Newspapers / The Chowan Herald (Edenton, … / July 10, 1952, edition 1 / Page 7
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Public Schools Make Progress Since 1900 f " ..'I,, More Children Attending Classes; Better Facili ties; Longer Terms; Better Schools and More Money Expended Editor's Note The excerpts quoted from the State Superin tendent’s Report have been pre sented in order to show some thing of the situation with respect to public education at the begin ning of this century, fifty years ago The beginning of a good many aspects of our present day school system are seen back there under Mebane. The problems which be had were very great indeed. iWe. have made advance ment worthy of note; yet, as we all know, there are many other “battles” to'be won before all the boys and girls of this State are provided with adequate opportuni ties for growth and for the full est in democratic living. Fifty years is not such a long per iod of time ‘in the life of a State. Within this short span of years—from 1899-4900 to 1949-50—the public schools of the State have made such tremendous progress that if one didn’t remember or have the data, he would be inclined to disbelieve that they were really so inadequate, so ineffi cient. and so poorly operated on so little money. 1 The facts are available, however. The Biennial Report of the Superin tendent of Public Instruction gives sta tistical data concerning the public schools fifty years ago (1899-11900). State Superintendent Charles H. Me bane not only pointed out some of the weaknesses of the program then in operation,'buthe also made recommen tdations for correcting many of the ap parent deficiencies. Speaking of the training of teachers he said: “We now have no uniformity of requirements." In some counties the standard of requirement is ex ceedingly low, and perhaps in a county • nearby the standard is good, We want the standard good in all coun ties.” School IFunds School funds were not always ac counted for properly, according to State Superintendent Mebane. He didn’t like the item, “Paid for other purposts,” for which thousands and .thousands of dollars have been spent. He thought that these purposes should ■ JUST A I ■ SMALL PAYMENT ■ I PER WEEK I ■ GIVES YOU 1 MM Is ■■ firi^AWm ■ MORE SPACE! I |H An 8.2-cubic-foot Space Maker J \\*C' mm WM that gives you VS more refrig- (‘•••'If wk %; erated food-storage space than f most refrigerators now in use j IK « occupying the same floor area. ' HR ■ NEW CONVENIENCES! |\ I Huge freezer holds 43 lbs of dr H| 9B frozen foods New Redi-Cube Bp ice trays—New balanced design H| Wm for even cold New Rolla- Jr Drawers and lots, lots more 1 ' I REFRIGERATOR I I I. EDENTON, ® C. I lV;, , i( , Authorized Dealer ( M GENERAL# ELECTRIC M ■ REFRIGERATORS H ML... be published in the counties. School funds were often mixed with other funds, and “used or borrowed for this purpose or that purpose.” “This loose management of the school fund has gone on for twenty yeans,” he said. In order to remedy this situation Me bane pled for a separate treasurer for the county board of education. As to county superintendents, the State Superintendent stated that “the public schools have been in the gall ing grasp of the court-house poli ticians for twenty years in some of the counties.” He recommended that “we elect the county superintendent by the teachers and educators of the county.” He also said that “no man should be eligible to the office of coun ty superintendent unless he is a grad uate from some college, or if not a graduate, he shall, at least, first be requested to take the examinations for a life certificate, and if not com petent to pass this examination he shall not be eligible to this import ant office.” And the pay which a superintendent received! He must have thought it ri diculous, for he said: “IWhat man in North Carolina who does about $60,000 worth of business a year will want a superintendent of his business to whom he pays only $128? This is what Wake County did last year af ter deducting the fees turned in for private examinations. What think ye, Gentlemen of the Legislature, of the metropolitan county of North Carolina' paying its county superin tendent $128?” “We want the best brain and the best talent to be had in this work of the county superintendent, and iwe must pay for it if we get it, and we may as well recognize this fact, and suit our foolishness about this public school work in its various depart ments.” Mebane thought also of the superin tendent as a supervisor. “Men and women who fashion and mould the character of our future citizenship; men and women whose work, whether good or bad, will last when houses and bridges are crumbled into dust; men and women whose work will last throughout eternity itself; yet we are not only not willing for these laborers rag CHOWAN HERALD, EDKNTON, N, <X.yTHCTtSPAY, JULY 10, 1862. to work without supervision, but in many counties our county boards of education actually refuse to send out the Supervisor (superintendent), to even take a peep at the work that is being done in the public schools.” Mebane also had something to say about township trustees and school committeemen. There are “too many officers, too many that have a Tittle brief authority’ ”, he said. He advo cated three men in each township to have management and control of all the public schools, or abolish the town ship trustees and have the county board of education apportion the — - - *»*»<* 1 VICIDTiATIHIiO I |l 1 PTON TEAI I Tender Leaf Tea Bails’™? 2Jm I Tetley Tea Bags "" I 1 Silver Label Tea 22/1 jLipton Tea Bags 21/] s ahden J’MAh (pjiaduce SWEET TENDER GOLDEN BANTAM CORN-ON-COB 6' • »***s• • - 25/ SELECTED HOME GROWN RIPE TOMATOES.. ctn. 25/ HILEY BELLE FREESTONE N.C. PEACHES. . .2 ■«. 35/ CALIFORNIA GREEN TOP • FRESH CARROTS. 2 .0*25/ LARGE GOLDEN YELLOW ' RIPE BANANAS. .2 l.s. 29/ FANCY TENDER STRINGLESS GREEN BEANS 2 ibs. 29? tfalanicrfit WecdtA BLADE—SQUARE CUT CHUCK ROAST us sr eE ik - J TENDER DELICIOUS—7 INCH CUT RIB ROAST 73/ 69/ MADE FRESH—SOLD FRESH J GROUND BEEF. . . 59/ | ECONOMICAL—PLATE IN 2 STEWING BEEF. .. . 29/ * Special Qomhinaiion Offleh! ONE LB. LUTER’S SLICED >\|| . bacon kiQQffm FRANKS) Z*-3L »^VWWVWVWVWWWVVN/VWWVWWW^V l funds per capita to the townships. He ; also stated that a' committeeman or : trustee should not be eligible to the i office unless he could read and write; i “and most important of all,” he said, “he should be in favor of public edu cation and public taxes for schools, [ if not, he will be an absolute failure ■ as a school official.” s Mebane favored the township as the ■ unit in the county, because with this ' unit it was easier to vote a special l tax for schools. The repeal by the Legislature of 1899 of the Acts of 1897 in regard to townships that had voted i upon themselves a special tax was called “one of the most serious mis takes.” School Term Mebane was against the practice of split terms as was done in some places. ■ “The best teacher in the whole State ’ could accomplish very little in two > months, and then go back after a lapse of six months and teach two months or six weeks more,” he said. Oftentimes the second teacher would , be a different teacher. Textbooks Mebane had a lot to say about text books. It seemed that many children i did not have them. This was due to careless and indifferent parents in many cases and to poverty in others. “The books cost the children of this State too much money,” he said. He i thought the adoption procedure was ★ MEAT AND PRODUCE PRICES EFFECTIVE THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT JULY 12th WEEK LONG SPECIAL—SNOW CROP FROZEN LEMONADE 2 5 cl N °s z 33/ WEEK LONG SPECIAL—APPLE PIE RIDGE APPLE SAUCE 10/ WEEK LONG SPECIAL STANDARD TOMATOES 2 can! 25/ | WEEK LONG SPECIAL—PLAIN OR IODIZED STERLING SALT 2 BOXES 15/ - WEEK LONG SPECIAL—DURKEE’S BLACK PEPPER CAN 17/ WEEK LONG SPECIAL MAINE SARDINES 2 £■£ 15/ WEEK LONG SPECIAL CASTLEHAVEN PEAS • 2 n cVn°s 3 19/ WEEK LONG SPECIAL—REDGATE TOMATO JUICE N c°an 2 10/ WEEK LONG SPECIAL—GREEN AND WHITE DUSON LIMA BEANS N c* 3 n o3 10/ 1 "" —■ 1" ' WEEK LONG SPECIAL—RED CROWN POTTED MEAT PAGE SEVEN mainly the cause of this. He made a number of suggestions to remedy the situation, among which was the adop tion by the State Board of Examiners for the whple State. This would en able the publisher to give a cheaper price. He cited practices in other states, and printed a series of extracts from letters from superintendents of other states as to textbook adoptions. How Shalt IWe Educate? A good part of Mebane’s 73-page portion of his Biennial Report dealing with recommendations is devoted to the question: How shall we educate? We must have more money before we can ever hope to educate the great mass of our people, was his answer. A second question: Where are we to get the money? took longer to (Continued on Page Twelve)
The Chowan Herald (Edenton, N.C.)
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July 10, 1952, edition 1
7
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