The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-03-25
Educational Outlook
Continued from Page FourD

Athens. These actlNe agencleS TOT the
 training of teachers indicate a healtkful
 and growing sentiment favorable to the
 professionalzation of teaching Another helpful feature Is that the Teachers and Young Peoples Reading circle, which was set in motion by the
 Alabama Educational association in 1909, with a special board of directors, com posed of prominent school men. has since been administered from the state depart ment of education. with increased effec- tiveness. The new reading circle year began July 1, 1916, and will end June 30 jle17 I commend the committee whose business 1t is to select the books. They have shown both wisdom and learning 1 in their choice.
 | The library law is helpful in many ways.
 l In order to secure state aid in the es- | tabshment of a library, the community 1 must raise an initial S10, the county is | then authorized to donate s10 and the state an additional s1O, making a total 1 of s3O
 | The whole number of libraries aided during the five years the law has been
 operative totals POST. the number taken last year 536, exceeding by 3f the total number taken for the preceding year
 
 1 have only a little time and space to | commend the improvement in the teach 1 CTS institute law. Under it institutes may | be held at any time of the year. A limited number of field workers are employed and the institutes are held for the most part while the schools are in session, with only those teachers who are at work in the county in attendance. This makes it possible to inaugurate definite state and county policies for the betterment of the schools.
 l The outstanding thing of the year I1916 was the passage of the amend ment due to the unselfish work of Superintendent Feagin and the men and women who got in behind 1t. I.
 was the greatest campaign ever pulled | off in Alabama.
 l The passage of the measure in No- vember 1916. was not the work of 1 any man or of any definite period Of time It was the specialization of
 public sentiment that had been grad
 ually intensifying with each succeed ing year.
 | The department is to be commended | for emphasizing the community idea l by setting apart annually four special l days to be observed in all the public l schools of the state: Clean-Up and School Improvement Day. Health Day, | Better Farming Day and Good Roads Day. A specimen programme is ar l ranged for each day with appropriate
 material and the community is asked
 to join with the school in a concerted effort for mutual betterment. l Alabama is proud of her county 1 high schools her active district agri- cultural schools, her splendid normal schools. and glad to know that the
 university, the Polytechnic institute
 and the Girls Technical institute have have been substantial increases in en-
 rollment and attendance and in the
 number of graduates.
 The state also maintains a number of institutions of special type; for ex- | ample, the School for the Deaf and Blind at Talladega. the Alabama Boys Industrial school at East Lake, the Alabama Reform School for Juvenile Negro Lawbreakers at Mt Meigs, and number of others. All of them seem to be well and satisfactorily managed and are rendering the state a dis tinct service in the provision of specialized type of instruction. Now, what does all this activity mean? It's to lift Alabama out of its low place in the scoring it gets among the sister states on account of illit- eracy. The illiteracy commission means that the work will be pushed with in- tensiveness in the future. and by the next census it is believed that a ma jority of the 31,000 white men of vot- ing age of the 34.000 women of ma ture years, and of the 27.000 children from 10 to 20 who are now in the bonds of illiteracy will be set free The campaign during the past yea indicates that illiterates can and will go to school; that they can be taught to read and write; that in doing so a healthy public sentiment is invar- iably built up.
 During the year which ended Sep- tember 30, 1s16 reports from 41 coun- ties showed that 2963 persons received instruction. Of this number 2615 were taught in special schools and S4s re- ceived individual instruction Of this
 number 1882 were totally illiterate.
 There were 999 who passed from the class of illiterates to that of literates that Is, learned to read and write fairly well. In this work of instruc- tion PAS volunteer teachers were en- gagged, an average of six to the coun- ty reporting. The average length of school term was GA weeks of 3.5 days of 3.5 hours each. The ages of the pu- pills enrolled ranged from 21 to s1, the
 average being approximately 40 years
 Punch bowls of nodded ice, with dell
 cate flowers incaSed therein. are haips s1