Carthage courier. (Carthage, Tenn.) 1913-current, 1921-03-10

people living at distance to take adj
vantages oe the opportunity offered
to acquire what at that time was con-
sidered a splendid education. It's
true board and LODGING were cheap,
but there was Away! that problem of
tuition. The last on that / attended
of these schools / pah five dollars per
month for board and lodging and four
dollars and fifty cent for tuition.
In 1891 the Legislature of the state
PASSED what was known as the "Sec-
ondary School Law" which gave
school directors the right to establish
schools Offering a higher education to
all These schools soon displaced
these cid academies in Smith County
to such an extent that they soon be-
came things of the past.
These secondary schools were a di-
rect outgrowth of the States efforts
to function in all school work, pri-
mary, secondary and college work.
They were good nakeshift for
taking the place of academies, their
course of study was not so extensive
nor elastic as that of the academies
and their graduates were never adj
mitted to higher institutions of learn
ing like some of the academies had
enjoyed but they enjoyed distinc-
ton that the old schools had never
been able to enjoy. They were the
poor mans school for his children
after they had gotten the rudiments
Of an education.
1t brought what was at that time
high school education within reach of
all, in distance and cost. They were
a great step forward in recognizing
the duty of the state to provide OPP
portunities for the education of its
masses.
Their greatest growth was during
the period from 1890 till 1906. They
failed because of the non-elasticity of
their course Of study, and failure to
have their products recognized by the
colleges, but chiefly because of the
smallness of the unit set aside for
their support from a financial stand
point.
All these schools have been of I'M
told advantage to the people of the
state. AS long as their work meas
ured up to the standard and their
number was sufficient there was no
shortage of teachers in the county and
young men to transact the coanty's
business We're to be had everywhere.
But standards are constantly chang
ing. MOTE anu more Is OGIuS I01N4ICd
of the schools. For instance when the
old Joseph w. Allen school was estab
iished the board employed three teach
ers and called it college. Now the
same school in a different building,
only pretends to do high school work
but finds it very hard to get by with
eight teachers.
Of course, some think the standards
for school work are too high. That
they ought to be lowered. That yet
we should depend on a one-teacher
school, or at the most on a two
teacher school preparing teachers,
bookkeepers, lawyers, physicians.
Well, maybe we ought, but the great
trouble we have with that is we have
to move on with the current or else
be caught in the eddy, and get no
where.
So much more is now being ex-
pected of the schools, the products
must be better, the time for preparing
these products is so much more linn
tied, that it takes a school of greater
calibre.
You ask why so much more should
be expected of the schools. Just for
the same reason that so much more is
expected of everything, every institu-
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all.
People can well remember when two
sacks of green coffee, barrel of su-
gar, few boxes of candy, and very
small quantity of groceries would
make an enviable grocery. And the
height of boys ambition was to get
whereahe could clerk in such a store.
He could picture himself getting all
the candy he could eat. Thoughts of
this kind kept many an otherwise
restless boy in school.
Just few years ago it was so rare
to see a puddle of water standing in
the Carthage Huntsville pike that it
was an object of remark Now after
a rain to find spot where water does
not stand is very rare. The reason
is, in times past the pike was used
for horses, buggies, wagons and foot
men and these were comparatively
few in number. Now it is used for
automobiles. It's standard was not
raised so that it could function. It's
gone the way of all other things that
cease to function.
High Schools
The school laws of the state levy
two cents on each one hundred dollars
worth of property for the support of