The Wilmington morning star., 1947-11-08
Some School Needs

Among It's most noteworthy dCSol1PAioii
ments, the State Legislature, in its last ses-
sion, created a State Education Commission
and charged it with the responsibility OF
studying the states educational problems
with the purpose of recommending such
changes as would improve the overall school
program. At the same time the Legislature
appropriated sufficient money to enable the
Commission to undertake its task without
imposing a financial strain upon the Com
mission personnel, members of the various
committees affiliated with it, or the leading
!, out-of-state %consultants engaged in an ad-
visory capacity.
The Commission has called a meeting OF
l. L scommittees and consultants at Raleigh
for a week from next Monday, at which m
the shortcomings and needs Of the education
i al program will be threshed out preliminary
to preparation of the groups recommended
tons.
North Carolina is properly proud of its ad-
vances in education, but there is still room
for improvement. There is the subject OF
student guidance, for example. The state
has made provision for this vital work, but
no appropriation for carrying it out ed
equately. Any school may assign one OF its
teachers to the job, but the time this teacner
devotes to it must be absorbed by the other
teachers in the school, with the consequence
that their burdens are materially increased
at the sacrifice of their own classes.
The need for individual guidance of stu
dents so that they may find their proper
place in the courses they are best fitted by
natural aptitude is obvious. To carry out this
vital part of the school program SATISFACTORY
ly an appropriation for the exclusive en-
ployment of a capable teacher is as impor-
tant as the employment of a teacher Tor
English, grammar, mathematics or other &C.
ademic subjects.
v Also, we are convinced, the school pro-
gram should provide for greater technical
Investigation Some of the states rural
high schools do have agricultural courses,
but not all. Nor do many grade or rural
high schools offer elementary training in
the trades, arts and crafts, or even music.
This lack suggests that one route toward i'm
provement may lie in the consolidation OF
several rural schools, especially rural high
schools, on the ground that, say, three hun
dred pupils in attendance would afford OPP
portunity for a broader program than could
be carried out in a school with, perhaps,
fifty pupils.
Then too there is the matter of the teacher
load. 1t is safe to say that not a single school,
save possibly a few in the more sparsely
populated areas, has a sufficient teaching
staff. AS a result classes are overcrowded
and the teachers unable to give pupils the
individual attention they need and deserve.
This is particularly true in the larger high
schools.
With It's heavy enrolment, the New Han
over High school faculty is sore beset to
keep up general supervision of class room
work, marking papers and other routine
duties involved in each days teaching, with
scarcely a moment left for the special en-
couragement and advice needed by some
pupils in their charge. This necessarily pre-
vents anything like uniform advancement
for all pupils in a class. The only apparent
cure lies in the employment of more teachers
and a salary scale large enough to make
more young men and women decide on
pedagogy as a profession.
At the same time, and while considering
the teacher side of education, it is not map
propriate to suggest that closer observation
be made of an instructors continuing ef-
flciency, for it is often the case that where
as a teacher may start out at a high stand
ard and maintain it for several years there
will be a decided slump in efficiency there
after but be permitted to remain on the
staff. It would seem that renewal of teach
ers' certificates should be granted only after
careful tests by examining officials, not, as
SO often happens, automatically without
questioning.
The under-developed pupil too should
have kinder consideration than usually falls
to his lot. The backward child who cannot
keep up with other children in a class de-
serves individual instruction. To keep him
in the same grade year after year is harm
full. The state should provide special schools
or at least separate rooms for children Of
this type.
The states program would better meet the
: need if more junior colleges were created as
a part of the school system Many junior
colleges in North Carolina are denomina-
5 tional and while they have the highest ra-
ting and afford high credits to graduates, the
state itself ought to offer its young men and
l women an opportunity to continue their
l training after high school in state-maintain-
= ed two-year colleges, administered on the
7 same scale as the states places of higher
learning.
These are a few of the principal needs OF