Biennial report, Public Schools of North Carolina

              07
BIENNIAL REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION
NORTH CAROLINA,
GOVERNOR CHARLES B. AYCOCK,
Scholastic Years 1902-1903 and 1903-1904.
Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good
government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the
means of education shall forever be encouraged.—N. C. Con-stitution,
Article IX, Section 1.
The people have a right to the privilege of education, and
it is the duty of the State to guard and maintain that right.
—
Bill of Rights, Section 27.
RALEIGH :
E. M. Uzzell & Co., State Printers and Binders.
1904.
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.
State of North Carolina,
Department of Public Instruction,
Raleigh, K C, Dec. 1, 1904.
To His Excellency, Charles B. Aycock,
Governor of North Carolina.
Dear Sir :—In accordance with section 2540 of The Code,
I have the honor to submit my Biennial Report for the scho-lastic
years 1902-1903 and 1903-1904.
Very respectfully,
J. Y. JOYNER,
Superintendent of Public Instruction.
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION.
Charles B. Aycogk, Governor, Cliavrman.
J. Y. Joyner, Superintendent of Public Instruction, Secretary.
\Y. I). Turner, Lieutenant-Governor.
J. Bryan (Crimes, Secretary of State.
B. R. Lacy. State Treasurer.
B. F. Dixox, State Auditor.
R. D. Gilmer, Attorney-General.
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION.
J. Y. Joyner. Superintendent of Public Instruction.
John Duckett, General Clerk.
R. D. W. Connor, Special Clerk for Loan Fund, Rural Libraries, etc
Miss Ella Duckett, Stenographer.
C. L. Coon. Superintendent of Colored Normal Schools.
REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS
State Superintendent of Public Instruction
GOVERNOR CHARLES B. AYCOCK.
To His Excellency, Governor Charles B. Aycock :
For the information of your Excellency and of the mem-bers
of the General Assembly, I beg to submit a brief report
of the present condition- of the public schools in North
Carolina, of the work done and the progress made in pub-lic
education during the two scholastic years beginning July
1, 1902, and ending June 30, 1904, and to suggest some of
the work to be done and some means of doing it.
I. THE WORK DONE AND THE PROGRESS MADE.
Enrollment and Average Attendance.—The tables of en-rollment
and attendance printed elsewhere in this report show
that there was an increase of 2,752 white children and of
7,7:>7 colored children in the enrollment of_1903, and an in-crease
of 17,455 white children and a decrease.of 3,281 col-ored
children in the enrollment of 1904, making a total in-crease
of 20,207 white children and of 4,476 colored children
in the enrollment of the two years ; that there was an increase
of 8,591 white children and of 3,565 colored children in
average daily attendance of 1903, and an increase of 5,300
white children and of 7,276 colored children in the average
daily attendance of 1904, making a total increase of 13,891
white children and of 7,276 colored children in the average
daily attendance during the two years.
4 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
Compared with the preceding two scholastic years there has
been an increase of 47,652 in the enrollment of white children
reported and 20,332 in the enrollment of colored children,
and an increase of 35,808 in the average daily attendance
of white children and of 16,631 in the average daily attend-ance
of colored children. In other words, during the past
two years there have been these many more white and col-ored
children, respectively, enrolled and in daily attendance
in the public schools than during the preceding two years.
During these two school years the white school population
has increased only 6,819 and the colored school population
has increased only 625. The increase, therefore, in enroll-ment
and average daily attendance has been largely in ex-cess
of the increase in school population. During the past
two years, as compared with the preceding two years, there
has been an increase of 7.8 per cent, in the white enroll-ment
and 6.9 per cent, in the colored enrollment, and an in-crease
of 9 per cent, in the white daily attendance and 10
per cent, in the colored daily attendance.
These figures show continuous and encouraging increase
in enrollment and average daily attendance, indicating an
increase in interest, in public confidence and in public sen-timent
for education.
School Fund.—The total school fund from all sources
except local taxation in 1903 was $1,353,108.48, and in
1904, $1,565,361.64. The total amount raised for special
districts by local taxation was in 1903, $231,113.65, and in
1904, $335,875.65. The total school fund from all sources
except local taxation for the two preceding years was $2,443,-
303.89 and the total amount raised by local taxation during
the two preceding years was $176,907.81.* There has, there-fore,
been an increase of $475,166.23 in the general school
"There were not full reports of the amount of local taxes for schools in 1901, but these
figures are approximately correct.
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 5
fund and of $390,081.49 in the amount raised by local taxa-tion
during the past two years. These figures do not include
cash balances for the respective years in Treasurer's hands.
School-houses.—In 1903, $140,495.47, and in 1904
$179,081.39 were spent for building and repairing school-houses,
making a total of $319,576.86' for the two years for
these purposes. The total spent for these purposes during
the preceding two years was $145,751.83. showing an in-crease
of $163,825.03. In other words, the expenditures for
new school-houses and for improving and enlarging old ones
during the past two years are more than double those for
the same purposes during the preceding two years.
The total value of school property in 190.°, was $1,632,-
349; in 1904, $1,908,675, showing an increase of $276,326
in the value of public school property in one year.' an in-crease
of $441,905 during the two years.
In 1903, 348 and in 1904, 346 new houses were built,
making a total of 694 new school-houses built during the
two years, more than one new school-house a day for every
working day in the two years. There has also been an in-crease
of $61.29 in the average value of public school-houses.
It is evident, therefore, that there has been very com-mendable
progress in the number and value of new houses
built, in the equipment of these houses and in the improve-ment
and equipment of old houses. The Loan Fund, a fuller
report of which will be found further on in this report,
has been an important factor in this progress.
School Term.—In 1903 the average school term in weeks
was, white 16.7, colored 15.63, and in 1904, white 17, col-ored
16.01. There has been an increase of 2.34 weeks in
length of white school term and of 2.3 weeks in length of
colored school term during the past four years.
Salary of Teachers.—In 1903 the average monthly salary
of white teachers was $28.36 and of colored teachers $22.63;
in 1904 the average monthly salary of white teachers was
$29.05 and of colored teachers $22.27.
6 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
Institutes and Summer Schools.—During the two years
128 white and 79 colored teachers' institutes and summer
schools were held, in which 7,923 white teachers and 3,287
colored teachers were enrolled. During the summer of 1904
1,402 teachers were enrolled in the summer schools at A.
and M. College, the University and Davidson College, and
4,866 teachers were enrolled in the county institutes and
summer schools. A number of these county institutes con-tinued
for two, three, or four weeks. A number of counties
united in summer schools, lasting for several weeks. Prob-ably
so large a number of public school-teachers have never
before attended institutes and summer schools in one summer,
and these probably offered better advantages than were ever
before offered to the public school-teachers in institutes and
summer schools.
Bural Libraries.—During the two years 328 rural li-.
braries have been established, making a total of 795 rural
libraries now established. Besides these there have been 82
rural libraries established without State aid, making in
all 877. These libraries contain about 83,315 volumes. The
establishment of these rural libraries is one of the most pro-gressive
steps yet taken in public education in jSTorth Caro-lina.
In proportion to the investment they have probably
yielded and will continue to yield a larger interest than any
other investment made for the public schools in this genera-tion.
These thousands of books, masterpieces of thought and
feeling and style, are daily going into hundreds of homes,
bearing to young and old their messages of hope, love, beauty,
wi.-clom, knowledge, morality, reverence, religion and joy,
cultivating a taste for literature, forming the reading habit,
and leaving in their wake a touch at least of that higher cul-ture
which comes only from communion through books with
the greatest minds and souls of the ages.
Local Taxation.—During these two years 150 local tax
districts have been established. Most of these are in rural
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 7
districts or in villages containing less than five hundred
inhabitants. The total number of local tax districts in the
State now is 228. In 1900 there were only 30. The total
amount raised by local taxation in 1903 was $231,113.65; in
1904, $335,875.65 making a total of $566,989.30 during the
two years, an increase of $104,762 in the amount raised from
this source in one year, and an increase of $390,081.49 over
the amount raised from this source during the preceding two
years. There are now local tax districts in seventy counties
of the State, extending from Dare to Cherokee. Guilford
with 25, Dare with 18, Mecklenburg with 15 and Alamance
with 9, lead the State in local taxation. When we remember
that in 1900 there were only 30 local tax districts in the en-tire
State, that during the past four years there has been
an increase of 198, and during the past two years an increase
of 150, that most of these districts have been established
in distinctly rural communities, that they are scattered from
the mountains to the sea, that every district established un-der
favorable conditions will become a standing object lesson
for the establishment of others, there would seem to be much
reason to hope for such a multiplication of local tax districts
within the next few years as will make possible a good school
in every district of reasonable size in the State.
< Consolidation.—During the two years there has been by
consolidation a decrease of 441 in the number of school
districts. This decrease in the number of districts by con-solidation
during these two years is more than double that
of the preceding two years. As every consolidation repre-sents
the abolition of two or more little districts, at least
1,000 little districts must have been abolished for larger
ones during the past two years. Since the close of the school
year a number of additional consolidations have been made
not included in this report. No month passes, scarcely a
week passes, in which the State Superintendent does not
receive invitations to speak to interested communities on
8 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
the subject of consolidation and local taxation. These facts
indicate a sure and healthy growth of sentiment in favor of
consolidation.
County Supervision.—Under the amendment passed by
the last General Assembly to the School Law allowing an
increase in the salary of the County Superintendent, there
has been a marked improvement in county supervision. The
average salary of County Superintendents was $406.54 in
1903 and $506.63 in 1904, as against $245.80 for 1901 and
$355.50 for 1902, an increase of $51.04 in 1903 and of
$100.09 in 1904 in the average salary of the County Super-intendent.
The total average salary of the County Superin-tendent
for these two years is $311.87 more than the total
average salary for the preceding two years. The average
salary of the County Superintendent has been more than
doubled since 1901.
A number of counties have taken advantage of this amend-ment
to put competent Superintendents in the field for all
their time. Under the ruling of the State Superintendent
declaring the law requiring County Superintendents to visit
the schools to be mandatory, all County Superintendents
have spent considerable time in visiting the public schools,
acquainting themselves with the merits and demerits of the
teachers and with the needs of the schools, coming into per-sonal
touch with the children, the school committeemen and
the patrons. Many township meetings for teachers and
patrons have been conducted by these Superintendents with
great profit to the school interests. With better pay for their
work and more time to devote to it, the County Superintend-ents
have been able to do more work and better work than
ever before. The results have been noticeable in every de-partment
of the public school work.
County supervision has been greatly aided and improved
by the State Association of County Superintendents. Through
this organization the County Superintendents have been
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 9
brought together for conference with the State Superintend-ent
and with each other at least once a year. The results
have been a better organization, a more hearty co-operation,
a more uniform plan of work, more systematic methods of
ma n aging the finances and reports and an exceedingly helpful
interchange of ideas about the common work.
The five District Associations of County Superintendents
have profitably supplemented the work of the State Asso-ciation.
I believe there has been decided progress in the efficiency
of the results of the strengthening of county supervision has
enthusiasm for it and in the people's estimate of its value
and importance.
Organization and Systematization of the Work.—One
of the results of the strengthening of county supervision has
been a better organization of the school forces in the county
and a decided improvement in the management of the de-tails
of school work and school business. No effort has been
spared to promote this better organization of the educational
forces and this systematization of the work. One weakness
of the school system in the past has been lack of organization,
lack of uniformity, lack of systematic business methods in the
management of school work and finances. There have been
ninety-seven county systems, more or less separate and dis-tinct,
some good, some bad, some indifferent, and no unified
State system. More progress has perhaps been made dur-ing
these two years than ever before in organizing and sys-tematizing
the public school work. In many counties the
teachers have been organized for co-operative work in
teachers' associations, many of which are doing excellent
work. Through the township meetings patrons have been
aroused, committeemen have been reached, and, in many in-stances,
all have been interested and put to work for better
schools.
A uniform set of rules and regulations, printed elsewhere
10 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
in this report, for the better management of the public
schools, was sent out from the State Superintendent's office,
and they have been adopted by many County Boards of Edu-cation.
A graded course of study has been carefully pre-pared
and placed in the hands of ever}' public school-teacher.
The adoption of this course of study and its enforcement in
the public school can but prove very helpful in bringing order
out of chaos by giving definiteness, direction and some degree
of uniformity to the course of study in the public schools.
The pamphlet containing the carefully arranged course of
study contains also many helpful suggestions to teachers
and full courses of supplementary work for long-term schools.
It has been sought, however, to make the course so flexible as
to be usable in short-term schools as well as long-term schools.
The pamphlet contains also schedules of recitations for
schools with one, two and three or more teachers respectively,
so arranged as to give proper emphasis to each subject accord-ing
to its importance by the number of recitations and time
allotted to it.
Educational Bulletins.—The following bulletins have
been issued from the office: 1. Consolidation of Districts;
2. Progress in Public Education in North Carolina; 3. A
Year's Progress in Public Education and the Work Yet to
be Done; 4. Some Suggestions for Teaching Agriculture in
the Schools; 5. Local Taxation Necessary for Better Classi-fication
and Better Teaching; 6. What Local Taxation Costs;
7. An Address on Defects, Needs, Remedies of the Public
School System of the South ; 8. Powers and Duties of School
Committeemen; 9. A Course of Study for the Elementary
Public Schools of North Carolina (Grades 1-7). Pamphlets
containing programs and material for celebration of North
Carolina Day in Public Schools, one in 1902 on "The Albe-marle
Section"; one in 1903 on "The Lower Cape Fear Sec-tion."
As the names of these bulletins suggest, the purpose of
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 11
them is (1) to teach the general public, to give them infor-mation
about the work, to make public sentiment for it, to
arouse interest in it. (2.) To reach the school officers, to
interest them in their duties, to arouse them to activity in
their work and to aid in directing their efforts along wise
and progressive lines. (3.) To reach the teachers, give them
practical help in their school-room work and stimulate them
to better methods of teaching and to wider reading for profes-sional
and general culture. This is something of a departure
in the work of the Department of Public Instruction. This
work has hardly been feasible heretofore because of lack of
office force. With the addition of one clerk for all his time
and another for a part of his time, both of whom are trained,
experienced professional teachers, we have been able by their
aid to do this work and hope to be able to continue and im-prove
it. I deem this work very important, and I am con-fident
that it has proved very helpful. Hundreds may be
reached through such work where one can be reached through
public speeches. These bulletins have supplemented ad-mirably
the work of the speakers in the educational cam-paign
for the cultivation of public sentiment and the work
of the institutes and summer schools in the professional im-provement
of teachers. I shall have more to say about this
department of the work in a subsequent division of my report.
The Public Campaign jar Education.—In addition to the
campaign for education and for professional improvement
carried on through the educational bulletins, a somewhat
vigorous campaign for education has been carried on under
the direction of the Campaign Committee for the Promo-tion
of Public Education in North Carolina, consisting of
the State Superintendent of Public Instruction as Chairman,
Dr. Charles D. Mclver, District Director of the Southern
Education Board, and Governor Charles B. Aycock, with
Mr. E. C. Brooks as Secretary. Seventy-eight counties have
been covered by this campaign. A large number of speakers
12 BIENNIAL REPOBT OF THE
have taken part in it, among them representative teachers,
editors, lawyers, preachers, business men, public officials and
others. In addition to the campaign carried on through the
summer months, we have endeavored throughout the year
to send speakers to every community asking for the agi-tation
of the question of local taxation and consolidation,
and to communities in which an election on the question
of local taxation for better public schools was pending. The
State Superintendent has engaged in this campaign all the
year, using all the time that he could spare from his work
in the office for field work. I beg to acknowledge the in-debtedness
of all true friends of public education for the
invaluable assistance rendered in this campaign by your
Excellency. I think it may be truthfuly stated that the
Governor has used practically all the time that he could spare
from the duties of his office in campaign work for public
education.
It would be difficult to measure the beneficial results and
the far-reaching and lasting influence of this campaign.
Perhaps no one factor has been more potent in the accom-plishment
of whatever educational progress may have been
made during the past two years.
So far as it has been participated in by speakers other than
the Governor and the State kSuperintendent of Public In-struction,
this campaign has been made possible through the
generous aid of the Southern Education Board in providing
funds for the payment of the expenses of the speakers. The
direction of the campaign has been absolutely under the con-trol
of the State Superintendent and the committee named
above, no condition of any sort having been attached to the
appropriation of the money for expenses by the Southern
Education Board. When it is so manifestly the purpose of
this board simply to help us help ourselves without inter-ference
or dictation from them, I feel that I can speak for
every real broad-gauge friend of public education when I
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 13
return sincere thanks for such timely assistance to this board
and to its District Director, Dr. Charles D. Mclver, whose
wise counsel and enthusiastic co-operation in every move-ment
for the promotion of public education have been in-valuable.
The Silent Campaign for Education.—This public cam-paign
for education and the campaign carried on through
the educational bulletins issued from the office of the Superin-tendent
of Public Instruction have stimulated and helped
another even more potent campaign. In many communities
this campaign has been quietly carried on by County Super-intendents
and other school officers, and by influential, earn-est,
patriotic private citizens as they move in and out among
their people, by the fireside, around the church door, around
the store, on the public highway, in the quiet fields. I weigh
my words when I declare it to be my deliberate conviction
that the great masses of the people in North Carolina are
interested as never before in this question of the education
of their children, that they are talking about it among them-selves
more than ever before, and that a deep-seated con-viction
and a quiet determination that their children shall
be educated are finding surer lodgment in the minds and
hearts of the people than ever before. This is to my mind
one of the most significant evidences of progress. Mighty
revolutions are always noiseless and must be wrought first
in the minds and hearts and wills of the masses. I believe
that such a revolution upon this question of the education
of all the people is well under way in North Carolina.
Growth in Public Sentiment.—As one logical result of
persistent agitation and better organization there has been
a very noticeable growth in public sentiment for public edu-cation
and in public confidence in the public schools. This is
one of the most encouraging evidences of past progress and
one of the most hopeful auguries for future progress. All
permanent progress in all governmental functions in a re-
14 IllEXMAL REPORT OF THE
public must be based upon a healthy public sentiment. It
cannot far outrun the will and desire of the people. Wise
leaders will always recognize this truth and seek to educate
the people to the point of desiring better things and of de-manding
what they desire. The leader must lead, but he will
find himself helpless if his people do not follow. The fanatic
is the fellow who is often right, but who too often trusts
in his own rectitude for the accomplishment of his purpose
in a crooked and perverse world instead of wisely winning
others to his way of thinking. Only by exercising a little
patience and sympathy with their faults and foibles, and
even with what may seem the perversity of their natures,
may the co-operation of the many in whom the power of a
republic dwells be secured. In a republic, public sentiment
must always be reckoned with.
State Institutions of Learning.—No surer evidence of this
progress in public sentiment for education could be offered
perhaps than the overflowing condition of all the State's
institutions of learning, as will appear elsewhere in this
volume from the reports of the heads of these institutions.
You will observe a noticeable increase in enrollment and an
enlargement and improvement in the equipment of all these
institutions that is a cause of profound thankfulness. Some
of them are compelled to turn away from their doors every
year for lack of room scores of worthy sons and daugh-ters
of the State. There is something inexpressibly pa-thetic,
almost tragic, in the spectacle of an ambitious young
man or woman yearning for a higher life and a nobler use-fulness
in his day and generation, turning in hope to one
of these institutions of his native State, only to find that it
is too late—there is no room. The closing of the door of
such an institution in the face of such a young man or young
woman, even for lack of room, is often the closing of the door
of hope and opportunity. A great State should greatly make
room for all her sons and daughters.
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 15
Colleges and High Schools.—Reports from the denomina-tional
colleges and the private high schools and academies of
the State tell a similar story, and indicate an era of unprece-dented
prosperity for these worthy institutions of learning,
these most important and necessary factors in our educa-tional
life. In this prosperous condition of all educational
institutions in the State may be found additional evidence
that stimulation of educational interest, agitation of edu-cational
questions and cultivation of educational sentiment
must in the very nature of the case help all educational insti-tutions
of every proper sort.
North Carolina Dai/ and Growth of the Literary and His-torical
Spirit.—In the report of the progress of these two
years I feel that the increased interest in the celebration of
North Carolina Day in the public schools deserves more than
a passing mention. The Legislature of 1901 set apart one day
to be devoted to the consideration of North Carolina history in
the public schools of the State. Through the aid of the mem-bers
of the Executive Committee of the State Literary and
Historical Association and through the co-operation of other
patriotic citizens of North Carolina, deeply interested in
her history and progress, we have been able to prepare and
send out in neat pamphlet form each year an interesting pro-gram
dealing with the history of the State, taking up the
study of its history somewhat in its chronological ordei\
Each of these pamphlets contains a number of original arti-cles
by living North Carolinians, each writer selected in each
instance because of known interest in the subject assigned
him and special knowledge of it. These articles have dealt
with the past history of the section under study, the lives
and character of its noteworthy leaders, its present resources,
the avocations, the manners and customs and the character
of its people. The pamphlets have contained also choice
selections from the best of North Carolina literature and
contributions from a few of our living poets who are begin-ning
to win reputation at home and abroad.
16 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
It will be readily seen from this general description of
the contents of the pamphlet prepared for the celebration of
North Carolina Day that it has been earnestly sought to
awaken in the rising generation an interest and pride in
our past history, to give a knowledge of the State's wonder-ful
resources, to inspire a hope and confidence in its future,
and to give the people of the different sections a better ac-quaintance
with each other, to the end that understanding
each other better the.y may the better be welded into one people
of one State with a common history, a common interest and
a common aim. On this day teachers and County Superin-tendents
have been advised to seek to gather the people around
the school, to join with the children and the teacher in this
beautiful consecration of at least one day to the study of the
State, her history and her people. Reports from the various
counties indicate a growing interest in the observance of
this day and inspire the hope that something has already
been accomplished and much more will be accomplished
through these exercises and studies in the public schools, in
fostering a literary and historical spirit among our people.
Woman's Association for the Betterment of Public School
Houses and Grounds.—Much valuable aid has been rendered
by the Woman's Association for the Betterment of Public
School-houses and Grounds, in the important work of improv-ing
and beautifying the public school-houses and in cultivat-ing
public sentiment therefor. A State Association has been
formed, and under its general direction many county asso-ciations
have been formed. This Association has been greatly
aided in its work by the Southern Education Board. The
sincere thanks of all friends of the public schools are due
these patriotic women for their unselfish labors in this great
work.
The Loan Fund for Building and Improving Public
School-houses.—Upon the recommendation of the State Su-perintendent
and with the unanimous endorsement of the
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 17
joint Committee on Education of the Senate and the House of
Representatives, the General Assembly of 1903, by special
act, directed that all funds of the State heretofore derived
from the sources enumerated in section 4, Article IX of the
State Constitution, and all funds that may be hereafter so
derived, together with any interest that may accrue thereon,
shall be a fund separate and distinct from the other funds
of the State, to be known as the State Literary Fund, to be
used as a loan fund for building and improving public school-houses,
under such rules and regulations as the State Board
of Education should adopt. These funds had been accumu-lating
in the hands of the State Treasurer from the sale of
lands belonging to the State Board of Education and from
other sources until they amounted to about $200,000 in 1903.
Owing to the deficit in the State Treasury in 1903, $100,000
of this amount was borrowed by the State, under a resolution
of the General Assembly, from the State Board of Educa-tion,
for which a three-year three per cent. State bond was di-rected
to be issued. During the past two years $14,313.25
have been added to this Loan Fund from the sales of lands
belonging to the State Board of Education and from other
sources. The $100,000 lent to the State to aid in supplying
the deficit has not yet been repaid, and has not, therefore,
been available for loans. The bond will be due in July,
1906, and it is expected that the money will then be available
for the purposes of this fund.
The rules adopted by the State Board of Education for
regulating these loans appear in full elsewhere in this report.
LTnder these rules only one-half of the cost of new school-houses
and grounds or of the improvement of old school-houses
was lent to any county for any district. Ho loan
was made to any district with less than sixty-five children of
school age unless satisfactory evidence was furnished that
such district was absolutely necessary on account of the spar-
2
18 BIENNIAL, REPORT OF THE
sity of population or the existence of insurmountable natural
barriers. Preference was given :
a. To rural districts or towns of less than a thousand in-habitants
where the needs were greatest.
b. To rural districts or towns of less than one thousand
inhabitants supporting their schools by local taxation.
c. To districts helping themselves by private subscription.
d. To large districts formed by consolidation of small dis-tricts.
All houses upon which loans were made were required to
be constructed strictly in accordance with plans approved by
the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Xo loans
were made for any rural district or small town for any house
costing less than $250.
Under the provisions of the act, these loans are made by
the State Board of Education to the County Board of Edu-cation,
payable in ten annual installments, bearing interest
at four per cent., evidenced by the note of the County Board
of Education, signed by the Chairman and the Secretary
thereof, and deposited with the State Treasurer. The loans
to the school districts are made by the County Board of Edu-cation.
The County Board of Education is directed to set
apart out of the school funds at the January meeting a suffi-cient
amount to pay the annual installment and interest fall-ing
due on the succeeding tenth day of February. The pay-ment
of these loans to the State Board of Education is se-cured
by making the loan a lien upon the total school funds
of the county, in whatsoever hands such funds may be, and
by further authorizing the State Treasurer, if necessary, to
deduct a sufficient amount for the payment of any annual
installment due by any county out of any fund due any
county from any special State appropriation for public
schools, and by also authorizing him to bring action against
the County Board of Education, the tax collector or any per-son
or persons in whose possession may be any part of the
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 19
school funds of the county. The loan made by the County
Board of Education to any district is secured by authorizing
the County Board of Education to deduct the amount of the
annual installment and interest due by such district from
the apportionment to that district unless the district provides
in some other way for its payment. The act, therefore,
absolutely secures from loss both the State Board of Edu-cation
and the County Board of Education.
The following brief table will show how this fund has been
used under this act and some of the benefits derived from
its use
:
Total amount of loans to date, $120,580.
Number of counties to which loans have been made, 70.
dumber of districts in which buildings have been secured
or greatly improved through aid of this fund, 325.
Number of new school-houses built with aid of loan, 288.
Total value of buildings secured by aid of Loan Fund,
$311), 106.
Number of districts in which there were no houses, 157.
Number of districts in which were old houses valued at
less than $50, including "log houses," "shanties," "tenant
houses" (quotations are from applications), 91.
Number of consolidated districts, 16.
Number of local tax districts, 17.
All the districts except 17 to which loans have been made
are distinctly rural or include small towns of less than five
hundred inhabitants.
From the above facts it will be seen that by lending
$120,580 to 70 counties, 325 districts have been aided in
securing public school-houses valued at $319,106, thus adding
that amount to the value of public school property in those
counties.
The new houses have been constructed in accordance with
the principles of modern school architecture and stand as an
20 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
object lesson in the various counties in improvement of
school-houses and grounds and equipment. Through the loans
made, consolidation and enlargement of districts and local
taxation for public schools have been encouraged, stimulated
and, in a number of instances, secured. Without the aid of
these loans many of these districts would probably have been
unable to secure good houses for years without greatly de-creasing
the length of the school term, and some of them
would have been unable to secure respectable houses without
closing their schools entirely for one or two years. Through
the aid of these loans these districts have been able to secure
better houses and equipment at once and pay for them on
easy terms in ten annual installments. Twenty-seven coun-ties
have as yet applied for no aid from this fund and some
other counties have borrowed but small amounts. These
counties will, of course, be given the preference in future
loans.
The State Board of Education has exercised, and will con-tinue
to exercise, great care and prudence in making these
loans. All counties and districts are required to conform
strictly to the law and to the rules and regulations adopted.
The first loans were made August 10, 1903. The first annual
installments on these loans, amounting to $4,440.72, were
due February 10, 1904. Every cent of its installment was
paid by every county and paid promptly. I have no doubt
that every cent of every installment on every loan will be
promptly paid when due.
• As the annual installments of this fund are repaid they
will be lent to other counties and other districts entitled to
loans. When the hundred thousand dollars borrowed by the
State is repaid this will also be available for loans. In addi-tion,
the proceeds arising from future sales of lands be-longing
to the State Board of Education will be available
for this purpose. There ought finally, therefore, to be avail-
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 21
able annually not less than $20,000 or $30,000. A perpetual
Loan Fund for the improvement of public school-houses,
about $30,000 of Avhich will be usable for this purpose every
year, ought to make it possible under vise administration to
secure during the present generation a respectable, comforta-ble,
well-equipped public school-honse in every district of
reasonable size in the State. This Loan Fund seems to me to
be a wise and practical plan of helping the counties help
themselves to supply within reasonable time comfortable
school-houses. The counties have not been slow to avail them-selves
of this opportunity. I believe that the facts demon-strate
that no wiser use could have been made of this money,
and that from no other use of it could so great and perma-nent
benefits have been derived. I believe that, as the years
go by, it will appear more and more clearly that no legisla-tion
has been enacted in recent years that has proved and
will continue to prove so helpful to the public schools of the
State. It is not too much to say that in the benefits derived
from its use the Loan Fund has surpassed the expectations
of its most ardent advocates.
Improvement in Public School-houses.—Through the en-forcement
of the amendment to the Public School Law by
the Legislature of 1903 placing the building of new school-houses
under the control of the County Board of Education,
and forbidding the investment of money in any new house
not built in accordance with plans approved by the. State
Superintendent of Public Instruction and the County Board
of Education, much improvement has resulted in the charac-ter
of the public school-houses. Early in 1903 the State
Superintendent, by authority of the State Board of Educa-tion,
had printed and distributed a pamphlet containing
plans for public school-houses with explanations, specifica-tions,
bills of material and estimates of costs prepared with
much care by Alessrs. Barrett & Thomson, Architects, of
22 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
Raleigh, JST. C. This pamphlet contained plans for school-houses
from one to eight rooms, so arranged that larger
houses could be evolved from the one-room house or from
the two-room house by the addition of other rooms as rapidly
as the enlargement of the district or increased population
should require, without interfering with the architecture or
the general plan of the house. These plans are made to con-form
to well-established principles of ventilation, light and
heat and are worked out with such particularity that any
intelligent carpenter can take the pamphlet and construct a
house by any plan therein. During the past two years, there-fore,
but little money has been wasted in ugly, cheap, box-like,
uncomfortable, improperly lighted and poorly venti-lated
school-houses. With the expenditure of a little more
money good houses have been constructed, of which children,
teacher and people are proud. In nothing has progress been
more marked than in the character of the public school-houses.
Through the use of the Loan Fund and the enforcement
of the law in regard to the building of public school-houses,
the unsightly hovels that have served as substitutes for school-houses
in so many districts in North Carolina will continue
to rapidly give place to these better houses, constructed in
accordance with the best-established principles of modern
school architecture. Wherever one of these new houses has
been erected it has created dissatisfaction with the old hovels
in surrounding districts and caused a demand for better
houses throughout the county.
State Colored Normal Schools.—Upon the recommenda-tion
of the State Superintendent and the unanimous recom-mendation
of the State Board of Examiners, the State
Board of Education consolidated the seven State colored
normal schools into four, located at Winston, Elizabeth City,
Franklinton and Fayetteville. Upon the unanimous recom-mendation
of the State Board of Examiners these four schools
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 23
have been placed under the supervision of Mr. Charles L.
Coon, formerly Superintendent of the Salisbury City Schools.
He is a competent, trained, experienced teacher. The course
of study has been re-arranged "with a view, first to giving
thorough instruction in the common school branches required
by lav to lie taught in the public schools, and, second, to pro-viding
for industrial training. Under the new management
it will be sought to make these schools real training schools
for the negro teachers of the State, to give these teachers a
thorough knowledge of the subjects required to be taught in
the public schools and to instil into them wise and sane ideas
of education for their race that they may in turn be prepared
to give the children of their race, through the public schools,
such training and such ideals as will better fit them for the
work that they must do in the world and for usefulness in
their sphere of action.
The annual appropriation to these schools is $13,000, or
$3,250 for each school. This is barely more than sufficient
to pay the current annual expenses. The schools have no per-manent
plant. Not even the houses in which they are con-ducted
belong to the State. By consolidation we have been
able to get more money for each school and to employ stronger
teaching force for better work. We hope, also, to be able by
economical management to save about $3,000 from the en-tire
appropriation this year to put into a permanent plant
and to begin to develop departments of domestic science and
industrial training. Departments of this sort of work have
already been commenced in a small way. It is manifest,
however, that these schools cannot be permanent and cannot
do the work that they ought to do without some sort of a
permanent plant and equipment. I would recommend,
therefore, that an annual appropriation of $5,000 for four
years be made for buildings and equipment and the develop-ment
of the departments of domestic science and industrial
training in these schools. If $2,000 or $3,000 can be saved
24 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
by the strictest economy from the annual appropriation, this
appropriation of $5,000 a year would give about $8,000 a
year to be put into a permanent plant and equipment. In
the course of four or five years we could in this way secure a
fairly good permanent plant for each of these schools. I
believe, also, that with a promise of $5,000 from the State,
Ave could raise by private subscription a considerable amount
from the citizens of the communities in which these schools
are now located in order to retain the permanent location of
them.
STATISTICAL SUMMARY OF TWO-YEARS PROGRESS, 1902-1904.
1902. 1904.
RAISED BY LOCAL TAXATION.
$161,363.62 $338,819.57
PUBTLIC SCHOOL FUND.
$1,484,921.34 $1,901,515.55
VALUE OF PUBLIC SCHOOL PROPERTY.
$1,466,770 $1,908,675
SPENT FOR NEW HOUSES.
$56,207.60 $179,679,38
SCHOOL POPULATION.
659,718 686,009
ENROLLMENT.
464,921 489,935
AVERAGE ATTENDANCE.
269,003 293,874
AVERAGE SALARY OF WHITE TEACHERS PER MONTH.
$26.78 $29.05
NUMBER OF RURAL SCHOOL LIBRARIES.
467 877
VOLUMES IN LIBRARIES.
32,640 83,315
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 25
VALUE OF LIBRARIES.
$12,660 $26,310
NUMBER OF SCHOOL DISTRICTS.
8,115 7,674
STATISTICAL SUMMARY OF FOUR-YEARS PROGRESS, 1900-1904.
1000. j 1004.
SCHOOL TERM.
14.6 weeks 17.0 weeks
NUMBER LOCAL TAX DISTRICTS.
30 220
RAISED BY LOCAL TAXATION.
$185,000 $377,481.25
PUBLIC SCHOOL FUND EXCLUSIVE OF LOCAL TAXES.
$1,193,745 $1,777,624
VALUE OF PUBLIC SCHOOL PROPERTY.
$1,153,311 $1,008,675
SPENT FOR NEW HOUSES.
$40,711 $170,670.38
NUMBER LOG HOUSES.
1,132 508
DISTRICTS WITHOUT HOUSES.
053 527
SCHOOL POPULATION.
650,620 686,000
ENROLLMENT.
400,452 480,035
AVERAGE ATTENDANCE.
206,018 203,874
SALARY WHITE TEACHERS.
$24.70 $20.05
NUMBER SCHOOL LIBRARIES.
877
26 BIENNIAL RErOIJT OF THE
VOLUMES IN LIBRARIES.
83,315
Total decrease in school districts 1902-'04 441
Total number new school-houses built, 1902-'04 1,015
Amount of Loan Fund lent for building public school-houses,
1903-'04 (to June 30, 1904) $83,736
Number counties to which loans have been made (to
date) 70
Number districts in which houses have been built
through aid of Loan Fund (to date) 325
Total value of houses built through aid of Loan
Fund $349,406
II. COMPARATIVE PROGRESS AND RELATIVE EDUCA-TIONAL
POSITION SHOWN BY TABLE OF COMPARA-TIVE
STATISTICS WITH OTHER STATES.
In the above statement of the simple facts about the edu-cational
work and progress of the past two years may be found
cause for hope and thankfulness but not for boastfulness.
It must not be forgotten that the State has been far behind
in educational facilities and that other States already far
in advance of her are also making rapid educational pro-gress.
Instead of comparing our present progress with our
past and indulging in self-congratulation upon the encourag-ing
comparison, it will be wiser to compare our present edu-cational
status with that of the States surrounding us and let
the comparison, disagreeable as it may be, stimulate us to
renewed efforts to improve our relative condition and change
our relative position in the educational column. I beg, there-fore,
to call your attention to the following table showing the
comparative progress and relative educational position of
North Carolina among the Southern States
:
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION.
28 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
AMOUNT RAISED FOR SCHOOLS.
State.
Virginia
North Carolina -
South Carolina--
Georgia
Florida
Alabama
Mississippi
Louisiana
Texas
Arkansas
Tennessee
United States—
OT
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 29
tion to some of this work and to make some suggestion? about
ways and means of doing it.
School-houses.—There are still 527 houseless school dis-tricts
to be supplied with houses. There are 508 log houses
and scores of old frame houses unfit for use to be replaced.
There are hundreds of old houses to be repaired, enlarged,
equipped and beautified. Some conception of the work still
to be done in improving and replacing old houses may be
formed from the following facts and figures taken from the
applications for aid from the Loan Fund. In the districts
applying for aid from this fund for better houses, 94 houses
replaced by aid of these loans were valued at less than $50
each. In many counties the average value of public school-houses
is less than $125 and in some less than $60. These
figures speak with tragic eloquence of the vast work still to
be done in building and improving public school-houses.
In every county there should be a strict enforcement of
the law placing the building of school-houses under the con-trol
of the County Board of Education, and requiring all new
school-houses to be constructed in accordance with plans ap-proved
by the County Board of Education and the State Su-perintendent
of Public Instruction. The law requiring the
contract for building to be in writing and the house to be
inspected, received and approved by the County Superintend-ent
before full payment is made should also be rigidly en-forced.
ISTo more money should be allowed to be wasted on
cheap, temporary, improperly constructed houses. If prop-erly
enforced, the law is ample to insure the construction of
permanent, comfortable school-houses and to prevent the im-positions
of inefficient carpenters.
School Districts and Consolidation.—There are still about
2,427 white districts that have less than sixty-five children
of school age. Hundreds of these small districts are still
unnecessary and should be abolished by consolidation. There
are many other districts containing more than sixty-five
BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
children, but of small territory, that for economy and for
the efficiency of the schools ought to be consolidated. There
are still 5,336 white districts and 2,317 colored districts.
The average size of the white school district in the State is
only 9.1 square miles, so that the work of consolidation, as
you may readily see, is scarcely more than well begun. The
number of white school districts could be decreased to half the
present number and the average size could be increased to
double the present area and still, as a little calculation will
show, in a district of fairly regular size, with a school-house
near the centre, the farthest child would be within three miles
of the house. The large majority of the children would, of
course, be much nearer than this. The decrease in the num-ber
of school districts means an increase in the money for each
district, an increase in the number of childern in each school,
an increase in the number of schools with more than one
teacher, a better classification of the children, a reduction
in the number of classes necessary for each teacher, an in-crease
in the time that each teacher can give to each class,
a concentration of the energies of the teacher upon fewer
subjects, a stimulation of the children to greater effort by
the greater competition of larger numbers, an enlargement
of the course of study resulting from better classification,
and more teachers rendering possible instruction in the
higher as well as the lower branches and preparation for
college or for life at home in the rural schools.
My experience and my observation of the results of con-solidation,
wherever it has been adopted under fairly favor-able
conditions, have but strengthened me in my former
views and have deepened the conviction that we must find
some way to get rid of the multiplicity of little school dis-tricts
before any great progress can be made toward better
classification and more thorough and comprehensive instruc-tion
in the public schools.
Upon this question of consolidation I beg to repeat the sub-
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 31
stance of what was said on this subject in my former bien-nial
report, changing' the figures to correspond with the later
reports.
Our territory is large, and our population is comparatively
sparse. For these reasons the problem of properly dividing
the counties and townships into school districts is very diffi-cult.
In North Carolina there are 39 inhabitants for every
square mile. The school population constitutes about 36 per
cent, of the entire population, making an average of about
13 school population to the square mile. The average of
population to the square mile of territory for the Xorth At-lantic
Division of States is 129.8. The average for Massa-chusetts
is 348.9. A small population scattered over a large
area necessitates a large number of school districts and
schools. The number of districts and schools is largely in-creased,
in some sections doubled, by the necessity of main-taining
separate schools for the two races. It is difficult for
States that have a much larger population, a much smaller
territory, a much greater school fund, and a single system of
schools, to realize the startling magnitude and difficulty of
our task of maintaining on a much smaller fund a much
larger number of schools for a much smaller population com-posed
of two races, in a much larger territory. Yet this
is the task that confronts us in North Carolina.
It is natural that every man should desire to have a school
as near his house as possible for the convenience of his chil-dren.
But no wise parent can afford to sacrifice the efficiency
of the school for convenience of location, and no unselfish,
patriotic citizen will seek to sacrifice the greatest good to the
greatest number for a small advantage to his own little family
circle. If any should seek so unwise and selfish an end, the
just laws of a great State should thwart his purpose.
Tuder present conditions in Xorth Carolina, with a small
school fund, a sparse, largely rural population, and an im-mense
territory, it is absolutely necessary for the efficiency
32 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
of the schools and the greatest good to the greatest number of
children that there should be the smallest possible number of
districts and schools. This will of course necessitate larger
districts and longer walks, but a child can better afford to
walk several miles to a good school than to attend a poor one
at his gate.
While recognizing the necessity growing out of our pe-culiar
conditions for more, and therefore smaller, school dis-tricts
and schools than would be required under different
conditions, an examination of the facts revealed in the reports
of Connty Superintendents forces me to the conclusion that
there is an unnecessary multiplication of small districts in
the State, and that the number could be greatly decreased
with great benefit to the educational interest of the State
without interfering with the right of any child to be within
reasonable reach of some school.
Sixty-five children is the minimum number fixed by law
for each new district, except for sparsity of population and
peculiar geographical conditions, and this is also the mini-mum
number recognized by the special act of the Legislature
appropriating $100,000 to aid weak districts to have a four
months school.
The reports of County Superintendents show that about
45 per cent., nearly one-half, of the white school districts
of the State, and about 42 per cent, of the colored districts,
contain less than sixty-five children of school age, the mini-mum
fixed by law. This minimum is either too great, or
the total number of small districts is unreasonably large.
The applications for aid from the special appropriation
for a four months school term in weak districts reveal the
fact that 59 per cent, of the white districts and 60 per cent.
of the colored districts applying contain less than sixty-five
children. Is it difficult to see the chief cause of weakness
in these districts %
Is it not a simple business proposition that with a given
SUPERINTENDENT OF TUBL1C INSTRUCTION. 33
fund to be divided among a number of districts and schools,
the smaller the number of districts and schools the larger
the amount of money for each district and school, the larger
the number of districts and schools the smaller the amount
of money for each district and school ? Is not this proposition
as plain as the simple principle of division, that, with a fixed
dividend, the larger the divisor, the smaller the quotient,
the smaller the divisor the larger the quotient? Is it not
equally plain that the larger the amount of money for each
district or school, the better the house, the longer the term it
can have? In larger districts, with more teachers in one
school, better graded, each teacher could teach more children
in fewer classes with more time for each class at smaller ex-pense
for house and fuel. There would be the increased en-thusiasm,
pride and ambition that naturally result from the
assembling of a larger number of children and teachers for a
common purpose and the rubbing together of many minds.
Do not, then, economy and common sense dictate the reduc-tion,
by reasonable consolidation, of the number of districts
or schools in each county to the smallest possible number con-sistent
with the right of every child to be within reasonable
reach of some school ?
I am not unmindful of the difficulties of this problem, nor
am I unsympathetic with the objections of parents to remov-ing
the school-house farther from the children, nor am I i^no-rant
of the necessity for small districts in some instances on
account of peculiar geographical conditions. I am satisfied,
however, that with reasonable effort the number of districts
can be largely decreased and the efficiency of the schools
largely increased by consolidation. It does not seem a great
hardship for children that would work on the farm six or
eight hours a day, if they remained at home, to have to walk
two or even sometimes three miles to school. Sensible parents
would be willing for their children to walk farther to get bet-ter
advantages.
3
34 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
The best argument for consolidation, however, is to be
found in the practical successful workings of it where it has
been tried. Concrete examples are always more valuable
than theoretical declarations. Without going into details, I
have no hesitation in saying that the sentiment for consolida-tion
is growing all over the State, and almost without excep-tion
wherever it has been tried it has resulted in better
school-houses, better teachers, longer terms, increased attend-ance,
increased pride in the school on the part of patrons,
and a finer school spirit on the part of the children.
• Extravagance and Unwisdom of a Multiplicity of Little
Districts.—I beg now to call your attention to some facts and
figures taken from the applications for aid from the second
hundred thousand dollars for a four months school that
ought to convince any unprejudiced mind of the extrava-gance,
injustice and foolishness of a multiplicity of little
districts. In 1904, 2,723 white districts and 886 colored dis-tricts
asked aid from the special appropriation for a four
months school term. One thousand two hundred and forty-one
or 45.5 per cent, of these white districts contained less than
sixty-five children of school age; 445, or 50 per cent, of
these colored districts contained less than sixty-five children
of school age. Let me illustrate by a few typical counties:
In Davidson County forty white districts asked aid, 28 of
these contained less than sixty-five children. Xine of these
had less than fifty. In one district the average attendance
was I41/0, the total cost of the school was $95, the cost per
child enrolled was $4.75, the cost per child in average attend-ance
$6.55. In Harnett County 59 white districts asked for
aid, 27 of these contained less than sixty-five children; 27
colored districts asked for aid, 16 of these contained less than
sixty-five children. One district enrolled only nine children,
with an average attendance of only six. The average cost
of each child enrolled was $8.88, the average cost of each
child in daily attendance in this school was $13.3:). In
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 35
Hyde County, 30 white districts asked for aid, 22 of these
contained less than sixty-five children. In one district only
14 were enrolled and only 12 in average daily attendance.
The cost of the school was $104. The cost per child enrolled
was $7.42, the cost per child in average attendance $8.66.
This district asked the State for $83.30 for a four months
school. In McDowell Comity 42 white districts asked for
aid, 21 of these contained less than sixty-five children. One
district had an enrollment of only ten and an average attend-ance
of only eight. The cost of this school was $80, the cost
per child enrolled $8, the cost per child in daily attendance
$10. Montgomery County asked aid for 55 white districts,
36 of these contained less than sixty-five children, 14 of them
contained less than 40, three contained less than thirty and
one less than twenty. In one district the cost of the school
for four months was $100. The cost per child enrolled/was
$9, the cost per child in daily attendance $10. In Onslow
County 22 white districts asked aid, 12 of these contained
less than sixty-five children, one district contained only
twelve children with an enrollment of twelve and an average
daily attendance of 9 1-3. The cost of the school in this dis-trict
was $113.68, the cost per child enrolled was $9.47,
the cost per child in daily attendance was $11.96. In Tyr-rell
County 14 districts asked for aid, 13 of these contained
less than sixty-five children. One district had only four
children enrolled, with an average daily attendance of 3%.
The school cost $84 for the four months. The cost per child
enrolled, therefore, was $21. Another district in this county
reported a census of only 17 children, an enrollment of 12
and an average daily attendance of 11. The teacher was
paid $23.50 per month. The State was asked for $36.50
for a four months term. The cost per child enrolled would
have been $7.85, the cost per child in average daily attend-ance
was $8.56. Similar illustrations could be multiplied
from other counties asking aid for a four months school.
36 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
I beg to call your careful attention to the table in this
report showing the apportionment of the second hundred
thousand dollars. It is not difficult to see that the chief
cause of the weakness of these districts requiring aid from
the State for a four months school is the smallness of the
district.
The second hundred thousand dollars to aid weak districts
to secure a four months school term ought to be continued.
Without it, it will be impossible to get anything like a four
months school term in many counties of the State. Even
with it, it will be impossible to secure a four months school
in many counties and pay a living salary to teachers, in fact
such a salary as will command even an average teacher, un-less
some means shall be found to reduce largely the number
of school districts in these counties. The fact is that even
under the amended law restricting the salary of teachers in
districts asking aid from this appropriation to the average
salary paid white teachers in the State, $28.63 in 1903, and
the average salary paid colored teachers, $22.36 in 1903,
twenty-eight counties in North Carolina could not get a four
months school term in every district, and the average school-term
for the entire State was only 17 weeks for white
and 16.01 weeks for colored, notwithstanding a number
of counties have a school term of from five to seven months,
increasing the general average. If all these little districts
are to be continued, and the State is to be required to support
them by special appropriation, I see no hope of materially
lengthening the school term, and little hope of getting even a
four months school in every district in all the counties with
any reasonable State appropriation. If the^e little districts
are to be allowed to continue and to employ, largely at the ex-pense
of the State, a teacher for eight or ten or fifteen or
twenty children, when, under a proper districting of the
county and a proper gradation and classification of the
schools, one teacher could more easily teach from twenty-five
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION". 37
to thirty-five children and get far better results, I see little
hope of increasing the teachers' salaries and getting and
keeping better teachers in many of the counties of the State*.
If these little districts are allowed to continue and to have at
the expense of the State as long a school term as the larger
districts, I see little hope of getting rid of many of them.
The special act appropriating the second hundred thou-sand
dollars now provides "that no school with a school cen-sus
of less than sixty-five shall receive any benefit under
this act, unless the formation and continuance of such dis-trict
shall have been for good and sufficient reasons, to-wit,
sparse population or peculiar geographical conditions such
as intervening streams, swamps or mountains, said reasons
to be set forth in an affidavit by the Chairman of the County
Board of Education and the County Superintendent of
Schools and to be approved by the State Superintendent of
Public Instruction." I have required this affidavit in every
instance in regard to every district containing less than
sixty-five children. I would not intimate that good and
honorable men like the chairmen of the County Boards of
Education and the County Superintendents of Schools would
consciously make affidavit to what was untrue, but I am
forced to believe that if 45.5 per cent, of all the white school
districts and 50 per cent, of all the colored school districts
asking aid from this fund must contain less than sixty-five
children of school age for the reasons mentioned in this law,
the population in these counties must be marvellously sparse
and the geographical conditions marvelously peculiar. I
must think that these men who make these affidavits are in
some instances not fully familiar with the conditions, and,
if the county has been so divided into districts as to make
this many small districts necessary for geographical reasons,
as sworn to in this affidavit, then I am confident that in many
counties there is need for a wise redistricting of the whole
county in order to avoid the necessity of so many little dis-tricts.
38 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
As I have said in another part of this report, we cannot
reasonably hope for much improvement in the teachers with-out
an increase in the teachers' salaries. With this large
number of little districts we find it impossible to get a four
months school term even on present salaries. A little cal-culation
will suggest the difficulty of increasing the teacher's
salary to a living price unless the number of school districts
can be reduced. In 1904 there were 5,336 white rural dis-tricts
in the State and 5,448 white schools taught. In view
of the increased cost of living and of the compensation paid
for other sorts of work, any reasonable man will agree that
any fairly competent teacher ought to receive not less than
$30 per month and that the average salary ought to be not
less than $35 per month. In fact, I doubt if an average
salary of $35 per month for teachers now is equal in pur-chasing
value to the average salary of $28 paid white teach-ers
in the State in the days of Calvin H. Wiley, thirty-five
years ago. At an average salary of $35 per month, allow-ing
only one teacher to the school, it would require $762,720
to pay the salaries of white teachers for a four months school
term. At least one-fourth of the white schools, however,
need at least two teachers. Allowing $25 a month for the
assistant teachers in these schools, it would require $136,-
200 for their salaries, making the total expense of teachers'
salaries for the white schools for a four months term at these
low average monthly salaries $890,920. The amount paid
white teachers in 1904 was $759,206.67, therefore, to pay
the white teachers even these reasonable salaries would re-quire
for a four months school term in every white district
$131,714 more than we paid to white teachers in 1904.
The average salary paid white teachers in 1904 was only
$29.05. At this average salary for every white teacher of
the State at least $791,322 would be required for teachers'
salary alone for a four months school in all the white schools
of the State. In 1904 only $759,206.67 was spent for white
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 39
teachers' salaries, so that to have a four months school term
in all the white schools at 'an average salary of only $29.05
a month would require $32,115.33 more than was spent for
salaries of white teachers last year. This leaves out of con-sideration
entirely the colored schools. It is apparent, there-fore,
to any thoughtful man that but little can be done in
lengthening the school term, in increasing the teacher's sal-ary,
and in improving the efficiencv of the teacher and of
the work in these counties with so many little districts un-less
something can be done to decrease the number of dis-tricts.
A waste of money in paying inefficient teachers
meager salaries to teach inefficient schools with only eight,
ten, twelve or fifteen or twenty pupils in attendance ought
to be stopped somehow. The onlv wTay to stop it is by rea-sonable
consolidation of districts, and, if necessary, by a wise
redistricting of townships and counties. To illustrate : If
two little districts with an average attendance of twenty pu-pils
each, paying the teacher of each $25 a month, could
be consolidated into one district with an average attendance
of forty children no more classes would be required, and one
teacher could manage forty about as well as each teacher of
the little schools managed twenty. The teacher could be paid
a reasonable salary of $40 a month, which would secure a
more efficient teacher, and $10 a month would be saved to
the school fund. In other words, the consolidated school
would have a more efficient teacher at a better salary at an
expense of $10 a month less.
The inevitable conclusion from these facts and figures,
then, is that if the large number of small districts continues,
the school fund will have to be very largely increased in
order to secure a four months school taught by competent
teachers at reasonable salaries. The constitutional limitation
of taxation having been reached, the general school fund can-not
be increased except by special State appropriation, and
in these little districts the increase by local taxation, even if
adopted, would be insignificant.
40 BIENNIAL KEPOKT OF THE
There is, of course, great need for judgment and tact
in the management of this problem, but there is also need for
firmness and justice and a consideration of the greatest good
to the greatest number. The people should be reasoned
with, persuaded and led. Superintendents, Boards of Edu-cation
and committees should acquaint themselves fully with
the facts, the geographical conditions, the population of the
districts, the location and condition of the school-houses, and
should set about the work of consolidation, where the condi-tions
are favorable and the facts justify it, with intelligence
and prudence. The work should be done systematically. The
interest of the entire county should be kept in view. Every
Board of Education should have a carefully prepared map of
the county for guidance in consolidation and redistricting.
Where consolidation seems necessary and advantageous, the
people of the districts ought to be consulted, some influential
citizens interested and set to work in these communities, a
public meeting probably called, and the benefits and necessity
of the proposed consolidation pointed out. Where a new
house is needed, or an old one is unsatisfactory or needs
repair, consolidation of districts could frequently be encour-aged
by Boards of Education by proposing to build a better
house in the center of a larger district if the people will agree
to consolidation.
I realize the difficulty of changing the location of a school-house
after a district has been formed and people conven-iently
located to the school have become attached to it, but I
believe that many of these people could be reasoned with,
shown the advantages of consolidation, and induced to con-sent
thereto. I am satisfied that, after adoption under favor-able
conditions, the benefits will be so apparent as to over-come
opposition and stimulate consolidation in surrounding
districts. It will not be wise, I think, to force consolidation.
It will be wiser to set about systematically to create senti-ment
for it where it is needed, and bring it about as rapidly
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 41
as conditions and public sentiment will permit. Eash and
radical action in defiance of the wishes of the people is
always unwise, and invariably results in harmful reaction.
In many counties considerable time will be necessary to con-solidate
all the small districts that ought to be consolidated,
after a careful study of the entire situation. The work
ought to be wisely planned at once in every county, and
pushed as rapidly, prudently and tactfully as possible.
The best test of consolidation and the best argument for it
are to be found in the practical workings of it. Below will
be found a few typical reports from consolidated districts
:
REPORTS ON CONSOLIDATION.
To the County Superintendent
:
Kindly fill in fully and accurately all of the following blanks, one for
each consolidated district, and return to me at the earliest possible date.
This information will be the best argument in favor of consolidation.
It is my desire to incorporate it in my report and later in a bulletin.
J. Y. JOYNER,
Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Wilkes County, 7 Edwards' District, December 15, 1904.
Number of districts consolidated, 2.
42 BIENNIAL KEPORT OF THE
Observations on Consolidation: (a) effect upon public sentiment for
consolidation and local taxation in the community and surrounding
communities; (b) effect on interest and enthusiasm of pupils; (c) effect
upon classification and gradation; (d) effect upon instruction in higher
branches; (e) other observations:
The result of consolidation is that public sentiment has been created
for better schools, better teachers and higher salaries—in fact, for all
that its most ardent advocates hoped.
C. C. WRIGHT,
County Superintendent.
Yadkin County, Liberty No. 2 District, December 16, 1904.
Number of districts consolidated, .
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION.
Durham County, Watts District, December 16, 1904.
Number of districts consolidated, 2.
44 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
SCHOOLS AND SCHOOL DISTRICTS.
The following table shows the comparative sizes and population of
school districts in the Southern States:
State.
Virginia
North Carolina-
South Carolina -
Georgia
Florida
Alabama
Mississippi
Louisiana
Texas
Arkansas
Tennessee
8S5
6,693
5,336
2,508
4,681
1,818
3,863
4,175
2,341
8,207
bo
2,272
2,338
2,096
2,752
652
1,869
2,877
1.092
2,377
6,205 1,542
.5s
<«
40,125
48,580
30, 170
58,980
54,240
51,540
46,340
45,420
262.290
53,045
41,750
> o
5.9
9.7
12.0
12.6
29.8
13.3
11.0
19.4
31.9
6.7
o
hi-;
£§
> X
o g
** bo
2!
Z
<!
17.6
20.8
14.4
21.4
83.1
27.5
16.1
41.6
110.3
27.
10.5
9.5
3.2
6.2
1.8
6.6
5.3
2.2
6.6
14.0
6.6
4.6
4.0
5.7
1.3
4.0
4.8
0.62
2.7
4.6
Year.
1902-'03
1903-'04
1902- '03
1902-'03
1901-'02
1901-'02
1902-'03
1902-'03
1901-'02
1901- '02
1902-'03
Better Classification and More Thorough Instruction.—
A
recent inquiry concerning the course of study and the classifi-cation
of pupils in the public schools of the State reveals a
great lack of uniformity and, in some counties of the State,
a somewhat chaotic condition. I sent to all County Superin-tendents
blanks for reports of the daily programs and of the
progress made by the various classes. These blanks were
sent to the public school-teachers and the Superintendents
were requested to send the best ten to my office. A careful
examination of these and a compilation of their contents
showed that the average number of recitations in the school
with one teacher undertaking to give instruction in all sub-jects
required by law to be taught in the public schools varied
from 35 to 55.
In order to give instruction in all the subjects the teach-ing
of which is made mandatory under the law, at least 21
recitations a day will be required. The legal length of a
school day is six hours, hence an average of only twelve min-utes
could be allotted to a recitation in any school with only
one teacher. The folly of even expecting thorough and sue-
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 45
cessful instruction in this many subjects in this many classes
by one teacher is apparent without argument. The need for
a better classification so as to reduce the classes to the
smallest possible number, thereby giving the longest possible
time to each class, is also apparent. Owing to the different
ages of the children, ranging from six to twenty-one years,
and the different degrees of advancement, about as many
classes will be necessary in a school with one teacher as in
a school with two or more teachers, the chief difference being,
of course, in the number of children in a class. Unless some
means, therefore, can be found for increasing the number
of schools with two or more teachers and decreasing the num-ber
of schools with only one teacher, I see but little hope of
successful instruction in any of the high school branches or
of improving materially the instruction even in the ele-mentary
branches known as the common school branches.
It is apparent that in a well-classified school with two or
three teachers, with few if any more classes than a school
with one teacher, each teacher will have two or three times
as much time for each class, and will be able to concentrate
his thought and energies upon fewer classes and subjects
and, consequently, to do more thorough teaching in those
subjects, and that at least one of the teachers would have
time for instruction of the older children in the higher
branches. I have been so firmly convinced of the impossi-bility
of thorough instruction by one teacher in more than
the elementary branches, that I have advised in the preface
to the Course of Study that only in exceptional cases should
instruction in any higher branches ever be undertaken in
any school with only one teacher.
The only means of reducing the number of schools with
only one teacher and getting more schools with two or more
teachers and the better classification, more thorough instruc-tion
and more advanced work so necessary for the growth
and development of our public school system are to be found
46 BIENNIAL KEPOET OF THE
in reasonable consolidation and local taxation. By means
of consolidation more teachers and more children can be
brought together into one school, and by means of local taxa-tion
more money will be available for the employment of
more teachers at better salaries and for the lengthening of
the school term. In the meantime, through the adoption of
the graded course of study heretofore referred to, and its
enforcement in all the public schools, the work of the public
schools can be greatly improved in uniformity, definiteness,
thoroughness and classification.
Public High Schools.—It is the purpose of the Depart-ment
of Public Instruction to prepare and send out in pam-phlet
form in the near future a course of study in the higher
branches. The course of study heretofore sent out covers
only seven grades, or seven years' work, including instruc-tion
only in the common school branches required to be
taught by section 37 of the Public School Law, instruction
in which must be provided first in every public school. The
law, however, allows instruction to be given in other
branches after instruction in these has been provided. No
course of public instruction is complete or adequate to the
demands of the age that leaves a gap between the public
school and the college.
The public schools of North Carolina cannot command the
full confidence and patronage of the people, or hope to offer
to the children of the State educational opportunities equal
to those offered by the public schools of most of the States in
the Union, unless instruction in the higher branches, as well
as in the elementary branches, is provided in these schools.
Every child has the right to have the chance to develop to
the fullest every faculty that God has endowed him with.
It is to the highest interest of every State to place within
the reach of every child this chance. By the evidence of the
experience of all civilized lands of the past and the present,
the study of the higher branches is necessary for the fullest
SUPERINTENDENT OF TUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 47
development of these faculties. Instruction in these unless
provided in the public schools cannot be placed within reach
of nine-tenths of the children of North Carolina. If the great
masses of our people are to be limited in their education to
the elementary branches only, we cannot hope for any mate-rial
improvement in their intelligence and power, this State
cannot expect to compete successfully with those States that
have provided through such instruction in their public schools
for the highest and fullest development of all the powers of
all their people.
The old idea that instruction in the public schools must
be confined to the rudimentary branches only, or the three
R's, as they were called, was born of the old false notion
that the public schools were a public charity. This notion
put a badge of poverty upon the public school system that
was for many years the chief obstacle to the progress and
development of public education in North Carolina. The
notion still lingers in the minds of a few that at heart do
not believe in the power and the rights of the many. It has
no place in a real democracy. It must give place to that
truer idea, accepted now in all progressive States and lands,
that public education is the highest governmental function
—
in fact, the chief concern of a good government. This was
the conception of our wise old forefathers when they declared
in their Constitution that "Religion, morality and knowledge
being necessary to good government and the happiness of
mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever
be encouraged," and when they wrote into their Bill of
Rights, "The people have a right to the privilege of educa-tion,
and it is the duty of the State to guard and maintain
that right."
No man in this age will dare maintain that instruction
in the mere rudiments of learning can be called an educa-tion,
or that the people have been given the right to an educa-
48 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
tion when instruction in these branches only has been placed
within their reach. Under this broader democratic concep-tion
of public education and its function, the obligation of
the government to the poorest is as binding as its obligation
to the richest. The right of the poorest to the opportunity
of the fullest development is as inalienable as the right of
the richest. Good government and the happiness of man-kind
are as dependent upon the development of the fullest
powers of the poorest as upon the development of the fullest
powers of the richest. Where the Creator has hidden the
greatest powers no man can know till all have been given
the fullest opportunity to develop all that is in them. Every
tax payer, rich or poor, has an equal right to have an equal
chance for the fullest development of his children in a pub-lic
school with the fullest course of instruction that the State
in the discharge of its governmental function is able to pro-vide.
If our system of public schools is to take rank with the
modern progressive systems of other States and other lands,
to meet the modern demands for education and supply to
rich and poor alike equal educational opportunity, instruc-tion
in these higher branches, whereby preparation for col-lege
or for life may be placed within the easy reach of all,
must find a fixed and definite place in the system.
Public high schools constitute a part of every modern pro-gressive
system of public education. Many, perhaps a ma-jority,
of the public school children will not for years avail
themselves of these opportunities for higher work because
of lack of time, pressure of necessity and, in some cases, lack
of ability and desire for this higher training, but this is all
the more reason why all the smaller number that have the
capacity and the desire should also have the opportunity.
It is necessary, therefore, to begin to plan for the develop-ment
of the public school system in this direction, for the
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 4:9
establishment of public high schools in every county, for the
organization, successful direction and supervision of these
schools.
In all the cities of the State, except the city of Raleigh,
that have public schools partly maintained by local taxation,
in all the larger towns and in nearly all the rural special
tax districts, high school instruction has already, in a meas-ure,
been provided in the public schools. In many other rural
schools in the larger and wealthier counties instruction in
these higher branches is also provided, as will appear from
tables printed elsewhere in this report showing the number
studying different branches. This instruction, however,
is somewhat desultory and needs to be organized into a more
uniform, definite and connected system, better articulated
with the elementary schools on the one hand and the Univer-sity
and the colleges on the other. The course of study in
these higher branches now in preparation by the Department
of Public Instruction will, of course, be one step in this
direction. Some of the town and city graded schools already
have well organized high school departments that are send-ing
to the University and the various colleges of the State
every year some of the best prepared students at these insti-tutions.
It is a very noticeable fact that since the establish-ment
of these high school departments in connection with
the public schools in these communities, many more young
men and young women are attending college every year from
those communities, and there has been a wonderful increase
in interest in higher education and general culture.
In the majority of the rural districts, however, no ade-quate
provision has been made for the higher instruction of
the public school children, and in most of these, as pointed
out above, no provision can be made for such instruction
until we find a way to get more money and more teachers
by consolidation and local taxation, or by some other means.
We must begin, however, to mature a plan for placing such
4
50 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
instruction within the reach of all the children of the rural
districts. Surely these children, that constitute eight-tenths
of the entire school population of North Carolina, are enti-tled
to as good educational opportunities as the children of
the towns and cities. If the power of any free State dwells
in the many and not in the few, then it inevitably follows
that the State that hopes to reach the fullest development
of its power must provide for the fullest development of the
many. The time has already come in a number of our larger
and wealthier counties, and is not far distant in all the coun-ties
of the State, when here and there in the counties and in
the townships accessible public high schools must be pro-vided,
more or less centrally located and wisely articulated
with the numerous elementary schools now existing in the
rural districts.
I am not now prepared to submit a matured plan for this
work, and we are perhaps not yet prepared for the successful
execution of such a plan in the entire State, though I believe
that we are prepared to begin the working out of this prob-lem
in some of the wealthier and more populous counties.
It is a problem, however, that must be dealt with prudently
and wisely, and the Superintendent of Public Instruction
should like to have an opportunity of studying the problem
carefully before making definite recommendations or offer-ing
an outline of a plan. In order to do this, he would like
to have the opportunity and the means of visiting sections of
the country where this problem has been worked out with
more or less success and of studying the school system of those
sections. He can do this in connection with the study of
the problem discussed in the next division of this report, if
the recommendation suggested in that division for providing
the means meets with favorable action from your Excellency
and the General Assembly.
Industrial Education.—The foundation of all education
is, of course, a mastery of the rudiments of knowledge, the
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 51
elementary branches of reading, writing and arithmetic. A
knowledge of these, and the training and development which
comes from the effort necessary for the acquisition of such a
knowledge, are absolutely essential for every human being.
It is folly to talk about higher education or special training
along any line for any useful sphere of life or work until
the schools have provided at least this much instruction.
When, according to the last census report of the United
States, 19.5 per cent, of the white population and 47.6 per
cent, of the colored population, over ten years of age, in North
Carolina are still unable to read and write, it is painfully
manifest that we have not yet provided in our public
schools instruction for all our people in even the elements
of knowledge. That this is true is further manifest from
the facts set forth in this report as to the condition of the
school-houses in many districts, the number of districts with-out
houses, the number of one-teacher schools, the average
length of the school-term and the low average salary paid the
teachers. To provide even such facilities as we have, it has
been necessary to make a special State appropriation of two
hundred thousand dollars. We must, therefore, give our
chief attention to making adequate provision for doing thor-oughly
this foundation work. If the foundation be not well
laid first, the entire educational structure must fall to pieces.
Until we get money for this we cannot afford to divert much
time, money and energy into other channels. There is much
reason to hope that we are in sight at least of the accomplish-ment
of this. In some counties it has already been accom-plished.
It is well, therefore, to begin to look to the future and to
plan wisely for the development of our educational system
in other directions. I have already discussed the necessity
of begining to plan for its development along the line of
higher instruction for those who have the capacity and the
desire for this. Every complete educational system must
52 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
make provision also for that training in the school which
will give fitness for the more skillful performance of the mul-titudinous
tasks of the practical work of the world, the pur-suit
of which is the inevitable lot of the many, for that train-ing
which will connect the life and the instruction of the
school more closely with the life that they must lead, which
will better prepare them for usefulness and happiness in the
varied spheres in which they must move. All these spheres
are necessary to the well-being of a complex life like ours.
The Creator who has ordained all spheres of useful action has
not endowed all with the same faculties or fitted all for the
same sphere of action.
"We are all but parts of one stupendous whole,
Whose body Nature is, and God the soul."
Every wise system of education, therefore, must, beyond a
certain point of educational development, recognize natural
differences of endowment and follow to some extent the
lines of natural adaptation and tastes, thus co-operating
with Nature and God. The education that turns a life into
unnatural channels and into the pursuit of the unattainable
fills that life with discontent and dooms it to inevitable fail-ure
and tragedy. In recognition of these established laws
of Nature and life, manual training and industrial educa-tion
are beginning to find a fixed and permanent place in
systems of modern education. They have already been given
a place in some of the higher institutions of our public school
system—in the A. & M. College for the white race at Raleigh,
in the State Normal and Industrial College for Women at
Greensboro, and in the A. & M. College for the colored race
at Greensboro. Under the new supervision of Superintend-ent
Coon, industrial training will be emphasized in the State
Colored Normal Schools at Winston, Fayetteville, Elizabeth
City and Franklinton. Some of the city graded schools,
notably those of Durham, Asheville, Wilmington, Winston,
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 53
Greensboro and Charlotte, have introduced manual training
and industrial education.
This sort of education, however, must come as a growth,
a development of a general school system that provides first
for the intellectual mastery of those branches that are recog-nized
as essential for intelligent citizenship and workman-ship
everywhere. It must be remembered that the first essen-tial
difference between skilled labor and unskilled labor
is a difference of intelligence as well as of special train-ing;
that a skilled farmer must be first of all a thinking
man on the farm ; a skilled mechanic, a thinking man in
the shop ; that a skilled hand is but a hand with brains put
into it and finding expression through it, that without brains
put into it a man's hand is no more than a monkey's paw
;
that without brains applied to it a man's labor is on the same
dead level with the labor of the dull horse and the plodding
ox; that a man with a trained hand and nothing more is a
mere machine, a mere hand. The end of education is first
to make a man, not a machine.
It will be well to remember, also, that industrial education
is the most expensive sort of education on account of the
equipment necessary for it and the character of the teachers
required for it. Teachers prepared for successful instruction
in this sort of education must of course be in some sense
specialists in their line and always command good salaries.
For the majority of the public schools of the State, therefore,
with one-room school-houses without special equipment and
with one teacher without special training on an average salary
of $29.05 per month, with barely money enough for a four
months term and for instruction in the common school
branches, with more daily recitations already than can be
successfully conducted, industrial education and technical
training is at present impracticable.
A study of the history of this sort of education will show
that it has come as a later development after ample provision
54 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
had been made for thorough instruction in the lower and in
the higher branches of study, in those schools that were pro-vided
with school funds sufficient for instruction in the ordi-nary
school studies, for the expensive equipment, and for the
teachers trained especially for industrial and technical edu-cation.
In fact, I think it will be found that such education
has been provided first in the towns and cities and great cen-ters
of wealth and population or in institutions generously
supported by large State appropriations or by large endow-ments.
To undertake such education in the ordinary rural
schools of the State in their present condition, with their pres-ent
equipment, and with the meager funds available for them,
would result in burlesque and failure, and would, in my
opinion, set back for a generation or two this important work.
We might, however, begin to develop our public school
system in that direction in those communities and counties
where the conditions are favorable and the funds sufficient,
and we might begin to devise ways and means for providing
the necessary funds and making the conditions favorable in
other communities. I trust that means may soon be found
for the establishment in every county of at least one or more
schools for industrial training. This will require more
money, however, than is now available for public schools and
will probably require both county and State appropriations.
In the meantime, it is proper and wise to cultivate public
sentiment for this sort of education and to provide for it as
rapidly as we shall find ways and means for doing so. In
the meantime, also, we can continue to give in all our public
schools elementary instruction in agriculture and to encour-age
nature study in the schools among the pupils. An ad-mirable
little text-book on agriculture has been adopted for
use in public schools, and, in the course of study sent out,
simple nature study has been provided in every grade.
Perhaps even now we might begin in some counties and
some communities to try to work out successfully this prob-
SUPERINTENDENT OF TUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 55
lem. We must prepare to meet it and to meet it successfully.
The age is demanding more and more this sort of training.
The commercial and industrial development of the wonder-ful
resources of the State and the prosperity and happiness
of the great masses of the people are making it more and more
necessary. I believe that it would be wisdom on the part of
the General Assembly to make a small appropriation suf-ficient
to cover the actual expenses of the State Superintend-ent
so as to enable him to visit States and communities that
have in successful operation in their public schools this sort
of training and to study this problem, together with the prob-lem
of successful public high schools, that he may better pre-pare
himself for dealing wisely with both these problems by
acquainting himself with the successful experience of others.
He could perhaps embody the results of his observation and
study in a special report upon the subject.
It is the ambition of the State Superintendent to spare no
effort to aid his people in building up as good a system of pub-lic
schools as is to be found anywhere, a system that shall keep
abreast of the educational progress of the age so far as avail-able
funds shall render this possible. For the wisest direc-tion
of the great educational work of a great State, the head
of that work ought to have opportunity and means to visit
other States and lands and to observe and study the best in
other and more advanced systems of schools. It is not suf-ficient
for him simply to read about these things in books and
simply to know the conditions and needs of the work in his
own State. In the natural development of a growing system
of schools it becomes necessary to meet and solve new prob-lems
that have been met and solved successfully in other
places. It ought to be possible for the State Superintend-ent
to visit such places and better fit himself for dealing suc-cessfully
with these problems in his own work. The present
appropriation of five hundred dollars for his expenses barely
covers the actual necessary expenses of travel incident to the
56 BIENNIAL EEPOET OF THE
work in his own State, and the present salary is not sufficient
to warrant him in incurring the expense incident to visiting
other States and acquiring a broader knowledge of his work.
If your Excellency and the General Assembly deem it wise
and proper that such an appropriation shall be made, not in
any event to exceed a fixed amount of two hundred and fifty
dollars a year, the Superintendent will be glad to spend some
time during the next two years in studying in other States the
problems of public high schools, industrial and technical edu-cation,
and other problems that will be constantly presenting
themselves for solution in the rapid development of the pub-lic
school system of our State. A small appropriation of this
kind would also enable him to attend important educational
meetings in different parts of the country in which the State
and its educational work should be represented.
Improvement of Teachers.—Without the vitalizing touch
of a properly qualified teacher, houses, grounds and equip-ment
are largely dead mechanism. It is the teacher that
breathes the breath of life into the school. Better schools
are impossible without better teachers, Better teachers are
impossible without better education, better training, and bet-ter
opportunities for them to obtain such education and train-ing.
Better education and better training and the utiliza-tion
of better opportunities for these by teachers are impos-sible
without better pay for teachers. Reason as we may
about it, gush as we may about the nobility of the work and
the glorious rewards of it hereafter, back of this question of
better teachers must still lie the cold business question of
better pay.
The average salary of white teachers in jSTorth Carolina in
1904 was $29.05 ; the average salary of colored teachers was
$22.27 ; the average length of the school term was 17 weeks
for white and 16.01 weeks for colored; making the average
annual salary of white teachers in North Carolina, there-fore,
$123.46 and the average annual salary of colored
SUPERINTENDENT OF I'UBLIC INSTRUCTION. 57
teachers $89.13. For such meager salaries men and women
cannot afford to put themselves into the long and expensive
training necessary for the best equipment for this delicate
and difficult work of teaching. The State may supply the
best opportunities that the age affords for the training of the
teachers, but, as long as the rank and file of the teachers re-ceive
such meager salaries, these opportunities will be beyond
their reach and they must inevitably divide their attention
between the service of two masters to make even a bare liv-ing.
As long as they must work at some other business for
six or eight months of the year, and at the business of school-teaching
for only four or five "months, they can scarcely hope
to become professional and masterful teachers. The teacher
who does something else eight months of the year for a living
and teaches school four months of the year for extra money
must continue to be more of something else than of a teacher.
With short school terms, small salaries, poor school-houses
and other conditions adverse to success, we cannot hope to
command and retain first-class talent in this business of teach-ing
the rural schools, however good or however accessible the
opportunities for improving teachers may be made. We
must, in the outset, face the cold business truth that, as the
South conies more and more rapidly into her industrial and
agricultural heritage, and the channels of profitable employ-ment
multiply, the best men and women in the profession of
teaching cannot be retained in it, and little inducement will
be offered to other men and women of ambition, ability and
promise to enter it unless the compensation for the teacher's
service is made somewhat commensurate with that offered in
other fields of labor. As long as the annual salary paid the
teacher who works upon the immortal stuff of mind and soul
is less than that paid the rudest workers in wood and iron,
less than that paid the man that shoes your horse or plows
your corn or paints your house or keeps your jail, the best
talent cannot be secured and kept in the teaching profession,
58 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
the teaching profession must continue to be made in many in-stances
but a stepping-stone to more profitable employments
or a means of pensioning inefficient and needy mediocrity.
The first step, then, in the direction of improvement of
teachers is an increase in the salary of teachers so as to make
it worth the while of capable men and women to enter the
profession of teaching, to remain in it, to put themselves in
training for it, and to avail themselves of the opportunity
offered for improvement. An increase in the monthly com-pensation
and an increase in the annual school term are the
only two ways of increasing the teacher's salary. The only
means of increasing compensation and school term is by
increasing the available school funds for each school. The
only practical means of doing this under present conditions
is by consolidation and local taxation.
That the counties and districts that pay the best salaries
secure as a rule the best teachers is the best evidence that this
question of better teachers is largely a question of better
salaries. With the growth of educational sentiment and en-thusiasm
the demand for better teachers has grown, but every
community that demands a better teacher ought to remember
that the demand is unreasonable and unlikely to be met un-less
the means for better pay be provided by the community.
The raising of the standard of examination and gradation
of teachers will be ineffective, and perhaps unfair, unless it
is accompanied with a corresponding increase in the wages
of teachers. Of what avail will it be to raise the require-ments
without raising the compensation, when even now, with
the present low standard of qualifications, it is almost impos-sible
in many counties to get enough teachers to teach the
schools, and when even now the same qualifications will com-mand
much better compensation in almost any other vocation.
The logical result of raising the standard of examination
and gradation without raising the prices paid would be to
decrease the supply of teachers and render it practically im-
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 59
possible to supply the schools with teachers. An increase in
the requirements for teaching-, a multiplication of the oppor-tunities
for the improvement of teachers, and a mandatory
requirement of teachers to avail themselves of these oppor-tunities,
must in all reason and fairness be accompanied by
a cm-responding increase in salary. Better work deserves
and commands better pay.
Improvement of Count}/ Institutes and Summer Schools.—
In the meantime, some means must be found for placing at
small expense within easy reach of the rank and file of the
teachers the best possible opportunities for improvement
under present conditions. These opportunities must be car-ried
to the teachers. They cannot afford to go far nor to spend
much money to get them. I am satisfied, therefore, that the
county institute and summer school is at present the only
practical means of reaching and helping the majority of the
poorly paid rural public-school teachers of the State. These
institutes shrmld be a combination of an institute and a sum-mer
school, affording the teachers an opportunity to increase
their knowledge of the subjects taught and to learn by prac-tical
talks and object lessons better ways of teaching them.
They should continue not less than two weeks nor more than
a month. They should be held in every county at least once
in two years and attendance upon them should be, as now,
compulsory.
Heretofore the work of these institutes has been desultory.
There has been no systematic or uniform plan of work.
There has been no progressive and continuous development
in the work. The institutes have been conducted by different
teachers in different ways in different counties each year,
sometimes conducted by men and women without experience
or special fitness for such work, generally conducted by teach-ers
with whom this work is a mere incident to their regular
work adopted as a means of supplementing their salaries
during the vacation months. Four or five thousand dol-
60 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
lars are spent annually by the counties in this desultory
work. Section 26 of the School Law now vests in the
State Superintendent the power to appoint the institute con-ductors
and provides for the appropriation of not more than
two hundred dollars by each county for institute work. If
this section were amended so as to require each county to
appropriate at least two hundred dollars for a county institute
and summer school once in two years, the State Superin-tendent
has in mind a plan by which he could easily organ-ize
this institute and summer school work upon such a
basis as would enable him to employ trained men for it who
could make it their main business and not a mere side issue,
who would be able to make themselves more expert and ef-ficient
in every way.
Under this plan the work could be organized in such a
way as to supplement and give effectiveness to the profes-sional
work carried on through the manuals for teachers,
issued as bulletins from time to time by the State Depart-ment
of Public Instruction. A systematic, progressive course
of institute work could be arranged and put into successful
execution whereby the teachers would receive credit for
the work done each year, and the same teachers, after hav-ing
completed one year's work, would not be required to
go over the same ground in the next institute. The suc-cessful
completion of the entire course of two or three years
of institute and summer school work might lead to the
issuance of longer term certificates valid in other counties
of the State, and possibly to excusing from future compulsory
attendance upon county institutes and summer schools. In
this way definiteness and direction could be given to this
work, more incentive would be given the teachers to attend
and greater benefits in every way would be derived by at-tendance.
Much less difficulty, I have no doubt, would be
experienced in securing attendance and there would be much
less complaint about compulsory attendance.
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 61
Under this plan the institute and summer school work
would cost but little more than it now costs. It is now
costing from $4,000 to $5,000 a year for institutes in not
more than fifty-four counties a year. Under this plan the
cost would not exceed $10,000 a year. Much more effective
institutes and summer schools, with much more efficient con-ductors,
would be held in every county of the State for a
longer term at least once in two years at a biennial expense of
two hundred dollars to the county. jSTot one cent of State
appropriation would be necessary. The only change in the
school law necessary to secure this great improvement in the
institute and summer school work would be a change of sec-tion
26 thereof so as to make the appropriation of two
hundred dollars by each county for institute and summer
school work mandatory once in two years instead of permis-sive
every year, as at present.
Other means of placing the opportunities of improvement
within easy reach of the rank and file of the teachers are the
manuals on teaching the different subjects issued as bulle-tins
from the Department of Public Instruction, County
Teachers' Associations, and a State Teachers' Reading Circle.
The work of these should be correlated with the work of the
county institutes and summer schools. In the county asso-ciations,
and in the institutes, and in the examinations for
teachers' certificates, the teachers could be held responsible
for the work outlined in the teachers' manuals and in the
course of study sent out beforehand for the county institute,
and in this way could be somewhat prepared beforehand for
the work of the institute. In this way a competent County
Superintendent, whose salary justified his giving his time to
the work, could carry on all the year the same sort of work
in teacher training as is carried on by a competent superin-tendent
of a town or city system of schools, and the institute
when it came would but enlarge and give effectiveness and
better direction to his work. As suggested above, teachers
62 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
could be incited and stimulated to carry on the work by being
held responsible for it in the examinations and institutes,
and by having credit given for it in these examinations and
in longer term certificates valid in other counties.
District State Summer Schools for Teachers.—The reports
of the work of the excellent summer schools for teachers at
the University, the A. & M. College and at Davidson College
last summer, printed elsewhere in this report, indicate that
a large number of ambitious teachers were reached and helped
by these schools. I visited all of these schools and was much
impressed with the earnestness and eagerness with which
the majority of the teachers in attendance were utilizing
every opportunity there offered for professional improvement.
There will always be a large number of ambitious teachers
in the State who will desire to avail themselves of the larger
opportunities offered in such larger summer schools for more
expensive and advanced work by larger faculties than can be
offered in the county institute and whose salaries will justify
them in assuming the greater expense necessary to attend
such schools. It seems to me, therefore, that it would be wise
for the State to supplement the work of the better organized
and directed county institutes, absolutely necessary for reach-ing
the majority of the teachers, by providing for the estab-lishment
of about five District State Summer Schools for
teachers conveniently located in different sections of the State.
One of these schools might be located at the University,
another at the A. & M. College, another at the State Normal
and Industrial College, as the State already owns these
valuable and expensive educational plants, another at some
accessible point in the eastern section of the State and another
at some accessible point in the western section of the State,
these points to be selected by the State Superintendent or
by the State Board of Education. All these schools should
be under the general direction of the State Superintendent
of Public Instruction so that the courses of study could be
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 63
arranged to meet the needs of the teachers of the different
sections and those of the different grades of teachers and to
supplement the work of the comity institutes and summer
seln Mils. In this way, also, unnecessary rivalry and compe-tition
between the schools could he avoided and each could
be made to fit into its proper place in the general State sys-tem
of schools for the training and improvement of teachers.
The location of these district summer schools should be
left to the State Superintendent or the State Board of Edu-cation,
so that before locating any one of them a satisfactory
agreement could be secured from the selected community
to provide buildings and equipment for the school and to
furnish board to teachers at low rates.
County institutes and summer schools, these district State
summer schools for teachers and the permanent pedagogi-cal
departments at the State Normal and Industrial College,
the University, the Cullowhee High School, and the Appa-lachian
Training School would form a fairly complete State
system of schools for the training and improvement of
teachers that could be made to meet fairly well at present
the needs of all classes of teachers in the State.
I foresee that the summer schools heretofore conducted at
the institutions named above can not be permanent unless
placed upon a more permanent financial basis. For the
permanent establishment and support of these district State
summer schools an annual State appropriation of $1,500 or
$2,000 for each will be necessary.
County Supervision.—As pointed out in the first part of
this report there has been marked improvement in county
supervision. The average salary of the County Superintend-ent
has been more than doubled since 1901. The superintend-ents
in nearly all the counties of the State are devoting more
time to the work than ever before, but there is still much work
to be done before county supervision can be made as efficient as
it should be. The more I learn of the educational work of the
64 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
State through the discharge of my office duties and my visita-tions
and field work, the more clearly I see that the real strat-egic
point in all this work to-day is the County Superintend-ent.
Upon this subject I beg to quote from my annual address
to the State Association of County Superintendents delivered
November 11, 1903. "The work of the State Superintendent
must be done and his plans executed largely through the
County Superintendent. The work of the County Board of
Education must be carried on and its plans executed largely
through the County Superintendent. The work of the School
Committeemen will not be done properly without the stimu-lation
and direction of the County Superintendent. No
proper standard of qualifications for teachers can be main-tained
and enforced except by the County Superintendent.
No esprit de corps among the teachers can be awakened and
sustained save by a County Superintendent in whom it
dwells. No local and permanent plans for the improvement
of public school-teachers through county teachers' associa-tions,
summer institutes and schools, township meetings, etc.,
can be set on foot and successfully carried out save under the
leadership of an energetic County Superintendent. All cam-paigns
for the education of public sentiment on educational
questions and for the advancement of the work of public edu-cation
along all needful lines are doomed to failure or, at
least, to only partial and temporary success without the active
help and direction of a County Superintendent knowing his
people, knowing the conditions and needs of his county, know-ing
something of the prejudices and preferences of the dif-ferent
communities, endowed with tact, wisdom, common
sense, character, grit and some ability to get along with folks,
and enjoying the confidence of teachers, officers, children and
patrons. Upon the County Superintendent mainly must de-pend
the bringing together of all those forces in the county
—
public and private, moral and religious, business and pro-fessional—
that may be utilized for the advancement of the
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 65
educational work of the county and for the awakening of an
educational interest among all classes of people, irrespective
of poverty or wealth, religion or politics. This work of edu-cating
the children of all people is too great a task to be
wrought by any part of the people. ISTo real county system,
composed of a large number of separate schools unified and
correlated in their work, each pursuing a properly arranged
and wisely planned course of study in the subjects required,
and the whole system fitting into its proper place in a great
State system, can ever be worked out save through the aid and
under the direction of a County Superintendent with an ade-quate
conception of his work and with an ability to do it."
Such a work requires for its successful execution a man of
mind and heart and soul, a gentleman, a man of common
sense, tact, energy, consecrated purpose, education, special
training, and business ability—a man who can give all his
time and thought and energy to the work. You cannot com-mand
the services of such a man in any business without pay-ing
him a living salary for such men are in great demand for
any work. May we not hope, therefore, that at no distant day
the salary attached to so important an office may be sufficient
in every county to employ trained and competent men for all
their time, to unfetter the earnest, competent men already
engaged in the work so that they may have a chance to do
their best work and show what is in them, and to justify men
in the coming years in placing themselves in special training
for this special work.
It is noticeable and significant that educational progress
along all lines is more rapid in those counties in which com-petent
Superintendents have been put into the field for all
their time, and that in almost every county in which this
has been done, the school fund has been increased by local
taxation and by economical management of the finances, look-ing
carefully after the sources of income, much more than
66 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
the increase in the salary of the Superintendent. For ex-ample,
in Guilford County, the Superintendent's salary was
increased $1,000 a year, and during the first year of his ad-ministration,
largely through his efforts, the annual school
fund was increased by local taxation alone $7,745. In Pitt
County the efficient Superintendent was put into the field for
his entire time at increased salary, and already the annual
increase in the school fund from local taxation, secured
mainly through his activity, is much more than the increase
in his salary, to say nothing of the remarkable increase in
the efficiency of the entire county system of schools resulting
from his more efficient work. Similar evidence could be
given about other counties. You cannot make a success of
any great business like this business of education without a
man at its head devoting all his time, thought and energy
to it. Wherever this is the case the educational work of the
county is moving, wherever it is not the case the work is lag-ging.
You cannot do anything worth doing in the world
without a man. It is the highest economy to put money into
a man.
Illiteracy and Non-attendance, and How to Overcome
Them.—The United States census of 1900 shows 175,645
white illiterates over ten years old in iS
Tortk Carolina, 19.5 per
cent, of white illiteracy. I have every reason to believe from
the reports of County Superintendents that this per cent, has
been greatly reduced during the past four years, and that
the next census will have a very different story to tell. It is
encouraging to notice that the same census report shows the
per cent, of white illiteracy to have been in 1880 31.5 per
cent; in 1890, 23.1 per cent; so that since 1880 we have
reduced the white illiteracy 12 per cent., and since 1890, 3.5
per cent. The per cent, of negro illiteracy in 1900 was 47.6.
This percentage of illiteracy is still appalling, and sug-gests,
especially in view of the possible disfranchisement of
thousands of white voters, a stupendous work to be done in
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 67
removing it before 1908. This report for the past year shows
127,561 white children of school age not enrolled in the
public schools. Of these many were enrolled in private
schools and colleges. A large number between the ages of
sixteen and twenty-one. years had either completed the course
of study in the public schools or were compelled to stop per-manently
to work. Many of the others, however, are on the
straight road to illiteracy and disfranchisement, and can be
saved from both only by the earnest efforts of all friends of
public education to improve the public schools and bring the
children into them. It is encouraging to notice that this
report shows an increase of 47,652 children, or 7.8 per cent.,
in the enrollment of the white schools, and 35,808 children,
or 10 per cent., in the average daily attendance in the wdiite
schools, and 20,332 children, or 6.9 per cent., in the enroll-ment
of the colored schools, and 10,841 children, or 10 per
cent., in the average daily attendance in the colored schools
during the past two years. The report also shows, however,
that notwithstanding this encouraging increase in attendance
and enrollment only 72.4 per cent, of the white children and
69.3 per cent, of the colored children w7ere enrolled in the
public schools, and only 43.1 per cent, of the white children
and 42.3 per cent, of the colored children were in daily at-tendance
during the last school year. There is still, there-fore,
much work to be done by every teacher, school officer and
other patriotic citizen before all the children are brought into
the schools, and the blot of illiteracy removed from the fair
name of our State, which still remains next to the last in the
column of white illiteracy.
As practically the same causes of non-attendance exist and
the same remedies for it are at hand now as when my last
biennial report was written, I beg to quote here what was
said in that report upon this subject:
The legal school age limits in North Carolina are six, and
twenty-one years. A large majority of the children either
68 BIENNIAL REPORT OF THE
complete the short courses of study in the public schools and
stop for lack of high school instruction in those schools or
stop to work before they are seventeen. Other children of
school age, of course, attend private schools and colleges.
The per cent, of enrollment and daily attendance of the pub-lic
schools, therefore, is more creditable than might at first
appear.
Since 1900 there has been an encouraging increase in en-rollment
and in daily attendance in the white schools and in
the colored schools, but with only about seven-tenths of the
children enrolled, and only about two-fifths of them in daily
attendance, the attendance is far below what it ought to be.
It may be profitable to call your attention to some of the
causes of non-attendance and to suggest some of the remedies
for it.
1. Ignorance of parents, often rendering them incapable
of appreciating the value of an education. The tragedy of
ignorance is that it is blind ; that it does not know what is
best for itself, and knows not that it does not know; that,
therefore, it must be saved from itself in spite of itself.
2. Carelessness, indifference, and incompetency of parents
to control the child.
3. Laziness, thriftlessness or selfishness of parents that
lays the burden of family support upon the shoulders of the
little children before they are able to bear it.
4. Honest and unavoidable poverty of parents that lays
upon the children the hard necessity of daily toil to keep the
wolf from the family door.
5. Inefficiency of schools and teachers, inadequacy of
houses, grounds, and equipment, indifference of committee-men
and other school officers, and lack of pride and confi-dence
in the school and its work.
6. Favoritism in the selection of teachers.
There are two general remedies for non-attendance : (1) At-traction
and persuasion; (2) compulsion.
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 69
Much has been done, much more can be done, to increase
attendance through the attractive power of better houses and
grounds, better teachers, and longer terms. .An attractive
school-house and a good teacher in every district, making a
school commanding by its work public confidence, respect
and pride, would do much to overcome non-attendance. The
attractive power of improved schools and equipment to in-crease
attendance is clearly demonstrated by the statistics of
this report, which show, with few exceptions, the largest per
cent, of attendance in cities, towns, consolidated districts,
rural special tax districts and entire counties that have the
largest school fund, the longest school terms, and the best
schools.
The general rule seems to be, then, that atten