The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1922-10-04

tirSt prize string neans creafe
Tames, Long Island. Miss Anna q
ascl1ool Days and School History.
s...It took years TO break down the
prejudice against building up a
school system Of today" says the
National Geographic Society in a
bulletin issued from its. Washing
ton, D. c., headquarters.
When the sunburned vacation
lad picks up his schoolbooks he
}recks little of the years Of struggle
! and. slow Development that have
given him the excellent pubic
free institution where the rich and
1.-THE poor alike might obtain in
struction, and in some Of the coli
ONES the fight was a more fornfid :
liable one than in Others. Ma.'sa-
Iehusetts, always serious in purpose
because her settlers had come pri:
I riiafrfly TO make a pernla nent ho1ae
lin the new world, in 1647t passed "a
I law requiring every town OF fifty
| l,onseholders to maintain a teach :
er who could instruct pupils in
ireading and writing. More preten-
i4iOiis. eoriim unities of ore hundred
fhousehelder should have "a gram
ssnlar school. Connecticut. too, fell
an line with much the same lawfin
4 1650: e. =: ~
, - = - .rA -
il Ensfisi, md Dutch Disagreed
:; 1''. New erk II : was not SO progres-
sive IN. the. early days because There
Twas disagreement between the En-
iglish and Dutch settlers as to now
the school system should besworke ed
out. New Jersey was wiser in her
! generation and in 1856 passed a law
! providing for the estab blishnaent OF
schools. The problems e in Penn
l:sy1vania was much the same as
that in New Y erk and in mos. cass $
/ the diaicuities under which poor
Icha bad Crane tailored in getting
ihis meals out among the patrons
fofs the school existed as, vivid real
tisies. the support of the school as
1 we'll as the master depending al
most entirely upon the generosity OF
/ the patrons.
/ "In the south it may be said
that there were virtually no public
schools prior to the Revolution and
few before the Civil war. While
England still governed the Atlantic
iseaboard one Of her kings. through
/ the. Commissioners fer the Foreign
Plantations. inquired into the state
of education in his possessions. The
reply of Governor William Berkeley
/ of Virginia, together with his no.
| torious behavior in suppresslng Ba-
! cons rebellion, are perhaps the
two uhinge which make him re.
meTnbered in the annals ofehistory.
RI thank God there are no Tree
schools or printing presses. and l
hope we shall have none. these
+ hundred years"
Connecticut Pioneer
I "on the other hand. Connecticut 5
/ governor proudly answered, One
fourth the annual revenue of the
/ colony is laid out in maintaining
free schools for the education OF
our children. But in this cennec-
ton it must always be:remembered
that as long as. slavery existed in
1.-The South and the plantations were
large and very far apart, the COM
mon school could not exist. And
leven today, as was the ease afts.r
J the emancipation Of negroes, the
| South has her problem in thar she
maintains separate schools for the
different elements of her popnla-
ton.
"Rut from the time of Washing
ton and jefferson it gradually be
/ came apparent that the system
would prove one OF the most Ell
! fective institutions in determlniE2
the character Of cur national life.
And that fact is probabty :whst
was in the mind OF the Father ci
| his Country when he said IN lsS
! Farewell Address. Promote then.
as an object of primary import ence.
institutions for the general dl@u-
sion of knowledge. In proportion
as the structure Of a government
J gives force to public opinion il Is
essential that public opinion be
enlightened si
| When common schools were first
! founded in America. it is doubtful
whether any such far-seeing pur-
pose was in the minds of the mo,e
lpious among New Englanders.
however The Connecticut statue
Of 1850 does pot fail 10 enligi1Ien
us aS TO the true purpose, fer it
states that, IT being one chief pro-
/ ject Of that old deluder, Satan, 10
keep men from Il knowledge OF
! Che Scriptures and that learn
! ing may not he buried in the grave
OF. cur forefathers. public school.
should he provided for.
How European Schools Differ :.
They were democratic at least