The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1936-09-07
PUBLIC SCHOOL BENEFITS WORTH
EVERY CENT OF COST

From one of the federal departments IN
Washington comes the information that 1t
costs S96.1S to give city child years
education in the public schools. For rural
children, the cost is considerably lower.
The figure is worth remembering, espe-
ciaIlv in view of the fact that the per
capita cost of operating the Henderson
Vile schools, which reopen today, is less
than S25, and that before the school year
is finished the voters of the city school
district may be given opportunity to say
whether they wish to pay supplemental
taxwith which to extend the state-support-
ed eight-months terms and provide add
tional Institutional service.
After a period of budget slashing with
respect to schools, states and local COM
munities are rapidly returning to reallza-
ton that considering what we get for our
money, the cost is remarkably low. For
the plain fact is that today's school-ma' am
does a great deal more than teach her
Youngsters the traditional three RS. Year
after wear we have been unloading on her
shoulders much of the work which prevl-
ously had been performed by fathers and
mothers. Concerning this changed condl-
ton, Bruce Cation, NEA writer, says;
"Wben Junior trudges off to school nowadays, he
IS not merely setting out to learn how to read ana
write and cipher. He is also going to be taught
how to avoid the dangers of city traffic, how to
keep his teeth and ears clean, how to read the
newspapers and find out what is going on in the
world, and how to get along with his fellows
He will acquire those fundamental ideals OF
honesty good conduct, and cooperation which,
generation ago, ne would have got in the home or
nowhere.
"He will learn about the Boston tea party, and
he will also be taught those little details of local
history which old-time schools considered beneath
their dignity. If he has any special talent in the
way of drawing ability, knack of working with
his hands or fair for music, the school will tlnd
it out and develop it.
"f he has bad tonsils, defective eyes, poor
teeth, the chances are that the school will learn
about it before his parents do. If he is under
weight the parents are apt to learn about 1t from
the school.
"Now all this is the sort of thing that used to be
considered entirely outside the schools province
1t was the parents who took care of these things
"The school was strictly place for specialized
instruction which the father and mother lacked the
time or the skill to impart. 1t aimed to take the
child and make him Gterate; anything more would
have to come from his parents.
"The schools, in other words, are doing lot OF
Papa's and Mama's work for them. Whether they
are doing that work better or worse than Papa anc
Mama would do it is beside the point; they are do
ing it, Papa and Mama seem pleased with the ar
rangement, and Sonny Boy apparently is making
out very WELL"
Taking all this and more into considera-
ton, then, it is apparent that even S96.l8
the national average, is a low price for a
child's instruction for an entire year. Need
for economy is still great, and will continue
so for some time, but as the effects of the
depression recede the school budget should
be one of the first, and probably the first
to be stepped up. We're getting lot tol
our money. .. l.-.---,..-.sr. e-a.sv. -.sz