Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1919-03-07
LACK OF EDUCATION
 SEVERE HINDRANCE
 TO COUNTY CHILD
Mental Examinations Before Juyen.
 iles Are Tried Is Urged.

Three-fifths of the children ill the United States are rural children. This fact lends broad interest to the an nounced results of recent study of the everyday life of the rural child. his neds and opportunities Gas typ1- fled by conditions found to exist in a lowland-or cotton-raising county and in mountain county of North Carolina) which has been made by the Children's Bureau, United States Department of labor.
 The high proportion of illiteracy found to exist. both among children and adults, draws sharp attention to the obvious need for increased atten- ton to a stricter enforcement of the compulsory school attendance law, the building fmore and better equipped schols, longer school terms, aond higher. salaries for teachers.
 In the areas chosen for investiga tion every home in which there was a child under 16 years was visited. The survey in the lowland county includ- ed 127 white families with $40 child ren; and 129 negro families with 4O4 children under 16. In the mountain county 231 white families wit6 697 children under 16 years were visited
 Of the lowland families visited, ap- proximately white child out of every 10, and l negro child out of every 3, between tn cages of 10 and 20 years, had never learned to read or write. One out of of every white mothers and 1 out of every 3 negro mothers were also found to be Hitter ate.
 In the mountain county survey over two-thirds of the children between the ages of 10 and 20 years were un- able to either read or write.
 A to oshort school term, usually from four to five months only, and extremely irregular attendance even during this relief period are given as among the contributing causes of il- literacy. The yearly average of at tendance for this section, for in- stance, varies from 50 to 85 per cent of the total enrolment. The fact that fewer children attend school in Nov emher, teh cotton picking season. and that in March many of the older boys are kept at home to help with the spring planting, goes to prove that the extensive use made of Child labor on the farms in this neighborhood does much to interfere with the child's proper education. Bad wealth CT, rough roads, and long distances between homes and school buildings all help to lower the attendance. Thirteen white families, and z negro families with children of school age have no school nearer than 2 1-2 miles, and by law no child living at that distance is required to attend school.
 The North arolina school law, as amended in MY, requires children be- tween 8 and IA years of age to be in school at least four months of the term But exceptions are made in tue cases of children so handicapped men- tally or physically as to make attend ance impracticable; of those whose parents arc too poor to provide them with suitable clothes, or necessary boks, or who need their services at home; and of those who live more than ? 1-2 miles from the nearest school house. Since the child is only assured by law of A months of schooling in preparation for his hfes work it is pointed out. that with these numerous exemptions the diff ficulties surrounding school attendance and the demands fo rthe childs help on the farm, his schooling is apt to be far too brief and irregular.