The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1921-07-20

/, menu ala not see fit to supervise the
education of the people of the COM
monwealth. 1t delegated the states
to supervise this work and the states
in turn passed the work on to the
shoulders of the counties constituting
the states. On these counties this
duty has rested ever since. The re-
suit in South Carolina naturally has
been that the state stands lowest in
the union with regard to illiteracy."
1T is possible, said Mr.. Rhett, "that
the presence of the negroes in the
South has retarded this section in it's
educational progress to some extent.
This particularly may be the cause
IN South Carolina. We have been
afraid to educate the negro and this"
the speaker declared, "has been a
great mistake" This statement was
accorded warm applause from the
/ audience.
Mr. Rhett urged that the people
not allow education to halt because
OF the presence Of negroes in the
South. The prime concern now
should be, he said, the Investigation
of conditions obtaining in the schools
of the state and the prompt applica-
ton of remedial measures. Mr.. Rhett
then introduced DR.. Henry Nelson
Snyder, president Of Wofford college,
who paid eloquent tribute to the per-
sonnel Of THE gathering at the con
| ference
Duth of Self-Respect
DR.. Snyder declared he was par
ticularly gratificd to note that there
were present men and women who are
not officially identified with educa-
tional work in this state. In the
last analysis, the patrons of the
schools who make the education of
the state. eve want to be sclf-re-
spccting in South Carolina" asserted
the speaker, "and in order to be so
we must busy ourselves Immediately
without educational system"
Governor Cooper wa sthen intro
duccd and accorded warm welcome.
The governor expressed the belief
that what South Carolina needs now
is systematic enlightenment. First,
the people must be furnished authen-
tic information concerning the faults
and the needs of the present system
of educating the boys and girls of
the present generation. After the
people grasp the significance Of this
information they must be told what
the system needs in order to bring
about the results SO indispensable in
state that wishes to take rank
with it's sister states an this state
for instance" the governor pointed
out, eve do not know what it costs
to educate child We have no Off
cial, authentic figures upon which
to base our calculations, On the
contrary, California knows the per
capita cost of providing a child in
that state with an education. When
q new school is desired in a commun-
ity in California, officials know just
what it will cost to operate the new
schoolw hen they are provided with
facts concerning the number Of child
! ren who will patronizc the proposed
institution"
Worth the Candle
The governor declared that he does
| not know how much it will cost to
bring the South aCrolna educational
system up to the desired standard,
but he does know that it will be
worth the cost. "The one thing that
will pay enormous dividcns in this
state is an educational system that
will meet the needs of the state as
they arise. Let's have adequate taxa
ton, and prosperity must surely fol-
low"
! DR.. George f. Zook, specialist in
higher education, with the United
States bureau of education at Wash
ing ton, delivered an informative ad-
dress on the subject Of educational
surveys. Each state, of course, must
decide whether it needs an cduca-
tional survey and then bring the sur
vey about through its own efforts,
he said. Surveys of this kind are
| comparatively new in this country,
DR.. Iook stated, having first come
into prominence some ten or fifteen
years ago. The United States bureau
of education has felt that one of the
best ways in which education can be
intclligently promoted is by means
of survey. DR.. Zook gave his hear