State

It might well be said that this building was typical of the kind of school- houses that were to he found in the state during the early part of the last century. The Progress of rou, *rridi Education ill ar. The* slate lias advanced materially ,k oufp from llie «lays of tlie log' cabins and »ator rc»«l sclmolliouses that prevailed f«»r ’le many years in all sections of IVortli Carolina. ««/ >10/11.1,1; PAYNE BEAM NORTH Carolina is now and always has been a state with a large amount of illiteracy and near-illiteracy. It still rates below average in education, accord¬ ing to John W. Studebaker, U. S. Commissioner of Education. How¬ ever. if it is any consolation and satisfaction to us. there are twelve other Southern states which have lower ratings. It does help some to know that Commissioner Studebaker gives the Southern states credit for try¬ ing, and for not being indifferent to schooling. ‘'Actually,” he wrote recently in a national magazine, "the South as a whole makes a greater effort than any other region to educate its children and youth. The South just doesn’t have the wealth." Be that as it may, in 1829, Joseph Caldwell, president of the Univer¬ sity, declared that this state was three centuries behind the other states in the education of our chil¬ dren. and that a great many peo¬ ple actually boasted of their igno¬ rance of letters. Archibald D. Murphey. "father of the N. C. public school system," is authority for the statement that in 1794 there were but three schools in the state in which the rudiments of a classical education could be acquired . . . and that it was impossible to realize the difficulties under which the stu¬ dent of that day labored in his search for education. Mr. Murphey submitted his fa¬ mous plan for a system of public schools to the legislature in 1817, but it was received with utter in¬ difference. He declared: "The elementary education of children in North Carolina is left in a large measure to chance, and thousands are ac¬ cordingly growing up in total ignorance of their religious and moral duties." In 1817. John M. Walker, a mem¬ ber of the General Assembly, stated: "It is a melancholy fact that our schools arc lessening in their number and usefulness. . . . Scarcely one in ten of our teachers is native-born North Carolinians. Few of our people care to prepare to teach because there are so few schools in which to find employ¬ ment." In spite of many handicaps and much indifference, the Tar Heel state has come a long way down the road of education since the early days and the little red schoolhouses, which were preceded by hovels and log cabins, have long since been discarded in most counties in favor of modern com¬ fortable brick buildings to house our students. It is interesting to look back into the state’s past and note some of the strange and often incon¬ sistent facts relating to education and schools of those early days. In colonial times, nearly all the teachers in the few schools were ministers. They were Episcopal missionaries who followed the first permanent settlers. It was due to the urgent and repeated insistence of these missionaries asking that schoolmasters be sent from Eng¬ land here to establish schools, that the state owes the beginning of public education in the provinces. Long before public schools were started in North Carolina the chil¬ dren of colonists were taught by educated servants. Many well- educated men and women gladly sold their services as tutors to colonists in return for having their expenses paid to America. About 1619. on almost every ship that arrived, schoolmasters were as regularly advertised for sale as weavers, tailors or persons in other trades. The first schoolmaster in the province is said to have been Charles Griffin, who taught school in Pasquotank precinct about 1709. Curiously, destitute orphans were the first to benefit from com¬ pulsory education. The North Carolina law required that indigent orphans should be bound out to someone who would teach them not only a trade but how to read and write. It is written that in 1712, the pupils of an early school — a Mr. Marshburn’s school at Sarum, wherever that may have been — could "read and write with ease." "New Berntown," as Newbern was called in colonial days, was designated as the "Athens of Amer- ( Continued on page 20 ) THE STATE. Aueurr 3. 1946