Newspapers / The Warren Record (Warrenton, … / May 27, 1960, edition 1 / Page 4
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Warn Published Evei The Record Pokliskiif BIGNALL JONES, Member, North North Ca I as second-class matter rolina, under the laws of RIPTION RATES: One 1 FRIDAY. Mi Should Re In another part of this page will ? found a thought provoking arm }; tide by Peggy Wood, a Raleigh cit3|; izen and a graduate of Duke UniS | versity whio is now teaching in Rye, | i New York. We hope that every ; reader of this newspaper who is inu i terested in public education of * North Carolina will give this most interesting and revealing article j more than a casual reading. | | Miss Wood was among the five I finalist for an Angier Duke scholarI' ship at Duke, and failing to obtainM; ing this scholarship won another i valuable scholarship at Duke where tshe majored in English. She appears to be intelligent, and a schoolmate at Duke says that she is Iuharming, she is dedicated to her profession and seems to be just the type teacher we need in North Carolina, where she would prefer to teach. In her article she tells why she feels that she can't come home. Anyone familar with the economic conditions of North Carolina must know?that the-state is not able to pay the salaries paid in wealthy Rye, New York, to furnish The 1960 preliminary census report shows that Warren County during the past ten years suffered a population loss of nearly 3800. The fact that present indications are that no corresponding drop has taken place in pupil enrollment in Warren County schools and that litis / tie if any decrease is expected in % | 1960-61 enrollment raises some inI / teresting questions and thoughts to | [ ponder. Until final census figures are available, showing the loss by races and sections of the county, definite conclusions can not be made, but s they are suggested. We believe that the figures will show that a large I number of both Negroes and whites have migrated from the county. We further believe that the migration has been from among the older citizens among the colored people and from high school graduates and boys and girls in their early twenties among the white. Whether these will balance and whether their will be any change in whiteNegro ratio will not be known until census figures are revealed. But it is a well known fact that many of the Negroes who have gone North have left their children in Warren County with relatives to be educated. On its face this would indicate that there is no pressing cry for integrated schools among our dolored people. As a matter of fact, one Negro parent on a visit home told the editor of this paper that she wasn't going to have her child re NEWS OF FIVE, TEN AND 25 YE May 21, 1955 . Mrs. R. H. Bright was installed as pres lr ident of the Warrenton Woman's Club at * dinner meeting held at Hotel Warren m Thursday night of last week. || liuiday will he Poppy Day in WarrenHfe| . May St, ISM i. Charlie Justis, famous football star of ||SjM University of North Carolina was preBTPhHil honorary diploma ml graduation p. Mrdsea of the John Graham High School | The newly organised lions Club at Hoigvfloter held its charter night program on m ftrrorft ry Friday By And Supply Company Owner and Editor rolina Press Association at the post office In WarFettton, Congress. s3 nn. c;? \f^n<ko ci ka VY 27, I960 ad Article the light teacher load in effect in her school, or to offer all the aids to teaching found there. But it does point out the reason why so many of our fine young girls are entering the teaching professions in other states. Two capable former members of the John Graham High School faculty are now teaching in Florida at a salary of more than a $1000 than they were being paid here. We have been informed that a former Warren ton girl is teaching in New '^rk at a salary of more than $7, The talents of all these teacht.o are needed in North Carolina. While we can not hope at the present time to match the salaries paid in some of the wealthier states, we can face the fact that we can not have first rate schools in North Carolina so long as our average teacher's salary is $1000 below the national average. The question before the next legislature, it seems to us, is not whether the state of North Carolina can afford to spend a great deal more money on its public schools, but "whether it can afford not to spend a great deal more. k m m luestions "in all that mess in New York." It is not generally known, but Warren County actually lost a great many more people during the past ten years than is indicated by the census reports. Around 4000 more persons were born in the county than died in the county during that period, so the actual migration was nearer 8,000. Most of them had been educated in Warren County schools at the expense of the taxpayers of Warren County and North oaronna. 11 we assume mat tney averaged attending our schools for ten years and that it costs $240 a year to educate a child in our schools (it may be higher) then the bill for each child was $2400. Multiply this figure by 8,000 and we come up with a Octal of $19,200,000. If the figures are not accurate, ihey are at least suggestive of the heavy cost of educating childien who in their productive years aid in the development of other sections. It certainly adds ammunition to those who think that the federal government should bear a greater part of the cost of public education. Another question raised is whether Warren County and the State of North Carolina should be required to educate the children of parents who earn their living in other states? We do not have the answers. All we are trying to do at the present time to present the problems to our readers for their thoughtful consideration. 1ARS AGO I Into The Record tion on Monday night rescended its action of April 26 halting school construction in Warren County pending clarification of a decision on segregation by the United States Supreme Court. May 24, 1925 The Rev. A. J. Hobbs, pastor of the run wiiwiwiw u n u r c nn wnanr has been assisting the Rer. O. I. Htnson in conducting mini services at the Methodist Church this week. Former officials of the Bank o< Warren were not called to trial thia week on a charge of violating the state bonking laws on account of the illness of O. B. Gregory, | eastern of the defunct bank. Can Girl Ev< Peggy Wood, a Raleigh girl, is Rye, New Ytork, ami she wonders, ' Home Again?" in an article in th< sue of North Carolina Education, t of the North Carolina Education The answer to her question is fou er's salaries, the kind paid in Rye and the kind being paid in North < in teacher's load, the kind in Rye, and the kind in North Carolina. Miss Wood, a graduate of Duke where she received a sizable scholi her second year at Rye. She rece salary of $5,100. In Raleigh she w a state salary of $3129.30, plus a plement of about $378. In her magazine article. Miss Wo her education and teaching experie conditions she has found in Rye, Her article follows: All things being equal (and they are not), 1 would prefer to teach in North Carolina: Yet here i am in?Rye, New York, approximately six hundred miles from home, my family, and many of my lifelong friends. How did I happen to get here? This is the story I am about to tell I was born in Lumberton, North Carolina, into an average, middleclass family. When I was in the third grade, we moved to Raleigh, where I attended the public schools until my high school graduation in 1954 Perhaps because I always liked school, I decided early that I wanted to become a eacher. Both my parents had at one time taught, but neither said much then about my decision. What I heard from many adults, however, shocked me. So many of them warned me that I would be letting myself in for a life of drudgery at that, if I chose to spend the remainder of my life in a classroom. Harrowing tales of forty students per class, endless papers, and miserably low salaries were only a few of the things which began to detract somewhat from the appeal of teaching. Competition Keen For many years I had known which college I wished to attend: Duke University was my choice. Duke it had to be! I was well aware, of course, that Duke was relatively quite expensive-and _ that I would have to get a scholarship in order to attend. Since my grades had always been high, I entered the competition for t h<? Aniripr Hulro 0 Twenty semi-finalists were chosen and I was among them. I can well remember that cold morning when we twenty met at Thomasville for interviews, from which five finalists would survive. Coincidentally or not, the judge who interviewed me was a teacher. Later I was interviewed briefly by the complete group of five or six judges. I cannot remember what was said, but I do remember being surprised that everything seemed so easy. When I reached home, 1 told my parents that I thought I would be one of those five finalists. I was. The five of us spent a weekend on the Duke campus and enjoyed a real taste of campus life, each of us having a student sponsor in whose dormitory room we stayed. My sponsor was a tiny girl. Martha Pearson, who looked like a sixthgrader rather than a college junior. 1 was tested, interviewed, entertained, and sent home to await the results. What 1 felt intnitivelv after tHo cami finoio t again. This time, however, I was equally firmly conviced that I had NOT won the coveted scholarship. I was right. ] didn't! Dejection and Hope At this point in my life, I was more dejected than I had ever been. It was i startling feeling to realize that my besi wasn't good enough. Four friends, how Uncle Luke of Lickskillet , Wastir DEAR MISTER EDITOR. My old lady told me I was wasting m; time telling folks my troubles in this lit tie piece every week. She says half th< people ain't interested and the other hal will say I'm just gitting what's coming t me. But sometimes I think it helps i feller to air his complaints, even if nc body ain't listening. I got a few this week and I aim to ai 'em. Fer instant, I was reading a iter yesterday that shocked the patch offn m overalls. It said we had given foreig countries 54 billion dollars fer aid in th last 10 years. France got 0 billion an England got 7 billion. We even giv Egypt 126 million. They say a nation can't live alone n more, that we've got to live in a famil of nations. I reckon that makes sens but it looks to me like we could be member of the family without paying a the bills. And I was reading the other day wher some Congressman, lambasting the moral on television, was trying to imitate hoochie-choochie dance he saw on tel vision. Most of the other Congressmai the peiece said, didn't appreciate i claiming this feller didn't have the drei or the figger fer such a performance With such goings on In the Congress, Mi ter Editor, it ain't no wonder them Gu em men t agencies git away with payic 96 a bushel fer dirt And I M* whir. Tim. miguhw sq sr Come Horn Fiyrow: teaching in "Can I Came I ; current is- I he magazine I Association. nd in teachNew York, I Carolina, and New York, 1 University, " in a basic ould receive I Raleigh sup- 1 od describes nee and the .- . .. , New York. PEGGY WOOD ever, came to my rescue. A high school teacher, Farmer Smith, and my principal, tv W?fnU rum thnt 1 "*'11 get a substantial scholarship at Duke based on my showing in the Angier Duke competition, and two men. Dr. W. Amos Abrams and Mr. Joseph Hardison, neither of whom I had ever met, helped to make my dream a reality. Duke offered me a scholarship of several hundred dollars per year for each of my four years. To these four men I owe a great debt of gratitude. My college years were happy years, I became an English major. Though somewhat disillusioned about the idea of teaching, I had not abandoned it completely. Thu? I took a program in education which would include pratice teaching and which would end for me a teaching certificate. I still had that unanswered question: What is teaching really like? As in most universities, the Duke Appointments Office arranges senior interviews with visiting company representatives. Among the companies represented was New York Life Insurance, and I spoke at great length with its interviewer. Approximately a week later I received an offer to be a research analyst. I tentatively accepted, though I had been given a month to make my final decision. Student-Teaching Begins By this time I had begun my student? teaching program in Durham County under the guidance of Mrs" ~Amy "Fallaw; senior English teacher. From the day I entered her classroom, I realized that Mrs. Fallaw possessed a talent for teaching which many of us seek but few seem completely to attain. Without raising her uni/wi Mro C?llo... ...? J w.v?, lauun V*a.1 111 CUIUII1BUU CVCry second. Her methods of presentation were so fascinating that I found myself as enchanted as the pupils, although I had heard the same facts many times. When the day came for me to begin teaching. I was completely confident. Mrs. Fallaw sat quietly in the rear of the room, never speaking until we included her in a discussion. Nevertheless, when I looked her way, I found a broad smile and an encouraging nod to keep me going. Needless to say, this delightful experience made me realize that teaching was the only profession for me. I wrote to New York Life and explained my situation?that both the job and I would suffer were I to accept under these circumI stances. [ With this decision, I now faced another problem?getting a job. My college room' mate, Carol, a French major, and I hoped to find jobs in the same area, but we [ had little success. About May 1, the Duke Appointments Office informed Carol that Miss Elizabeth Brown, principal of the Rye High School, Rye, New York, had i requested information on prospective t French teachers sho ?">- ?" Miss Brown immediately. After learning Says: ig Time the average American uses the telephone i 375 times a year. I was telling the fellers at the country store about it Saturi day night. Ed Doodlittle allowed as how f they couldn't be including him on account o of him gitting a busy signal 217 times, a I wouldn't know how to figger my per> centage on account of not being able to use mine but about onct a month. The r rest of the time my wimmen neighbors a on the line is talking about everything y from their shoes being too tight to "Love n Me Tender." e There was one bright spot in the news d all week. A city judge in Atlanta, e Georgia, by the name of woolfolk announced that all juvenile delinquents that ? comes before him will git 10 days in jail, e wneuier their parents is paupers or mila lionaires. Now there's a Solomon if I II ever saw one. If parents won't control their young'uns, the courts ought to proe tect the rest of us from 'em. Is Well, Mister Editor, while you was a reading this little piece, our Guvernment i- was spending $182,000 of our Ux money, j, You figger it out yourself. At 85 bilt, lion dollars a year, that amounts to $2,is 700 per second. And if you spend 60 i. seconds reading this piece, the folks in s- Washington has got rid of $162,000 of 7- your money. I better knock off now or ig it's be a hundred thousand more. L "*.Yours truly, rs UNCLE LUKE, e To Teach? from an Atlas that Rye was In Westchester County, a mere thirty miles from New York City, Carol resolved to call and ask if by chance there were also an English position available. There was! Wtf Fly to Rye Miss Brown explained that Rye required a personal interview with all applicants. Because Duke was still in session this meant a plane trip up and back. With no assurance of even being offered the? job, spending fifty dollars for a plane ticket seemed appalling. In fact, my parents disliked the idea of my considering a position that far from home? even when I told them that the starting salary was $4,700. We made our reservations, however, and off we flew! First, we met Miss Brown and chatted with her. Then I was introduced to Mr. Dillenbeck, head of the English department, who gave me a more detailed idea of the English program and answered all my questions I was immediately impressed by his relaxed, good-natured attitude and found the information he gave me most amazing. Later I met Mr. Wendell Hoover, superintendent of schools, and then our brief stay was over. We were told that we would be notified of their decision by telegram within a few days. 1 was completely sold on Rye after my brief glimpse of the school. When we were both offered positions, I was estatic. Dr. Allan S. Hulburt, one of our Duke professors, told us that we were very limlrv inHnpH Ift Ko Kooinninrt AII - n r, r?V, ing career in a position with so much opportunity. No Drudgery Here Fall arrived quickly. From the very first I saw that my days were not to be filled with drudgery. I taught five classes, supervised one study hall, and had one free period. With only sixteen in my largest class, I certainly had no excessive amount of papers to grade. I found, too, that I had unlimited sick leave with no pay cut, and my salary each month seemed a small fortune. The amount of available instructional material was staggering, and I had only to name something else to obtain it. I soon learned, also, that the Rye school system- afforded numerous extra benefits to the teacher. Every Friday school closed a half hour early, and we are- cncourafied_not to remain after school on that day. Classroom teachers- have- no assigned supervision in the halls, lunchroom, or assemblies. We have a facultymeeting once a month and a deoart mental meeting once a month; school is dismissed early for our faculty meetings; so the day will not be overly long. Schedules, Salary, and Services This year my program is much the same as last year. We are presently on an eight-period day which runs from 8:10 to 3:32. I teach four classes, supervise one study hall, and have three free periods, my largest class numbering fourteen. I have now taken on additional responsibilities and am co-advisor of the sophomore class and cheerleading coach, the latter duty entailing attendance at all home and away football and basketball games. My salary at present is $5,100 plus an additional $200 for cheerleading. (Rye instituted a new salary schedule as of September, 1959, with a starting -salary of $4,900.) The Rye school system is definitely an advancing one where new ideas are encouraged rather than banned. Several extra-curricular activities are pursued vigorously. Many specialists are available. The full-time personnel includes a nurse, a dental hygienist, a speech therapist. a psychologist, three guidance counselors, and two developmental reading instructors. In addition, a consulting psychiatrist comes in oh request. The Town and the Gown Rye itself is a suburban community composed largely of families with above average incomes. Most of the men commute daily to jobs in New York City; thus the great majority of our students take college preparatory courses. The parents seem quite interested in the school program and often take an active part in various school functions. Most of the students are conscious from the seventh grade on that they are heading for college; so many of them are receptive and eager to learn. With the volume of work assigned and the high standards required, virtually all are successful as college students. Needless to say, perfection is an impossibility. I have found only a few things, however, to critisixe in Rye. Socially, the situation is not highly favorable for any young single woman. There are very few young people in this immediate area, attributable mainly to the high rent. I have also learned that Rye ia like any typical small city in that it is difficult to achieve anv decree of unnnim. ity; many of our teachers live in neighboring towns to avoid this situation. In the school itself, I have heard some teachers complain that, because their students must take New York State Regents Exams, they are not as free to teach extra material as they would desire. This restriction does not affect me, however, as tenth-graders have no Regents in English. Shall I Come Home? Nevertheless, as I consider the possi- I bility of returning to my native state to teach, I am continually confronted with I the sains questions; If I had stayed in North Carolina te teach, could I now, . There is nothing new about the statement that North Carolina's most expensive export is that of its citizens, but it * is given added impetus by recently released population figThe state as a whole has shown both business and pop- p ulation growth during the decade but the population increase was disappointing to most persons and relatively low compared with other decades. Actually the growth of the state was small when one considers the natural increase that should occur with the excess of births over deaths. Bringing the matter closer home, one finds here in WarTen? ottnty? that the?natural = increase of citizens brought about by births over deaths should have increased the population by some 4,000 persons, instead we had a total loss of around 8,000 persons, which represents about a third of our 1950 population. There is nothing new in this state of affairs either in the county or in the state. We educate the children and when they reach the age of productivity, they go to other sections to add their contribution ^ to the development of such sections, and we are left with the very young and the old. This can be seen here at Warrenton where the number of business men in their twenties can probably be counted on the fingers of one hand and where the number of old people is at an alltime high. One ponders these things and one wonders why Warren County and North Carolina can not hold its citizens, with its many natural resources, fine climate and many other advantages. One does not have to ponder long for it is obvious that the answer is lack of good job opportunities. That it is not lack of ability Js shown by the fine success so many of them meet with~in other sections. But we turn engineers and chemists and other scientists and teachers and business administrators out of our colleges and they promptly go to other sections. We graduate boys and girls from ouh high schools and they either go to the growing cities of the state or to other ^ states, where wage scales are higher. They leave because they can not afford to stay at home. Sometimes a few return. But by and large they resist the J pull of family ties and are lost for good to our town, our county, our state. And unless better opportunities are afforded our young people the process will continue. after a year and a half of teaching, have paid for a new car, have money in the bank, and be earning over five thousand dollars? The answer is obviously in the negative. Is it fair to ask me to take a salary cut of $1,500 not to mention the additional work I would encounter, just to come home? Why must this be the situation, and why can't something be done about it? I'd like to come back, all things being equal, for I'm still not a Yankee at heart! Family Resemblance Among the visitors at the city zoo were a man and his cousin from the mountain ' country. The grizzled mountaineer stood spellbound as he viewed the giraffes, elephants and various other animals and birds. It was with reluctance that he left one cage to' go to another. As they came to the monkey cage, however, our friend paused for only a moment, then hastened away. "What's the hurry?" asked his companion, who liked to watch the monkeys. "I didn't mind a-lookin' at the el-phants and such," ho said, "but these?wall, they were a-lookin' at me!" A Gentle Hint While waiting to be served in a fashionable restaurant, a customer tied his napkin around his neck in bib fashion. This distressed the manager so much that he told the waiter ^ "'uiiBic w uie luaiuincr H tactfully as possible that this simply was not done in the restaurant. , i The waiter walked to the table and in as polite a tone * 0 J as he could manage he askld, I "Whatu it be, sir, shave or J halrcotl" A psychiatrist ran into Coo if ?1 of his lady patients, who introdueed her husband to him: "Doctor, this U one of the men J l>a been taUag yon about" ,
The Warren Record (Warrenton, N.C.)
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May 27, 1960, edition 1
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