirit Of community co
operation. There Is also the Rosen
wald fund, which has brought about
directly the erection of new rural
school buildings properly equipped by
securing the cooperation of all the
forces In the community, both public
and private, of both races.
/, All the forces involved in the estab
iishment of a public system of elemen
tary education seem therefore to have
been set in motion.
i It is true that the higher institutions
for the training of Negro youth, such
as Hampton and Tuskegee, the state
normals and the agricultural schools,
are turning out graduates who are able
to cope with conditions as they find
them. Many Of these graduates be-
come teachers in the better schools for
their race. mN
There remains. however, the prob
lem Of obtaining adequately prepared
teachers for the average rural COM
munities in the south, and this prob
lem is difficult one, for it is beyond
the means of the majority Of Negro
teachers to attend these higher and
distant institutions of learning. The
need for some sensible, practical school
in each county to help meet this de-
mand has long been evident Such a
school should offer training a little
more advanced than the average rural
school and should be part OF the
public school system Of the county.
This conclusion was reached by DR..
James 81. billiard, president of the
Slater board. after years of expert
ence and investigation.
In many counties there are strug-
Cling Negro schools which offer some
advanced training to students, but
these are generally poorly equipped,
lack adequate funds and are often
pretentious in name as well as in the
course of study. To have these schools
turned over to the public school au.
thorities, to have funds appropriated
for their maintenance and to secure
properly prepared teachers for them
have been some Of the problems to be
solved
The south has to support dual sys-
tenn Of schools. which makes 1t all the
more difficult to secure sufficient funds
for either race. yet the response on
the part Of the southern county super
intendents has been cordial. Applica-
tions from the counties have been
greater than the funds could supply,
and in the case Of number Of schools
the general education board has as
sisted in providing equipment for ade-
quate work !
There Is much in the traditional
course Of study to be avoided The
very name county training school
indicates that It Is Of new type
These schools cover from eight to ten
grades Of work. Three courses are Of
fered-rnamely, agriculture for boys
household arts for girls and teacher
training during the last year for those
who desirs TO teach n the rural schools