USA > Georgia > Walker County > Educational survey of Walker County, Georgia > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Gc 975.801 W15ge Georgia. Dept. of Education. Educational survey of Walker County, Georgia
Educational Survey of Walker County Georgia
By M. L. DUGGAN, Rural School Agent AND EURI BELLE BOLTON, Extension Dept., G. N. I. College
No. 35
Under Direction of State DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
M. L. BRITTAIN State Superintendent of Schools 1921
EM
Educational Survey of Walker County Georgia
By M. L. DUGGAN, Rural School Agent AND EURI BELLE BOLTON, Extension Dept., G. N. I. College
No. 35
Under Direction of State DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
M. L. BRITTAIN State Superintendent of Schools 1921
Allen County Public Library 900 Webster Street PO Box 2270 Fort Wayne, IN 46801-2270
1
var
mit.
VULCAN
PITTSBURG
CHICKAMAUGA
ASLA ON
T ... .
BUT, PRITO
WILL
KENSINGTON
NSTILLE
1
WARKIA
DURA MILL
CED
LAFAYETTE
MAMI
GRSTIR
VILLANOW .
MIL ARML
·Ismicon
FAIRVIEW
PLEASANT HILL
1
WATERVILLE
LE ASANT BACK
GRATOOGA O
·
MAP SHOWING PROPOSED GROUPING OF SCHOOLS WALKER COUNTY.
Explanation : Large Circles denote Senior High Schools. Small Circles denote Junior High Schools. Light Solid Lines denote Public Roads. Heavy Solid Lines denote Proposed District Lines for Grouping Schools.
WALKER COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM.
HON. J. A. SARTAIN, County Superintendent ...
LaFayette, Ca.
County Primary Supervisor.
MISS ETHEL TYNER LaFayette, Ga.
County Board of Education.
HON. W. B. SHAW, Chairman LaFayette Ga.
HON. O. P. ANDREWS
Kensington, Ga., R. 1
HON. LEO H. AU Rossville, Ga., R. 1
HON. E. M. GOODSON
Chickamauga, Ga., R. 2
HON. J. C. McWILLIAMS LaFayette, Ga .. R. 2
Ellis Health Officer.
DR. J. H. HAMMOND LaFayette, Ga.
Sanitary Inspector.
T. F. KANE, U. S. P. H. LaFayette, Ga.
Farm Demonstration Agent.
R. L. VANSANT LaFayette, Ga.
County Attendance Officer.
R. L. MCWHORTER LaFayette, Ga., R. 5
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016
https://archive.org/details/educationalsurve00geor_0
WALKER COUNTY SCHOOL SYSTEM
The biggest public problem confronting Walker county, undoubtedly, is the proper education of the children- future citizens of the county. No other compares with it in present importance or projects itself so far into the future. In proportion as people are more im- portant than property will their training mean more than any possible development of the material resources of the county.
"Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates and men decay."
But more serious thought and business-like planning and liberal financial support has been given to the development of the material interests of Walker county than to the con- struction of an efficient public school system, as evidenced by the greater progress accomplished, court house and jail, public road system, agriculture, etc., etc. As compared to these we would call attention to the photographs and de- tailed descriptions of the school houses and school equip- ments of the rural schools given in this report.
A good public road system makes a good public school system possible, and neither can be had without both lib- eral financial support and strong central expert administra- tion. Local initiative or administration never accomplishes either. Administration and supervision should always come from the same source as the support, and in the same pro- portion.
Walker county has been exceptionally fortunate in hav- ing more than 100 miles of permanent public roads con- structed and maintained by the Federal Government under
5
expert direction and supervision and without cost to the county or State. These roads leading to the famous battle grounds at Chickamauga Park, under government control, furnished the citizens of the county an unanswerable argu- ment in favor of good public roads. Their experiences in traveling over them convinced the people, as experiences always do. As a result they have voted around half a mil- lion dollars in bonds to extend good public roads throughout the county, and in co-operation with and under guidance of the State and National Highway Commissions. It is not conceivable that any such permanent and efficient system of public roads ever could have been accomplished under the old road laws and system of "road working," where cach locality under local direction and local supervision and local support determined when, where, how, and how much or little road-working was needed. The cost was little and the results were less.
The matter of public education, as the matter of public roads, is now universally considered even more an obliga- tion upon the State and county than upon the locality or individual. The State and the county now recognize this obli- gation and give by far the greater part of the support. With support should go expert or professional administra- tion and supervision, lest the support should fail of its proper results. But in Walker county, as in many other Georgia counties, the organization, administration and su- pervision of the public school system has never been as- sumed by the State and county authorities in proportion as they have increased their part towards the support of the system. Consequently much of this support is being wasted, or partly wasted, through much misdirection. For- tunately, this has not recently been the case in public road construction as with public school building.
At last, however, the county has an object lesson point- ing towards a more efficient public school system. It will only be necessary for the citizens of Walker county to see the greatly increased opportunities offered their children in
6
the western part of the county through the new consolidated school at Cedar Grove to realize the inefficiency of the sev- eral "little schools" displaced by it. The Cedar Grove Con- solidated School, organized and constructed under State and county direction, but by the consent and co-operation of the community, has already attained to much greater effi- ciency than could have been expected under merely locally prescribed conditions. Whenever the entire county school system is organized and supervised under expert and pro- fessional guidance, the 6,000 children can have equal edu- cational opportunities with those who live within the terri- tory of the Cedar Grove Consolidated School. How long will local preferences and prejudices be allowed to deny them such opportunities ?
By a careful reading of the reports published herein it will be seen that the lack of thoroughness in the funda- mentals of education in the rural schools of the county is alarming. Because of it comparatively few of the pupils ever get as far as the seventh grade. Under present con- ditions there is little hope of much improvement. It is generally difficult and often impossible for local adminis- tration to revolutionize or very greatly improve conditions. But local public sentiment can help or hinder a county ad- ministration in bringing about more favorable conditions. The real conditions of the rural schools of the county are set forth in this report with the hope that a new interest in them may be awakened among the people. The educational needs of the 6,000 children call loudly for wise, constructive planning and unselfish sacrifice.
All Walker county children go to school a little; but not many of them go much. In sheer illiteracy the county stands well, only eleven counties making a better showing, but in near-illiteracy the showing is not good. In average attendance upon the schools 116 counties make a better showing than Walker. The schools do not appear to have much "holding power" upon the pupils. Seventy-seven per
7
cent of pupils entering first grade quit school before reach- ing seventh grade. The reason is likely within the schools.
THE TEACHING FORCE.
From the table below it will readily be seen that the teachers in the small schools of Walker county have had very little training for the work they are attempting to do. Three of the teachers in these schools hold a third- grade primary license and five hold a third-grade elemen- tary license; thirteen hold a second-grade license, and only fourteen hold a first-grade license. Thirteen of the teach- ers in these small schools have had only seventh or eighth grade training and only five have had any college training. In many of the two-teacher schools, boys who had not com- pleted high school were in charge of the primary grades. Men teachers who are well trained very seldom make good primary teachers. How could boys who know nothing of child nature or of the best methods of teaching be expected to teach little first and second grade children as they should be taught ?
Table Showing Training and Qualifications of Teachers.
Elementary High School
Total No.
License
Primary 1st 2d
3d
1st
: 2d 3d
1st 2d 3d None Teachers
One-Teacher
Schools
2
5
5
5
17
Two-Teacher
Schools
2
4
3
10
4
1
24
Larger Schools
1
7
2
5
15
Training
Elementary 7th Gr.
High School College 8th 9th 10th 11th 1 yr. 2 yrs. 3 yrs. 4 yrs. ?
Total No. Teachers
One-Teacher
Schools 3
1
5
1
6
1
17
Two-Teacher
Schools
6
3
2
2
7
2
-
24
Larger
Schools
-
1
1
3
5
-
2
3
15
-
8
Experience 1 Year
2 Years 3 Years 4 Years
5 or more Years
? Teachers
One-Teacher
Schools
6
2
2
1
5
1 17
Two-Teacher
Schools
8
4 .
2
1
8
1
24
Larger
Schools
1
3
2
7
2
15
Service at Present School
1 Year 2 Years 3 Years 4 Years
5 or more Years
Total No. Teachers
One-Teacher
Schools
15
1
-
-
1
17
Two-Teacher
Schools
17
5
1
1
-
-
24
Larger
Schools .
9
3
-
-
1
-
2
15
-
NOTE-Information concerning qualifications was not secured from all the teachers and therefore the table is not complete. The number of teachers in each type of school is sufficient to be rep- resentative.
Not all of the untrained teachers were young teachers. One teacher who has taught for twenty years has had only seventh grade scholarship and holds only a second-grade license. Because of economic reasons it is sometimes neces- sary for a young teacher to begin work before he has com- pleted his training, but a teacher who is not ambitious to be a growing teacher has no right to expect a place in the public school system. The teachers in the larger schools of the county are better qualified for their work than the teachers in the small schools. Before any permanent im- provement in the condition of the rural schools can be ex- pected it will be absolutely necessary to improve the teach- ing force in these schools. The Board of Education should adopt such a scale in the payment of salaries that the trained teachers will be encouraged to increase their pro- fessional strength by attending summer schools, and that the untrained teachers will feel it necessary to attend nor- mal school and fit themselves for their work.
9
Total No.
The frequent change of teachers makes it impossible for either the trained or the untrained teachers to do their best work. (See table above showing length of service at present school.) Many of the teachers who were teaching the summer terms in the country schools teach in other sys- tems during the winter term. Forty-one of the fifty-six teachers included in the study were teaching in the schools for the first time. A teacher who teaches in a school only two months during the summer does not have time to do any constructive school or community work. As long as it is necessary to have the divided school term, wherever pos- sible, the teacher who teaches the winter term at a school should also teach the summer term.
RETARDATION AND ELIMINATION.
The problem of retardation in the rural schools of Walker county is very serious. Children usually enter school at the age of six years and complete one grade each year. Some children, however, do not enter school until the age of seven. For this reason in the present study, two years are allowed for the completion of each grade. Thus a child in the first grade six or seven years of age is con- sidered normal; a child in the second grade seven or eight years of age is considered normal, and so on. A child in any grade older than the normal age for that grade is con- sidered over-age or retarded.
Table I. Showing the Number and Percentage of Retarded Children in the Rural Schools of Walker County.
Grades
I. II. III.
IV.
V.
VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. Total
No. Pupils
in Each
Grade
963.
448.
446.
499. . 384. 218. 212.
40.
11.
2. 3223
No. Pu-
pils Re-
tarded
413.
316.
308.
377.
296.
182.
180.
35.
11.
1.
2119
Percentage of
Pupils Re-
tarded
42.9
70.5
69.1
75.6
77.1 83.5
84.4 97.5 100.0 50.0
* Reports from one or two schools were not included in the study and it is therefore not absolutely accurate.
10
Table II. Showing the Number of Years Lost by Retarded Pupils in the Rural Schools of Walker County.
No. Pupils
No. Years Retarded
No. Years Lost
665
1
665
547
2
1094
434
3
1302
265
4
1060
127
5
635
64
6
384
11
77
5
8
40
1
9
9
2119
5266
There are 3,223 pupils (see Table I. above) in the rural schools of Walker county. Of this number, 2,119 are re- tarded or older than they should be for their grade. The 2,119 retarded children have lost a total of 5,266 years (see Table II. above). This means that the 3,223 pupils have lost an average of 1.6 years per child in reaching their pres- ent state of advancement in the grades. At this rate it is taking two and one-half times as much time as it should take for the children in the rural schools to complete their grades. This slow rate of progress means a tremendous loss of time for teachers and pupils and a great loss in money for the county.
The chief causes of this retardation of pupils are irregu- lar attendance, the short divided school term, and lack of thoroughness in classroom work. Pupils who attend school irregularly hinder not only their own progress, but that of the class also, and cause the teacher much trouble in keep- ing the classes organized. Parents who earnestly desire their children to be educated will realize the seriousness of keeping them out of school for petty reasons. They will enforce the compulsory attendance law of their own volition because they know it is best for the children.
The pupils in the rural schools are just as capable as the
11
3 1055 05401 1000
pupils in city schools, but they can not do the same amount of work in six months that the pupils in the city schools can do in nine months. A long school term is absolutely necessary for the normal advancement of pupils through the grades. The divided school term makes any regular system of promotion in the grades impossible. Many of the teachers who teach the schools during the summer term do not teach them during the winter. They leave nc rec- ords of work accomplished. Such conditions necessarily cause a great deal of repetition and irregularity and result in much waste of time and effort. (See discussion of the summer term under Recommendations.)
Many of the teachers in the rural schools have very lit- tle training. Practically all of them, especially in the one- and two-teacher schools, have so many grades that they can give only a few minutes to each recitation. Consequently the classroom work can not be done thoroughly and this hinders the normal progress of the pupils.
The slow progress through the grades resulting from the causes pointed out above is largely responsible for the dropping out of so many pupils before they reach the upper grades.
Table III. Number of Children per 100 Entering the First Grade who Stay in School Long Enough to Reach The Seventh Grade.
Grades
I.
VII.
Larger Schools
100
42
Two-Teacher Schools
100
23
One-Teacher Schools
100
11
Table IV. Percentage of Children Entering the First Grade who Reach the Other Grades. Rural Schools of Walker County.
Grades I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII
IX X
100
46.5
46.3
51.8 39.9
22.6
22.0
4.3
1.1 .02 Percent
12
Table III. above shows that in the larger schools only 42 children out of every 100 stay in school long enough to reach the seventh grade; in the two,teacher schools, 23 stay in school long enough to reach the seventh grade, and in the one-teacher schools only 11 children out of 100 reach the seventh grade. In all of the rural schools, 60.1% of the pupils drop out of school before they reach the fifth grade. This is an alarming fact. Boys and girls who re- ceive less than a fifth grade education will grow up to be men and women who are almost illiterate. The larger schools are holding more pupils in the upper grades than the two-teacher schools and the two-teacher schools are holding more than the one-teacher schools. From the above figures it is clearly evident that the small schools are fail- ing to give the largest percentage of children for whom they exist more than the merest primary principles of an educa- tion. Since they are failing to meet the needs of the people of an enlightned civilization, they should as rapidly as pos- sible give place to large, efficient school plants.
CLASSROOM WORK.
In order to get an accurate idea of the quality of work being done in the schools, simple educational tests were given in the fundamental or most important school subjects -reading, language, arithmetic and spelling. These tests have been given under the same conditions to thousands of pupils in representative schools in all parts of the United States. The median or average scores made by the large number of pupils in each grade to whom the tests were given have been carefully worked out and are given as Standard Scores. The standards, therefore, do not repre- sent perfect scores, but scores made by average children in schools in which the teaching has been well done. A careful study of the tables of results will reveal the type of work being done in the various schools of the county.
From the results of the tests discussed on the following pages, certain definite conclusions may be drawn.
13
1. The classroom work being done in reading, language, arithmetic and spelling in the schools in the county is not thorough.
2. The quality of the work being done in the LaFay- ette and Chickamauga Schools is far superior to the quality of work being done in the other schools of the county. 'The scores made by these two schools in all of the subjects ex- cept reading and arithmetic in the upper grades were up to standard.
3. The work being done in the small country schools is very poor as compared with the work being done in the larger country schools and in the LaFayette and the Chi :k- amauga Schools. The work being done in the one-teacher schools is very poorly done. The average sixth and seventh grade pupils in these schools can not read their textbooks understandingly and can not do more work in arithmetic than that which is expected of a fourth grade child. These schools are wasting the people's money and the time and energy of the pupils, but they can not do better work until the unfavorable conditions under which they operate are changed. The small schools of the county have very poor buildings and practically no school equipment-in many instances they do not even have blackboards; they have only a six months' school term, which is divided into two sessions, and the most poorly trained teachers in the svs- tem are in charge of the one-teacher schools and the primary grades in the two-teacher schools. The children in a small community have a right to as good and as thorough train- ing as that received by the children in a large community. Recommendations for the reorganization of the county sys- tem are given elsewhere in this report. If the proposed changes are effected, all of the children in the county will in time receive equal educational opportunities.
READING.
The Monroe Silent Reading Test was given to all the
14
grades from the third through the eleventh. Test I was given to grades III, IV and V; Test II was given to grades VI, VII and VIII; Test III was given to grades IX, X and XI. Each of the three tests consists of a series of simple paragraphs with a question at the end of each. The ques- tion can be easily answered if the paragraph is understood when read. The pupils are given five minutes in which to read as many of the paragraphs and to answer as many of the questions as possible. The test measures the pupil's rate of reading and his ability to understand what he has read. The rate of reading is indicated by the Rate Score (see table below), which means the number of words read per minute. The ability to understand what has been read is indicated by the Comprehension Score (see Comp. score in table). Each pupil's rate score in reading depends on the number of paragraphs read in the five minutes and his comprehension score depends on the number of questions answered correctly. The individual scores made by the pu- pils in each grade in the various schools were combined and the median or average score for each grade was found. Some scores made by the individual pupils were higher than the average for their grade and some were lower, but the median or grade scores given in the tables represent 50 per cent of the pupils. Hence the median grade scores for each school represent the average work being done in reading in that school or type of school. The scores in all of the sub- jects were worked out in the same way and the median grade scores represent average work being done in each subject.
15
Table V. Median Scores in Silent Reading Made by Schools in Walker County.
Grades
III
IV
V VI
VII
VIII IX
X
XI
Standard
60
79
94
96
104
108
86
87
94
Rate Comp.
LaFayette
48
69
83
66
93
85
81
85
Rate
6.8 13.1 17.2 15.5
21.2
22.5 23.2 23.2
Comp.
Chickamauga
51
56
90
59
85
Rate
7.5 10.5 17.5 13.7
18.3
Comp.
Linwood
50
55
108 108
Rate
6.1
9.7 18.5 18.0
Comp.
West La-
44
51
50
Rate
Fayette
6.0
8.5 11.0
Comp.
Rossville
39
57
92
68
Rate
5.0 10.5 17.3 18.2
Comp.
Cedar Grove
37
44
48
61
75
72
Rate
4.0
6.0
6.5 11.0
15.0
17.5
Comp.
Larger Schools
26
36
44
51
61
60
Rate
3.1
4.4
5.9
9.7
12.0
18.0
Comp.
Two-Teacher Schools
28
40
56
57
53
65
Rate
2.8
6.0 10.3 14.6
15.9
17.2
Comp.
One-Teacher Schools
27
43
59
69
59
2.9
6.7 10.3 14.0
11.0
Rate Comp.
9.3 15.3 20.8 21.0
24.5
27.3 24.0 26.0 28.6
There is very little difference between the LaFayette and the Chickamauga scores in reading. The scores of these schools are a little more than a half year below the stand- ard scores in both rate and comprehension. The Linwood third and fourth grade scores are lower than the LaFay- ette and the Chickamauga scores, but the fifth and sixth grade scores of this school are higher than either the La- Fayette or the Chickamauga scores and are almost up to standard. The high scores in the Linwood fifth and sixth grades are partly due to the fact that only a few children stay in this school long enough to reach the upper grades and these are the strongest children in the community. The LaFayette and the Chickamauga Schools hold a larger per- centage of their pupils in the upper grades and their scores
16
represent average groups of pupils instead of a highly se- lected group. There is very little difference between the third and fourth grade scores of the West LaFayette and the Linwood Schools, but the fifth grade score of the West LaFayette School is very low. Both the rate and compre- hension scores made by the Rossville third grade are very low, but the scores made by the upper grades compare favor- ably with the LaFayette and the Chickamauga scores. The low score made by the Rossville third grade may be ac- counted for by the fact that the primary teachers in this school have had to work under impossible conditions. The teacher of the first grade had 90 pupils crowded to- gether in one small room. Many of these pupils were too old for their grade and needed special help. How long will parents continue to expect children and teachers to get re- sults under such conditions ? The scores made by the Cedar Grove School are very low in comparison with the scores made by the other schools. This school has just been con- solidated and the teachers have not had time to organize the various groups of pupils coming from the one-teacher schools. The scores show not the work of the Cedar Grove School, but the results of the conditions in the small schools before the consolidation was effected. The scores in all of the country schools are much lower than the scores made by the town and village schools. The comprehension scores in reading made by the lower grades of the rural schools average about 11/2 years below the standard scores; the seventh and eighth grades average about 21/2 years below. These scores show that the children in the country schools have very little ability to understand what they read.
Reading is very poorly taught in the rural schools. Sev- eral classes in oral reading were observed. The pupils either stood or sat in very bad position and called words indis- tinctly. The teacher pronounced the difficult words and at the end of the reading made a new assignment without discussing or permitting the children to discuss what had been read. Some of the teachers in the small schools were teaching their beginners by the alphabet method. In many
17
instances there were eight or ten pupils in the primer class and each pupil was reading on a separate page in the book. In addition to this there were in some instances one or two sections of the "first reader" class. Such an arrangement makes it absolutely impossible for the beginning classes to make anything like normal progress. The parents are part- ly to blame for this condition. The teachers say that the children start to school at any time during the term and come so irregularly that it is difficult to classify thein. There were no charts, no perception cards for word drills nor other devices for making the work interesting. In some instances 16 or 17-year-old boys, who have had only sixth or seventh grade training, were teaching the primary grades. The wonder is not that the children under these conditions have learned so little, but that they have learned even as much as they have.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.