The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-12-19
COTTON MILLS
AND LABOR y ,

theless approximately twenty per cent OF
North Cardinals mill village children between
seven and fourteen years of age were not IN
school in 1925 Cook, "Mill Village School Of
North Carolina" p. 1897. The situation was
certainly no better in the other mill states and
was probably much worse This rate of nom
attendance is just twice that for the country
as whole.
Mill workers poverty is at the basis of this
non-attendance The rates of illness among
both young and old are high, due to malnutri-
ton, exposure through lack of sufficient
clothing, and poor sanitary conditions in the
village. Also many children below working age
are kept at home to assume duties while their
parents are at work, while others are in the
mill, having been granted "special" working
permits. There are almost no means of en-
forcement of compulsory attendance laws in
mill village districts. Local teachers consider
the mobility of village populations an impor-
tant factor, affecting both attendance and
achievement at school. Each Monday morning
a new class roll has to be made, and it is not
uncommon for the entire membership of
grade to be changed by the end of a quarter.
In addition the poorly trained teachers, work
gram, fail to arouse in either children or par
ents any marked enthusiasm for school work.
Here again, race discrimination is practiced,
and the schools into which the colored chill
dren are segregated are VIGOROUSLY bad.
All but small fraction of village children
leave school the day they are fourteen (if they
have not left before), a practice prompted by
the necessity of earning a living. About
tbroo- rth of
pressed their unrealized desire for more edu-
cation. Another difficulty in the way of viii
lage youth seeking "higher education" beyond
the age of fourteen years, is the general fall
ure of village schools to offer more than a
six or seven year course. Company purposes
are met when its prospective mill hands have
had or years of schooling. Those few who
continue into high school must travel long
distances and pay part of their tuition. In
those few districts where village youth have
better opportunities for a high school educa-
ton, school records show an increasing num-
Der of pupils continuing on into high school.
But this tendency is necessarily slight one,
since economic factors still operate to force
children from school into the mills, and the
schools and social environment, on the other
hand, offer little incentive to youth to continue
on. Such vocational training as there is, is
that the few mill workers children who COM
plete high school usually enter the mill along
with the fourth graders, receive the same
rates of pay, and live under the same condi-
lions. &c. mill workers reason, what has been
accomplished by all the years of sacrifice? AS
they express it, "Ejcation (of this kind) amt
fer us mill hands, but fer them what's goin'
to make somethun of theirselves,"-in other
words, for those who are training to become
business or professional men. Although they
are unfamiliar with working class education
and it's social philosophy, they nevertheless
sense the fact that mill people need education
of another kind, one which will not merely
teach them the technical aspects of their trade
but will also give training and outlook that
will enable them to improve their standard
of living and enrich their lives Once mill
workers have established their own organza-
tions, they will undoubtedly undertake to build
up such an educational movement among
themselves.
ITO Be Continued)