Evening star., 1947-10-14
@ Our Dual School system es>~
One Question Now Is Whether District Meets Judicial
Requirement of Equal If SEGREGATED Facilities
By Colt Hendley, J.
Second of a Series OF Tmo Articles J

NV ~"
School officials admit that overcrowding
OF colored schools in the Districts segregated
public school system-some $500 pupils were
going part time at the beginning of this school
year-causes a difference in the type of edu-
cation offered.
This charge was made by the Browne Junior
High School girl who has just filed suit in
District Court to test the legality of the
segregated system. This charge is made by all
critics of the Separate but equal" school set
up.
School statistics last year show that the
size of the classes in the coored schools was
larger than the standard setup as ideal for
proper instruction.
The standard size of classes prescribed by
the Board of Education is Senior high, Is;
vocational high, Is; junior high, %, and ele-
mentary, SO.
White schools had less than that number
of students per class while colored schools had
more. The white schools average class last
year was: Senior high, 22.2 vocational high,
143; junior high, 25.3, and elementary, 34.6.
In the colored schools the average was:
Senior high, 27.7; vocational high, 1875: junior
high, 81, and elementary, 1873.
Again these figures are averages. In many
instances classes numbered as many as so
pupils.
Students on part-time instruction 60 to
school four and one-half hours day instead
of the six hours required at other schools.
Handicaps to Part-Time Pupils.
Under the part-tme SYSTEM the second shift
of students must come to school at 1890 pm.
and adjourn at Sis pm. Glasses are 40 minutes
long instead of the S. minutes in the average
school, Activities periods are eliminated, lunch
is cut to rs minutes usually. When school
assemblies are held, classes are eliminated
Lunch hours are awkward. In the winter, one
period is dropped from the second shift to
allow the children to get home before dark.
Teachers cannot make students stay after
school because there is no place to keep them,
either for disciplinary action or for coaching.
Just what the relation between time in class
and what the pupil learns Is an indefinite
thing and depends largely on the individual
child. But educationalists concede there has
to be a difference in what the average child
learns if he is forced to take less classroom
instruction.
1t is in the field of school buildings that
colored pupils suffer the most inequalities
but it is in this field that the Board OF Educa-
ton. by pushing building program, is trying
to do the most to get the facilities equal to
those of the white schools.
The 1947-48 budget estimate from the board
asks $11 SOC, 900 for some Is major school build
ing projects II of which are for colored pupils.
The requests included money still remaining
to be appropriated for 18 ajor building prof.
ects, still in the paper work stage, which are
being rushed by the municipal architects
office. Ten of these projects are for colored
pupils and should be completed within the
next three years. Two new elementary schools
now under construction should be ready for
colored pupils by the end of the year. Two
other elementary schools were transferred
from white to colored pupils in September
For many years the colored pupils were not
getting their proportonate share of money
allotted for capital outlay furnishing of
schools, new buildings and additions to build
ings and sites for schools and Fairgrounds
The District Code of 1910 calls for propor-
tonate division of the funds based on the
coored population between the ages of and
II years, according to the 1910 census.
Population and School Fund Divisions.
Comparative enrollments, taken over the past
ten years at the peak enrolment of the schools
in November, show:
In 1887 white children made up 629 per cent
Of the pupils in school and colored children
371 per cent. The colored enrolment gradually
increased until last year colored students made
up 44.9 per cent of the school population while
white enrolment dropped to 55.1 per cent of
the total
In 1887, colored schools got 267 per cent Of
the money appropriated for capital outlay. In
1898 the amount was 284 per cent; in 1899,
31.5 per cent; in 1910, 273 per cent; in 1941,
8.8 per cent: 1912, So per cent; 1943, 36.9 per
cent. and 1914, 346 per cent
(The 1S40 census shows that the colored