The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1920-12-13
APPLICATION DIsAPPRovED
proper Gander.)

hhisSioH OIL AccreulteQ OcnOOlS Tor
membership in it's association. 1t was
thought that the major requirements
had been met and that there was
probability of our acceptance.
The South Carolina Committee of
the Southern Association at its meet
ing in Columbia, November and 6 |
carefully examined the application of
the Abbeville high school, and after
noting some discrepancies, approved
the application and carried same with
them to the meeting of the Southern
Commission held in Chattanooga last
week.
The discrepancies for the most part
were unfortunate in that they were
temporarily irremediable, and one of
them, itself a serious discrepancy.
was unforeseen at the time the appli-
cation was made. The foremost hind |
rance to an acceptance of the, Able: !
vile school. by the. Southern Com
mission was. the fact that we have too
many pupils for the number Of teach
ers in the high school. The eighth
grade alone has so pupils enrolled and
any rignoramus knows one teacher
cannot do justice and can barely hear
lessons recited in class of fifty high
school pupils. . 49,. ..
A second discrepancy, however, not
so Objectionable is that the Abbeyille
school has no auditorium for purposes
of assembly and chapel. A third was
that we offer algebra in three years
of the high school. The Commission
rules that two units are all that should
be offered in this subject This last
discrepancy should not have been
taken into account as with exactly the
same math course last session we were
given only 2 units for algebra and
with that our graduates received II
units total.
We were pleased very much with
the action of the South Carolina Com
mittee in approving our application
in spite Of these discrepancies on the
grounds that reports received from
South Carolina colleges stated that
nine out of ten of the Abbeville grad
yates were doing satisfactory work
in their Freshman classes.
The two main discrepancies left
which must be removed before the
Abbeville high school will take its
rightful place among the leading Sec
ondary schools of the South are due
to conditions which cannot be adjust
ed by the teachers or the pupils or the
board of trustees. Il
What we need is room in which to
expand. If the board of trustees had
provided extra high school teachers
this fall for the increased enrolment
they also would have to have provid-
ed army tents or something similar in
which to have held classes. Every
available bit of floor space is filled to
overfowing already in the high school
building, the elementary school IS
packed unhygienically and still the
pupils come. We enrolled three brand
new ones this week.
The idea that city with the mod
ern improvements and progressive
spirit that are to be found in Abbe-
Vile attempting to compete with the
best schools in efficiency and comfort,
with no auditorium and insufficient
buildings is preposterous.
Charity begins at home and we hope
for the sake of the coming high school
pupils and the primary school pupils
that the people of Abbeville will lend
a helping hand towards putting Abbe-
Vile first in educational advantages
to be derived from the most demo-
cratic institution in the world-the
public schools.
The state high school inspector IN
writing of the rejection of Abbeville's
application by the Southern Commits
sion states that he thinks he would
undertake to guarantee our admission
next fall if we remove these three
discrepancies and live up to the stand
ards which we now have in other res
poets.
Shall we continue to grow encum-