The Pickens sentinel. (Pickens, S.C.) 1911-2016, 1921-11-17

o' " 'o|"'ioi' ~ oiNei W get some
thing much better in the way of a
school.
Pickens County, on account of it's
large white population, the fact
that the population is fairly dense,
is an ideal county for consolidation
of most of it's territory into schools
Of at least four teachers. The en-
tire county has splendid roads being
| built, therefore it will be much easier
to reach the schools than it was
| formerly.
Pickens county schould also have
sonae centralized high schools. The
ideal country school system would
have centralized high school within
reach OF every country boy and girl.
This would require he location of
a centralized high school every ten
miles apart. The three or more dis
tricts maintaining such high School
wonld maintain their present schools
through the seventh grade, but would
cooperate in sending their higher
grades to the centralized high school.
We are not going to give our coun-
try boys and girls the education they
deserve until we give them the oppor-
tunity to attend high school. The
nearest approach to such high
school is the rural graded school Of
four or more teachers mentioned
above.
We must try to educate more ade-
quatcly our country boys and girls.
They arc the coming men and women
who are going to save the State and
the Nation. 1t has been true in the
past, it is going to be true in the
future. They are taught to work
therefore they know how to carry
responsibility. They take great in
tcrcst in the Church, the very founda-
tion of our present-day civilization.
When these boys and girls grow up
to be strong, capable manhood and
womanhocd, with their idealsof right
derived from their Church training,
and their familiarity with hard work
and responsibility they make our
very best citizens. The towns and
cities are educating their boys and
girls, but the environments are such
that it is much more difficult to make
good men and women out of them.
The problem of the town and city
boys and girls is a very serious one,
becoming more serious every day, and
it behooves town and city parents
and teachers to try to find solution
to it.
The best place in the world to
rear boys and girls is the country.
For this reason, the country must be
made more attractive to people. The
country people should get better fl
nancial returns for their hard work,
social conditions should be made bet
ter, which, with better financial re-
turns, would be possible, with good
roads and automobiles, and the coun-
try schools must be sufficiently good
to enable country boys and girls to
enter college frola them. This ideal
for the country is high, but it is
the ideal that Pickens county should
seek to attain.
The teaching in the schools observ-
ed was good. Reading in the primary
grades has greatly improved during
the past few years, owing to the man
ncr in which primary reading has
been stressed by educators. Reading
in the intermediate grades, however
is still very poor. 1t is being too
much neglected in order 10 teach
other less important subjects. Owing
to this neglect of reading, pupils in
the intermediate grades find their
school work hard on account of not be-
ing able to get the thought from their
lessons, become discouraged, and drop
out of school. Just as much stress
should be placed on reading in the
intermediate grades as in the primary
grades.
Spelling should be both oral and
written, the oral for extensive work,
in order to acquire vocabulary, the
written for intensive work. All writ
ten work above the fourth grade
should be done with pen and ink.
Not sufficient stress is laid on writ
ten analysis in arithmetic. Pupils
| should write the analysis so as to
cbo,v tIot tl,o,- ,,ndorct,nI nyor, et t,,,