Cheraw chronicle. [volume] (Cheraw, S.C.) 1896-2005, 1922-05-18
ONE-TEACHER SCHOOLS
IN SOUTH CAROLINA

Some one mas SalQ: ne aNeTdS
farmer and rural teacher think of the
rural school as little house, on little
ground, with little equipment, where
n little teacher, for little while at a
little salary, teaches little children,
little things"
According to the last report of the
State Superintendent of Education out
Of a total of 2,3O5 white schools 9l5
were teEchcr schools, 62O were 2
teacher, and 324 were teacher
schools. Expressed in percentage fig
ures, approximately 40 per cent Of our
white schools employ one teacher; 81
pcr cent nave two teachers or less; and
81 per cent have three teachers or less.
Rank of Counties.
The county making the best showing
in this respect is Dillon with only 4
per cent Of its schools one teacher af-
fairs; Darlington ranks second with
per cent; Florence third with II per
cent; and Spartanburg fourth with Is
per cent of it, white schools one teach
er affairs.
The county with the worst showing
is Georgetown where roper cent of the
white schools employ only one teach
er; Berkeley has 72 one teacher
schools out of every hundred, and
thsre are sCme six or more other coun-
ties taht do not widely differ from
these distressing figures.
Rights of the Country Child
In our conception of the modern
state, its nest priceless possession and
basic fabric is the individual citizen,
and the child Of today is the citizen
of tomorrow.
With this idea in view, the educa-
ton of the child is of most fundamen-
tai and far-reaching Importance, it
matters not whether that child is ur-
ban or rural.
And the fact that child happens to
have been born in the country should
he no reason why he is not provided
with as good an education as the child
in the city. His rights are. of equal
Importance with those of the urban
child; it is as much the duty Of the
State to provide the country boy and
girl with superior educational facili-
ties as it is for the city boy or girl to
possess these advantages.
This situation becomes more imper-
ative in state like South Carolina
where S2.5 per cent of our population
is rural, and where approximately "A
out of every hundred of our people
live on the farm.
1t is we'll to recall that the white ru
raj ill.teracy in South Carolina in 1920
was approximately three times as
great as the white urban illiteracy.
The matter is of vital import to the
city, also; for in considerable meas
ure the city recruits its force from the
ranks of the country. To be sure it
more often takes the best equipped in
the country ranks, but it should not
demur at the additional expense in
Cured to properly educate the country
child.
In a study of typical up-country
rural community, it was found that Of
the white owners operating their own
lands over 62 per cent of these finished
their education below the Sth grade,
and in the case of the white tenant ap-
prcximately so per cent finished below
high school, the majority of these not
having completed the fifth grade.
There is menace in this situation
and it i the menace OF ignorance. Il
will continue to retard and hazard the
progress of our civilization until the
issue is square!y met.
The Consolidated School.
The most practical solution Of the
country school situation lies in the
consolidated school. Consolidation in
it best form takes place when schools
are not forced to close fer lack Of stu
dents, but are deliberately abandoned
for the purpose of creating a larger
school where more efficient work may
be done. or the same work at a dimin-
ished cost.
Former Commissioner of Education,
p. p. Claxton, had the following to say