Tfie news in this publi
cation is released for the
press on receipt.
THE. UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
NEWS LETTER
Published Weekly by the
University of North Caro
lina for the University Ex
tension Division.
JANUARY 16,1924
CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
THE UNIVERSITY OP NORTH CAROLINA PRESS
VOL. X, NO. 9
Biiardi E. C. Branson, S, 5. Sobba, Jr.. L, B. liYi.'&on. E, W. Kaisht, O. O. Carroll, J. B. Ballltt, H. Odam.
Entered as second-class matter Noveinber 14. 1914, at the PostofBce at Chapel Hill, N. C.. under the act of August 24, 1919
INVESTING IN EDUCATION
XXV-EDUCATION IN DENMARK
The Danes believe in education, in
education of every grade, type, and
variety, in education without stint or
limit in private effort or public ex
pense, Salvatim by education is the
first article in the.creed of Denmark.
The Danes indulge in no oratory about
it. They do not often speak about it
at all, they acton it as a deep-seated
conviction born out of the ignorance,
illiteracy, and poverty that chained
down their fathers and forefathers
for six hundred years.
It was a country school teacher who,
quoted Shakespsare to me on this sub-
ject. “Ignorance,said he, “is the
only sin and knowledge the wings
wherewith we fly to heaven.’' What
ever else a Dane believes, he went on
to say, he believes that-first.of all. No
argument is needed to win him over to
education as a means of getting on and
up in the world or as an investment in
community and commonwealth develop
ment and defense.
Short Shrift for Ignorance
It was a country pastor, a Lutheran
priest, who harked back to Isaiah in
discussing with me the Dane’s child
like belief in education as an indispens
able agency of social regeneration.
When the Danish peasants had a chance
at free public schools under compulsory
attendance laws in the dark days of
1813, said he, they easily understood
what Isaiah meant when he cried in
anguish: Israel doth not know, my peo
ple do not consider, therefore are they
gone away into captivity, for where no
vision is the people perish. When
Frederick Sixth established his epoch-
making Advisory Councils and gave
the people a place and voice in the af
fairs of the nation, Bishop Grundtvig
stirred the peasants from Gedser to
Skagen. The King has called you into
the councils of the Kingdom and you
must not be as sheep, said he, you
must stand erect like men who know
what they need and what Denmark
needs. The response to this prophet’s
pleading was instantaneous and univer
sal and the results were fundamental
and permanent.
Whatever the explanation, the Danes
believe in education whole-heartedly.
They have an ineffable scorn for ignor
ance and an ineffable pity for illiter
ates, for only the crippled-in-brain are
illiterate in Denmark. As for able-
bodied illiteracy they made short shrift
of it long years ago.
A Dirt Farmer’s Wisdom
What can you do for or with a man
or a nation, they say, that does not
know and cannot or will not think?
Every time you don't know something
you ought to know—I am now quoting
a Danish farmer—you pay a penalty
for it. You’ve got to know as much
about important matters as anybody
else knows, and you’ll be wise if you
know more. And if you think that
what is best for your fellow man is not
also the best thing for you in the long
run, then you are a victim of the worst
kind of ignorance, the ignorance of
knowing something that isn’t so. The
, farmers have got to know as much a-
bout legislation as the lawyers, as
much about business as the bankers,
and far more about .public questions
than the politicians. We’ve got to
know about all these things from top
to bottom, for the farmers run this
government and we cannot afford to
run it into a hole. Our parliament
sits for six months every year and it’s
pretty expensive, but it takes time and
plenty of.it to sift state problems thor
oughly and weigh them wisely. We
are convinced that a long session every
year saves Denmark from the mistakes
of haste. We save public money in
the end by going slowly. The deliber
ations of an open session are more ef
fective, we think, than the counsels of
legislative commissions. Open sessions
give the farmers plenty of chance to
know all about everything in state af
fairs. Parliament is the biggest and
the best public school we have in polit
ical economy and political science.
The farmer I am quoting is’what we
call a real dirt farmer in America, a
business man at the head of [a large
farm industry, a director of a farm co
operative central, a member of parlia
ment, a man of affairs, and a public
servant of consequence. I have trans
lated his broken English without doing
violence to his utterances in any detail.
The Danes' Creed
And it is the farmers of Denmark
who most of all believe in education
—in public schools, long terms,
and compulsory attendance laws,
in private schools, church schools, and
Latin schools, in scientific agriculture,
book farming, farm schools and field
instruction in farming, in trade schools,
technical science schools, teacher train
ing schools, college culture and univer
sity research, in books, book-shops,
newspapers, magazines, and libraries
public and private, in art schools, mus
ic schools, popular gymnastics and
physical education, in educational con
ferences, ten-day lecture courses at
the folk high schools and Chautauqua
programs in the home communities
every year. The eagerness with which
the Danes demand, establish, support
and absorb all kinds of culture is un
mistakable, and it is a convincing evi
dence of racial virility and vitality.
We believe in newspapers, books,
and schools; the greater the variety,
the wider the appeal and the greater
the chance of stirring into life such
genius and talent as we have in Den
mark, for all flesh is not the same
flesh and human spirits are infinitely
variable; our young people like yours
differ widely in aptitudes, tastes and
capabilities, and they must have a fair
chance to discover themselves and find
their particular places in the.scheme of
things entire. So said a Danish preach
er in a country vicarage, as he laid
bare to me the soul of Denmark. And
the meaning is that education in Den
mark is a spiritual adventure and not a
slavish surrender to educational ma
chinery and mechanical^ grind. The
Danes are not wholly free, said he, but
they are unafraid of freedom and they
are tolerant beyond all the people I
know. We agreed that they very well
illustrate both the dangers and the val
ues of free self-determination and that
the values far outweigh the dangers.
Their Daily Prayer
I say the farmers lead because no kind
of education and not much of anything
else could even begin to be in Denmark
without their support. They believe
with Thomas Jefferson that no ignor
ant people ever was or ever can be
free. Their daily prayer uttered or un
expressed is, From p'etty passions and
prejudices, from blue-sky artists in
business and crafty politicians in par
liament, Good Lord deliver us! And
they believe with Benjamin H. Hill
that ignorance and poverty ever were
and forever will be one and insepar
able, and that education is the one
thing for which no people ever yet paid
too much.
How It Is Put in Practice
These abc’s of the farmers’ creed ex
plain the rapid development of Danish
agriculture. They explain the ability
of the Danes to solve the problems of
farming ad a business and as a satisfy
ing way of life. Also they explain the
place and power of the farmers in
state affairs.- They bother very little
about courses of study and theories of
teaching. They have little pedagogy
and less methodology but they have
schools in endless variety and they have
them in the Danish way. That is to
say, if a Dane has a notion about what
a farm-life school ought to be he starts
one upon his own initiative at his own
expense and risk. Don’t talk about it,
the farnrers say, don’t call on the state
treasury, and don’t offer us a pig in a
poke; go do it, and if it’s worth while
it will have plenty of supportJfrom the
community and perhaps after awhile
from the commonwealth; give us a
chance to chew the bag and test the
pudding. The folk high schools began
in this way eighty years agoj.and they
exist as private institutions till this
good day. And so it is that Denmark
is at last breaking awayfrom Swedish
gymnastics and sloyd. The;young man
whose high school athletes are just
now catching the attention.of America
THE PATH OF PROGaESS
The highway of civilization is
strewn thick with the wrecks of
parties, but it is yet to be recorded
that any party was ever wrecked on
a program of progress in education.
is a country school teacher at Borup, a
little country town in Jutland. He has
a theory of his own about physical ed
ucation and forthwith he establishes a
school of his own to try it out. He
starts in the usual way in Denmark,
.that is to say, with almost no resources
except his idea, his energy and his
courage. His community says to him.
We don’t understand what you are talk
ing about, show us. And he has the
wit and will to do it. If it satisfies the
Danes and suits Danish conditions his
j idea will be supported as the folk high
I schools are supported, and will have a
; similar lease of life in Denmark.—
!
I Investing in Education
; The farm cooperative societies are now
■ and have always been on the same
' basis of private initiative and support.
It is the way of the. Danish farmer.
: They love freedom and they hate official
: interference. Their cooperative busi-
I ness organizations receive nothing from
i the state but sanction and protection.
Their folk high schools receive upon an
average less than fifteen hundred dol
lars of state money per year, the larg
est one of them receives less than eight
’ thousand dollars a year. But agricul-,
I tural education and promotion are an-
' other matter. They consider these the
' concern of the people as a whole be- j
■ cause everybody and every business ;
' shares in farm prosperity. And educa-,
’ tion in general is a state concern, they .
say, because the safety of the common- j
wealth is based on intelligent self-in-1
• terest. There can be no concert of wills .
for the common good and no coopera- i
live democracy without intelligent self- j
i interest. Unintelligent self-interest is
■ disruptive and destructive. Class con- j
• sciousness, class ethics, and class col-1
: lisions are the inevitable consequence |
' of stupid self-interest. “The world^ is 1
: full of it, they say, and we still have i
too much of it in Denmark, but we dis-
^ tinctly want less of it. Fundamentally
I our hope lies in education. We have
little quarrel about the forms of it, and
the parliament votes state money in
liberal amounts to public education and
even to worthy private institutions—
one and a half million dollars a year to
the University, another million and a
half to technical instruction in agricul-
' ture, mechanic arts, and normal schools,
; two and a half millions to public high
schools, and twelve millions to public
j elementary schools. Altogether some
twenty-two million dollars a year is
Denmark’s investment in public educa
tion of one form or another.
A Hot Fight for N. C.
So runs the story of Danish educa
tion, as told by two state officialB. You
think more of your university than we
think of ours in North Carolina, I say to
them, and more of your high schools,
but we think more of elementary public
schools than you do and spervJ nearly
twice as much money on them.
They promptly counter. Then how
I do you account for so much native white
■ illiteracy in North Carolina? they ask.
! It is country illiteracy, I reply, ninety-
! five percent of it is in our farm regions.
; Are your country schools efficient?
Do your farmers really believe in ed
ucation? Do they believe in scientific
agriculture? What are they doing to
; cure illiteracy? Are the country preach-
. ers attacking the problem? They^fire a
' machine-gun fusillade of questions at
. me as I feel about for my hat.
I Our farmers are making great head-
j way in recent years. **North;Carolina is
I awake at last and the farmers most of
j all) I say. And much more to^the "same
I effect. In fact Hhe shouting and tu-
1 mult about North Carolina does tnot die
1 until I close the door on the interview.
—E. C. Branson. Paris, Oct. 24, 1923.
Watauga respectively. In New Han
over the average salary paid white
teachers per year is $1269.16 while in
Watauga the white teachers receive
less than one-third as much upon an
average, or only $402.26 for a year’s
work. Other counties that rank at the
top in teacher salaries are Durham,
Montgomery, Avery, Wilson, and
Scotland. It is interesting. to note
that in fourteen counties the
average salary paid white teachers is
less than five hundred dollars per year.
See the table in this issue. With only
two exceptions these are mountain and
coastal counties.
Why High or Low
The annual salary of a school teacher
depends ^upon three major factors.
Probably the most important factor is
the length of the school term. In some
counties the schools are run a full nine
months while in others the constitution
al requirement of a six-months •term
seems to be the ultimate goal. A large
number of counties run their schools only
a few days beyond the constitutional
requirement of 120 days.
A second factor is the quality of the
teachers employed. In a few counties
the bulk of the teachers hold high-grade
certificates and since the grade of the cer
tificate determines the minimum salary
they are forced to work for, the average
salary in these counties is high. Wilson,
Durham, Scotland, New Hanover, Avery,
and Montgomery are goodillustrationsof
the influence of-the quality of the teach-
ers upon the average salary. In iflany
counties the school authorities seem to
be of the opinion that the cheapest
teacher is the most economical. There
never was a greater or more serious
error. A county superintendent who
employs a teacher simply because she
is cheap is committing an unpardonable
sin. He should not be allowed to re
tain his position. Yet there are a few
such-superintendents in this state and
our people put up with them. Mani
festly we cannot illustrate by naming
counties, but they are known by school
authorities. The most expensive part
of a county school system is a poor
county superintendent of public in
struction. Our school system is so or
ganized that the county superintend
ent is the one person who is most re
sponsible for the kind of education a
county receives. —
A third factor that determines the
salary paid teachers is the amount loc
ally raised by cities and counties to
supplement the standard amount guar-
linteed by the state because of the
certificate the teacher holds. Two
counties, New'Hanover and Wilson,
have county-wide school systems in
which every dollar of taxable wealth
goes to support every school in the
county. This should be the goal of
every county. A large number of
counties fail to supplement the mini
mum pay by voting local taxes. They
are content to rely on the county school
tax and the state equalization fund—
and poor teachers. In ten counties less
than ten percent of the school districts
are local tax districts. In such coun-
j ties the teachers are poorly paid. For in
stance Watauga ranks lowest in local
tax districts and lowest in teacher sal
aries.
Honorable Mention
It seems to us that special praise in
this study goes to two counties, Avery
and Montgomery. Only two counties
in the state pay their white teachers
more than these, both of which have
many times as much taxable wealth.
Avery and Montgomery are amongst
the poorer counties of the^state in tax
able wealth, but stand high in teacher
salaries. Credit for such high rank is due
in large measure to the good work of
the county superintendents of these
counties. They have brought poor
counties into the higest rank. Both of
these superintendents employ the .best
teachers they can afford. In both coun
ties the school term is far above the
state average. The quality of the
•tfeachers is high and the superintend
ents insist that their teachers improve
their certificates.
Teacher salaries, then, depend up-'
on the school term, the quality of the
teacher, local wealth and willingness,
and the county superintendent—and do
not forget the superintendent. Good
teachers mean good schools. A poor
county can have good schools—if it has
the right leadership. —S.JI. H., Jr.
TEACHER SALARIES
Irrespective of training orj fitness to
teach, the county a teacher works in
has much to do with thejsalary she is
paid.
The average white’teacherHB INorth
Carolina receives a yearly salary of
$720.73. The highest and lowest sal
; aries are paid by New Hanover and
AVERAGE ANNUAL SALARIES PAID WHITE TEACHERS
For the School Year 1921-22
Counties are ranked according to the average salaries paid white public
school teachers for the year 1921-22.
In New Hanover county the white teacher received an average annual
salary of $1259.16, while in Watauga county the average salary per white
teacher per year was only'$402.26, State average $720.73.
The average annual salary paid by counties depends upon three factors:
(1) the length of the school term, (2) the quality of the teachers, and (3) local
supplement.
W. H. Holderness, Edgecombe County
Department of Rural Social Economics, University of North Carolina
Rank
County
Average annual
salary paid
white teachers
Rank
County
Average annual
salary paid
white teachers
1
New Hanover..
$1269.15-
61
Sampson.,..
$643.07
2
Durham
1188.18
62
Orange
642.81
3
Montgomery...
1169.72
53
-Iredell
640.06
4
Avery
1167.33
54
Cleveland...
639.66
5
Wilson
1070.96
65
Moore
639.58
6
Scotland
1016.26
66
Stanly
638.25
7
Mecklenburg ..
968.85
67
Pender
637.54
8
Buncombe
946.86
68
Bertie
628.03
9
Wake
929.95
69
Davidson...
626.71
10
Gaston
918.36
60
Hertford...
625.93
11
Forsyth
908.34
61
Anson
623.57
12
Craven
901.77
62
Martin ....
620.91
13
Guilford
901.63-
63
Carteret....
616.82
14
Nash
898.01
64
Jones
616.79
16
Edgecombe....
896.06-
66
Beaufort...
616.64
16
Wayne
894,63
66
'Hnrnptt
613 64
17
Halifax
894.02
67
Camden ,...
608.28
18
Pasquotank...
863.72
68
Onslow
696.79
19
Cumberland
834.94
69
Clay
•.... 693.01
20
Rowan
823.66
70
Lincoln
689.32
21
Alamance
820.60 •
71
Gates
687.30
22
Richmond
814.06
.72
Cherokee...
687.08
•an
Rutherford...,
813.39
73
Duplin
585.89
24
Hoke
809.62
74
Columbus..
681.07
25
Pitt
808.67
76
Haywood.,.
680.63
26
Washington ...
790,73
76
Graham....
579.64
27
Lenoir
786.46
77
Bladen
- 675.16
28
Warren
781.35
78
rolk
673.63
29
Vance
772.18
79
Jackson..,.
669.96
30
Tyrrell
Currituck
737.43
80
McDowell ..
661.90
31
717.57
81
Randolph..
.A 660.90
32
Northampton..
715.38
82
Caldwell....
665.20
33
Johnston
713.14
83
Person
638.01
34
Granville
710.44
84
Chatham...
633.64
85
Greene
708.18
86
Swain
526.93
36
Franklin
706.61
86
Dare
618.06
37
Rockingham..
706.62
87
Macon
494.79
38
Robeson
705.32
88
Alleghany ..
490.63
39
Lee
694.33
89
Stokes
482.13
40
Chowan
689.83
90
Yancey
481.25
41
Alexander
686.49
91
Madison....
479.79
42
Pamlico
681.00
92
Mitchell...,
476.40
43
Hyde
676.63
93
Surry
474.14
44
Catawba
667.04
94
Burke
468.71
46
Union
666.77
95
Yadkin
465.69
46
Davie
666.92
96
Caswell;..
459.64
47
Henderson ,...
656.91
97
Ashe ....
426.88
48
Transylvania..
653.56'
98
Brunswick .
405.02
49
Cabarrus
644 94
99
Wilkes . .
404.31
60 .
Perquimans...
643.11
100
Watauga...
402.26