Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-02-12

the following Is hpefai eAs''N
re ouite clear to many of our people
~, ~ one room shhool unit of organiza-
.nS' .;,'' ;s too small for best results. From
L,,s;noss noint of view it IS found so waste
s,,i ,hat sound principles of economy de
nan5 a reorganization. Years ago the
nc room school answered our purposes
,,,en enough. but today things are dit
foncnt The gradual transition In rural
life toward better farming, together with
many perplexing problems brought INTO
heinu BY the shift IN our rural popuis-
tion' occasioned by the industrial call OIL
the city. has placed new and grave re-
,Donsihilities upon the school. No retard-
,,d weakling school can furnish the educa-
tional leadership ust. now needed III 'no
COUNTRY. The old school, IN every fact,
resDonsible for much OF the present
unrest in farming communities the
lat M deals. and the drift INTO town.
Consolidatiou contemplates the recon-
..r,,ction of our rural schools on . new
ss,,ndat;on which will re-estahhsh the
anc;ent principle of "Equal rights for all
NJ ,ou win view carefully the age grade
distr,bution of white children, III TINS
report YOU will find that boys and giri7
in Now Castle county quit school long
before they should. vi the nunoer OF
p,nils enrolled in the first grade OF school,
xe find n the second grade 81 per cent
left off: in the third grade, 80 per cent OF
+barn gone IN the fourth grade, A per
nj. in thc fifth grade per cent; IN the
18th grade. % per cent; IN the seventh
,,-a9e IS per cent: IN the eighth grade.
- per cent.
There surely IS q reason.
SnDnose that a New Castle county
iarroer should haul his milk TO the cream
err and day after day spill 10 per cent OF
II without raising hand % STOP the
waste Could he continue 20 do business
in that way? And yet, ls tins nilh 5usi-
,,ess ~ greater importance than the educa-
,;oI, ~ those who some day will inherit
the farms. cows and ALI
SMALL DISTRICTS CoNsoLIDArED.
Knowing that many Of the tax payers
vera not satisfied with the one-rooih
sehool due - the fact that they were
,,-;II;,r to send their children 70 the ad-
ioining dist-icf Ant psy tuition. the
hoard was led TO believe that IL these dls
,r;cts people were reaiy for Immediate
sns,sol;das;oc. This was shown when the
natter vas p1t Up to them, and the ioi-
iovrinq scfo5.s hsve bee- Joined to differ
His.,3I.G - the du Pont school
Wb:ts Clav Creek to Newark
Sbellpot , Mount Pleasant
Frsr.lli.. t. Sa.at Georges.
Dale ; Corner M2cdonoagh, and Mat
,asw's Corner TO Oaesss
Mn Lane. Armstrong; Corner ana
Rrov-ns Cottage 70 Niddietown
stump Corner and Fie!dsboro 70 Town
send
Green Spring 20 Clayton
There has also been s. joining a three
ous teacher high schools which we're
,>achi1o the first and second year high
s,bo.,i n larger centers the pupils from
Wrr1> Pleasant No l TO the CITY OF
W;,n,inrton: Odessa and Townsend, TO
.nddlefcwn In all the concentrations
thn, far made, we feel confident that the
instr,ction being received at these larger
o.raers is far superior 20 that Whlch was
,iv,n previous TO the CONSIDERATION
AT1aSpANcE-
T,;s vpa- marks the first attempt 70
u.-.r-e better school attendance IL oII
oex,ry with the aid OF al attenoance Oh,
90 A good begiEcirg has Deen mace an &
decided step rake- u the rlght uh
sio.. Next yeE should sho" oetleI 70
NJ. .her tbs one, IS 4 viii not then be
- 70 exY,er j SO great 81 effort
l.. T.-;ne the right ideals before the teaoh-
- ,n,5 -heir conurlEItles Already our
,..c;,e-s ere urging children 70 attend
800 rec1.l.rly ard to renain longer IA
49,, psreots wh5 ask for wUrk perII!Is
-,;r, o,,t thzi- extreuss heed CT farm help,
80 ssern 70 understand that sut1 per
rv-f.., ought TO be only Temporary. some
.,e.csI,ss psrents, when sent the aI1ead-
20 -ecfrds Of their children foT Two OF
thrpe wears, wrote 20 ths at1en % %
offcer. promising g better repoTI As<'
va..r Becs,xe the work here is 50 new
II has been necesssry 70 try 70 convince SIIl'e
sxn, of ou people that an atle1G11-ct ~ ce
1Ay is valuable What does she 90 that
- -.,,,ss ofEcgrs OF the law could not
d[ Tlhe replv Is that she is dealing Win
cbydr.-- ard not with adults Sne ls
..{1,.ti,,r difficulties between the school
- .te home. She Is not trying 70 qe-
t.ct or 70 punish crime, but Is trying
IN te~p this generation Of chloren II
.cbooI until they have seen the Vaiue
0s educatiou. and viii then themselves
nv TO give the next generatlon . gre
deal rY,oTe than they have. An attendance
officer is not a policeman, but socLal
worker. She seeks the capse OF noh-a''
tendance, and attempts to remedy u.
She tells the various chlldrens Socletle
Of poor neglected children VINO heed
clothing. She sends the nurse 70 the SICK
and acts as q friend 10 the cnlio On every
o.rcae;on. Non-attendance and irregular
st.srdance are extremely wasteful. They
cause both a waste IN money ana IN op-
portvnlty
In 1914, DR.. Charles a Wagner; fQr'
me, Commissioner Of Education Tor De!a'
ware. issued q pamphlet IN which ne
presented the school attendance hguIes
for this state for the years lelZ-I945
He made strong appeal for better at
tendance, and consequently q more
sconornio expenditure Of school funds
He reported 81 per cent as the attendance
IN the white schools Of our county, whlle
the colored schools had little over 81
per cent: average of both 81 per cent.
This wear New Castle county averaged
IT per cent. This shows very gratifying
gain Of 20 per cent. But even ~ Per een1
means that real loss has resulted IRON
irregular attendance. If every child hac
ATTENDED every day, the sl74.0Oo whlct
was the amount directly spent on thf
schools. (omitting money spent Tor pono
tuition, and transportation would nave
been economically used. % per cent, how
ever, or $4,000 was wasted, because th'
children were not present to receive th'
instruction provided.
In the white schools, from the first K
the eighth grade, inclusive, there were
3779 children Forty per cent Of tins
number were in the grades IN which they
belonged About 20 per cent were advanced
bevond their normal grade, while ovel
Llui 81