REPORTSND A RESOLUTIONS OFHE T GENERAL A SSEMBLY OFHE T STATEF O SOUTH CAROLINA ATHE T REGULAR S ESSION COMMENCING NOVEMBER 25, 1890. VOLUME 1 . PRINTEDY B ORDER OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. fc C OLUMBIA, S. C. Jameh. H Woodbow, State Printer. 1891. TWENTY-SECOND ANNUAL R EPORT OFHE T M S UPERINTENDENT OF EDUCATION OFHE T FSTATE O SOUTH CAROLINA. 1890. LETTERF O TRANSMITTAL. STATEF O SOUTH CAROLINA, Office of State Superintendent of Education, Columbia, November 1st, 1890. To His Excellency John Peter Richardson, Governor o f South Carolina. Sir : I have the honor to present herewith the Twenty-Second Annual Report of this office, and to request that you will transmit the same to the General Assembly. Very r espectfully, JAS.. H RICE, State Superintendent of Education. M125287 REPORT. To t he Honorable the Senate and the House of Representatives of the State of South Carolina : Gentlemen : The Public Schools of our State need money. Our system is capable of adjustment and amendment for all emergencies. These can be gradually applied, with the healthy growth of the work. It is well understood that we have too many schools. This tendency to multiply teaching places is natural, and has not been sufficiently guarded by law. The State undertook to give the peo ple a comprehensive and flexible system of schools, and very properly gave the Trustees, as nearest the voters, large powers. Under stress of political influence, in every neighborhood school houses have been sought, and too often located, without regard to the greatest good of the greatest number. The rights of the taxpayers should be care fully guarded, but those rights will only be properly vindicated if the money is wisely expended for better trained teachers, more com fortable school houses and longer terms. I therefore earnestly re commend that your honorable bodies consider this question as one vital to the stability of the system. TEACHERS. There i s great demand for teachers who, either by their own dili gence at home, or the help of our normal schools, become most familiar with the literature of teaching and most successful in its adplication. THE W INTHROP TRAINING SCHOOL. The W inthrop Training School, aided by your appropriation, is doing much to help young ladies desiring to teach, and supplying a demand which is emphatic throughout the State. At my request Superintendent Johnson, the very accomplished head of this school, gives the following information : In t he four years of the existence of the Winthrop Training School much progress has been made toward au understanding of the difficulties — the conditions under which normal school work must be conducted in this section, and much has been done to over come these difficulties and meet these conditions. Eighty-seven t rained teachers have been sent out, making an aver age of over twenty-one a year, which compares most favorably with the number sent out by similar institutions elsewhere. These teach ers have taught and are teaching successfully. The graduates of the school are in demand in this and other States. The s tandard of admission, in age and scholarship, is similar to that of other normal schools, being such as to insure good material for professional training, and it is maintained. There h ave been over one hundred applicants, each year, for the State scholarships at the competitive examinations, conducted under my direction. Of the number applying this year, fifty-four have been admitted. This is the largest class ever enrolled, and has in it one or more representatives from each County of the State. There are a number of graduates of female colleges among its students, and twenty-nine have already taught school for a time. The average age of the class is over twenty-one years. It is thus seen that the students have that maturity which is necessary to the successful pro secution of a professional course of study for teachers. The W inthrop School is supported by an appropriation from the Peabody Education Fund and by the tuition from State beneGciaries and private students. The city of Columbia furnishes the necessary school building, and practice or critic-teachers and model classes for practice in teaching and for observation. The State appropriation is paid to, or for, the State beneficiaries, upon the order of the State Superintendent of Education, who is a member of the Board of Trustees. Some provision should be made to enable the school to have a two years' course of study, which is desired by the Board and Faculty. Theres i also a Chair in the University which gives an extended course of training to young men who wish to study pedagogics. The I nstitute work of our State demands very grave consideration. A very large proportion of our teachers have had no normal train ing. Their meagre salaries prevent their attendance upon meetings distant from their homes. Besides this, the School Commissioner should have nothing to do with the control of the Institutes. Unless jou change the law and require him to be a teacher, and be chosen with restrictive enactments to insure competency, the Supeuintend- ent of Education should have entire charge of this work, and be held to strict accountability. I recommend that the whole system of In stitutes be placed in the hands of the Superintendent ; that a certain fixed sum be given from the Treasury for this purpose ; that the Su perintendent be required to employ two or more teachers as a perma nent Faculty, to be engaged continually in County work ; that this 6 same F aculty have annually a State Institute, having regard to the interest of the different sections of the State in its annual location. RECORDS. The r ecords of this office for twenty years have been carefully pre served. The removal of the office into much smaller quarters leaves them piled up in the Supreme Court room. I beg to call your at tention to this state of things, and recommend that steps be taken at once to preserve them. SCHOOL L AWS. Its i idle to have our Statute Books' filled with school laws and place at its head a Superintendent with no powers. He is over whelmed with duties, and his powers are infinitessimal. No system can be administered without a head, and no presiding officer can ac complish anything without large control of all of the agencies em ployed. Give him power, and demand performance. All teachers should be required to attend County Institutes, their pay to go on during the week of their presence, provided the schools are in ses sion. This is done primarily to help teachers, but really that we may secure competent instructors for our children. All professions are advancing. The leaders of thought and practice make constant improvement, and their proper and successful methods should be rapidly and thoroughly placed in the hands of every teacher in the State. No diploma or course of normal study should exempt any teacher, but every individual in the Public School work should come under the law. TEACHERS' S TATE ASSOCIATION. The T eachers' State Association met in Greenville, and was suc cessful in numbers and the quality of the work done. The repre sentative teachers of the State were present, and their enthusiasm and devotion gave a hearty impetus to the work. COUNTY I NSTITUTES. Institutes h ave been held in several of the Counties, and the Com missioners report a good attendance. THE S TATE INSTITUTE. The S tate Institute, with Dr. Shieb as director, and Superintend ents Witherow and Morrison and Mr. Bailey as teachers, held a most i nteresting two weeks' session in Greenville. The effort was tentative, looking to future Institutes. The only proper plan for this work is to make it a school for teachers, and call it so, with a good American flavor of common sense and meaning. Let people know that it is a school ; a place of labor and progress ; one of con tinued growth, where new and successful methods are presented, illustrated and enforced. PEABODY F UND. This n oble charity pursues its generous mission, aiding schools and training teachers. With few exceptions every considerable town in the State has on foot a graded school. They have been made possi ble by the aid of this fund, and I hope that it may be continued a few years longer. Then it may wisely be turned into the normal schools. CEDAR S PRINGS. I n eed not renew my commendation of the useful and interesting work accomplished at Cedar Springs. It not only applies to a class of people who demand our sympathies and our aid, but it is so thor oughly and lovingly done that I am surprised that it is not con stantly inspected by those who are leaders in legislation and educa tion. Io d earnestly ask for my successor your intelligent and sympa thetic co-operation. This question of educating the masses is not one of mere expediency. It is duty first ; then lines of policy may and will come into view. We have a good system, and with healthy amendments will give the elements of training to every child. There is no higher obligation of patriotism than to provide for the children of the State. Christianity demands it. Our missionaries overflow every clime under the sun. It is emphatically true that the sun never sets upon their dominion. Their chief and only valuable work done for these nations is the training of their youth. We who live under this great republican government, who are factors in this last quarter of this most splendid century, who see and hear on every hand the steps of advancing civilization, who are witnesses to the conflicts of crime, irreligion and nihilism with the aggressive prin- i ciples of Christianity, are face to face with the grandest problem of the ages.