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REPORTSND A RESOLUTIONS OFHE T General A ssembly OPHE T STATEF O SOUTH CAROLINA ATHE T REGULAR S ESSION COMMENCING NOVEMBER 27, 1888. VOLUME 1 . PRINTEDY B ORDER OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. i * COLUMBIA, S . C. JAMES. H WOODROW, STATE PRINTER. 1889. TWENTIETH A NNUAL REPORT OFHE T STATE S UPERINTENDENT OF EDUCATION OFHE T STATEF O SODTH CAROLINA. 1888. LETTERF O TRANSMITTAL. STATEP O SOUTH CAROLINA, Executive Department, Office of State Superintendent of Education, Columbia, November 1st, 1888. Hon. John Peter Richardson, Governor of South Carolina. Sib : I e nclose the Twentieth Annual Report of the Department of Education, and have tho honor to ask that it be forwarded to the General Assembly. Very r espectfully, JAMES. H RICE, Superintendent of Education. M125283 :r,:e:po:r,t. IjJJ) t ile 'Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives ■••.••••• of the State of South Carolina: GSn&lemen : I h ave visited every County in the Stato since Janu- aryj.J$38. This has been accomplished only by a very large outlay •of time and money, but it has afforded me exceptional opportunities for observing the entire field. I am thus not dependent upon the reports of the Commissioners alone, but am enabled to see and judge for myself of the character of the work done, and of the necessities of the situation for the future. I met a very large number of the County Boards, and I hope have brought them into harmonious and intelli gent co-operation with our central work. When our officers and people realize that our common schools are a system, every step in which is a creature of law, and every regulation to be faithfully executed, our development will be rapid and permanent. I have discussed the great problem of education in all parts of the State, and iim delighted to know that the masses are awakening to the great possibilities presented for the training of our children. Of course, the work is gradual and beset with difficulties, but with each year, and every intelligent, honest effort made, the movement gathers strength, and the pathway is made broader and clearer. The trials of poverty are upon us, and the incidents of flood and storm sweep away our resources. These are the fortunes of all communities, and must nerve us to greater effort. If we do our duty, the road which has been rugged and toilsome for us, will be an open way for the elevation of our children. Our people are being rapidly educated to the imperative necessity of giving every child at least the elements of knowledge. If the times be hard, if the road in life be rough, if a living be difficult to make, so much the more need that every little fellow be helped on his feet, and that every mind have the germs of knowledge implanted in it. It will aid the pupil in the humblest walks of life, and may bo the means of lifting him to a better station, and making him a more valuable member of the Commonwealth. The people are not asleep. The man who is grumbling away his precious time, and growling down the wisdom and philanthropy of the State, is behind the age, and simply a clog on our progress. The system wo have is by no -means perfect, but our trouble has been much more with its unfaithful development than with its intrinsic defects. A simple plan, faithfully worked and intelligently devel oped, is better than the most beautiful theory with faithless officials. Ife w will give our energies, our time, and our sympathies, and if all the agents connected with the work of common schools will move as one man to bring out every possible result, we can certainly expect full returns. I am sure that a very large majority of our citizens are in perfect sympathy with the efforts of the State to train every child. They regard it as a duty, and understand it to be for the best interest of the Commonwealth. I am happy to report, viewing the field as a whole, that an intelligent interest grows everywhere. Increased E nrolment and Better Average Attendance. For i nstance, there is an increase of 18,417 pupils in the enrolment of 1888. This is a practical evidence of growth that cannot be gain said. There is also an increase of 14,036 in the average attendance, a most notable proportion. The last ten years have been a transition period in our educational work. The plans of private individuals crumbled to pieces, and many have lamented the decay of schools once prosperous. But the State Legislature has been quietly and firmly laying the foundations for broader work. (South Carolina has many children, all equally dear, and she desires that the advantages once bounded by the horizon of private effort, should be widely dif fused through the power and benevolence of a great State. The free school has been pushed into every locality. The boy and girl in the pine lands and on the red hills have had equally presented to them the elements of knowledge. The more progressive towns have estab lished graded schools, and builded upon their public foundations insti tutions more complete, more economical, and better adapted to the education of a whole community than ever seen here before. It is certainly true that never before in our history has there been such opportunity tor general elementary training as now presented. There is not a single neighborhood where the child cannot reach a school, and in most towns, and in the wealthy and densely settled country places, the schools are of fair grade and improving annually. The multiplication of public free schools, and the efforts of the State through her many agents to educate public opinion and elevate the children, have naturally two effects —■ one direct, more and better public schools; and one indirect, but nevertheless powerful and all pervasive, — clearing the public vision, training the popular mind, and vindicating the great cause of education in every department. If the friends of public schools could show only the very many open school houses all over the State, they would rejoice; but when they see the State waking up in all her borders, and schools of ever}- grade and for both sexes and all classes growing and being demanded, then we may indeed thank God and take courage. 8 More a nd Better Schools and School Buildings. I n ot only report a great increase in general enrolment and aver age attendance, but am happy to say that we have 162 more schools. Just that many more light-houses to guide the young and untrained traveller — the coming ruler of our beloved State. The growth of our educational system and the development of the views of the in dividual citizen, are not only thus shown, but are strikingly exhibited in the character of the school buildings. The towns are vying with each other. Winnsborough and Bock Hill have spent about 812,000 each on their school buildings. Greenville begins with $18,000, and has located her magnificent school houses upon the most commanding and beautiful situations in the city. Spartanburg levies a tax of $12,000, with a special local tax for her schools. Smaller and larger towns, and country districts the State over, are rapidly putting their money into modern school houses. I not only report more schools, more pupils, and more general attendance, but I most emphatically report better schools, more thoroughly qualified teachers, more earn est official work, more active popular sympathy, an,d as one of its most convincing evidences, the fact that during the last two years more money has been put into good school buildings in our State than in any other similar period of her history. Cheap B ooks. By l aw every five years the State Board of Examiners has the right, and it is their duty, to select books for use in the public- schools. In September, after weeks of examination and days of arduous session, we selected the various series for use for the next five years. We adopted the resolution copied below : "A E ESOLUTION "To S ecure "Uniformity and Prevent Needless Changes in the Use of Text-Books in the Public Schools. "After a c areful consideration of the subject, it is "Resolved, T hat the peculiar condition of affairs in this State by reason of which, not only in each County, but in each school district, there are teachers and pupils of different classes and races, possessing different capacities to teach, learn, and purchase books, it would be injurious to educational interest to adopt a single list of text-books for the State. "Thatn i order to secure flexibility in the system, and to meet the varying wants of the schools, and at the same time to prevent fre quent changes in text-books in a school, which impose vexatious and 9 unnecessary e xpense upon parents, the State Board of Examiners hereby adopts the following rules and regulations to govern the use of text-books in the public schools of the State : "The l ist of text-books to be adoptod by the State Board for use in the public schools shall be elective in character. "Onr o before Thursday, Oct. 25, 1888, the County Board of Exam iners in each County shall, from said State list, adopt a single series for use in the public schools of their respective Counties, provided that upon application from the teacher and Trustees of any school, within thirty days after said County adoption, or thirty days after the establishment of any new school, on good and sufficient reasons being shown, the County Board may allow the substitution in said school of any other book on the same subject from the list adopted by the State Board.

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