The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1922-01-20
SOUTH CAROLINA LEADS IN
REDUCING ILLITERACY

; The state department. Of education
,, assisted by the illiteracy commission
has made Vigorous fight against the
illteracv which exists in our state and
now that the census figures for 1920
have been published it is a matter OF
lust pride that South Carolina leads
the Uaion il reducing her percentage
from 25.7 per cent in 1910 to 1o.l
per cent in 1920. In rank among the
states, South Carolina still maintains
the next to bottom place, ranking be-
low every state save Louisiana. In
white illiteracy the state has climbed
from third place from the bottom in
1910 to sixth place in 1920, now rank
| ing above New Mexico, Louisiana,
North Carolina, Tennessee and Ken
lucky. In negro illiteracy, the state
ties with Mississippi for third place,
maintaining the same position of
1910. While this record testiies to
the work which the public schools and
the schools for adults have been do
ing. there is yet much work to be done
before we can rank with many of our
, sister states. Iowa records the low
est illiteracy, IL per cent, while
Louisiana records the greatest, 21.9
per cent. In nine states less than 2
per cent of tire population was illit-
crate while =. ten states (South Car
olina includeG) the per cent was ten
and over.
Pickens county now registers the
least illiteracy in the state, 10.7 per
cent. Greerville county comes sec
ond with II per cent while Berkeley
registers tie highest illiteracy, 3S.4
per cent, with Jasper county next
highest, 80 per cent. The data for
Newberry county are as follows To-
tai numbec illiterates, 5,046, or 1875
per cent. Number white illiterates,
594. Number negro illiterates, 4,447,
or 3O.2 per cent.
According to the 192O-1921 report
of the state superintendent of educa-
: ton, 11,15O pupils were enrolled in
the 42S schools during the past year.
Thirteen counties (Aiken, Anderson,
! Cherokee, Colleton, Darlington,
Greenville, Greenwood, Pickens, Rich
land, Spartanburg, Sumter and York;
enrolled over 800 pupils. Spartan
burg led the state with an enrolment
of 1,349, Anderson came next with
933 pupils while Greenville took third
place with an enrolment of 755 pu-
pills. Only seven counties in the state
reported no work.
Practically 1000 pupils were per-
feet in attendance. In the first
grade, there were 4,130 pupils while
3,436 of this number learned to read.
For instruction of these pupils the
state paid 1885 per white pupil and
S1.36 per negro pupil.
Some schools were in session
throughout the entire year. During
the winter the work was pushed
among the mill villages and in town
schools while the summer months
were largely devoted to "lay-by"
schools in country districts. The
teaching in the winter was practically
done by day teachers at night while
during the summer special teachers
were employed to devote their entire
time to the work. Schools were usu-
ally taught in the public schools, al
though some were held in churches
and some in homes. Wherever a
group of pupils and teacher could
meet, there a school was formed.
The figures just given for state and
county demonstrate the worth of the
adult work. The fact that 1000 pu-
pills did not miss a session signifies
the keen desire of the adult to ac-
quire learning. They came to school