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f " : i' THE INDEPENDENT, ELIZABETH CITY, N. C FRIDAY, AUGUST 20, 1920. PAGE If en -, j.. i i . . t v : : J " rinnrninr-nrrrrfTrrrrrrrrrrirrrrp fj ' b Gl- . -'- dollar Wonderful! Amazing! Such bargains! and two cMieleS '-or'One -: September lb, 17, 18 September 16, 17, 18 . I. x .. onmothincr riscrf in eUfirv home during the Winter for lc. Can you imagine a two dollar ana rtrty cent nut wetter w e ---r- , . . , J a full pound Guths chocolate candy sells regularly for $1.10 this sale lc pound. - n, 1 . .1 r Mm c.u Get one of the Circulars and come to tne une m ocuc P HARM AC AMPARB Y 1 Geo. F. Wright, Manager Elizabeth City. N. C. II ?3rpr3n,n,n,r3JgfamjaJHjEfEf CLAXTON'S REPORT GIVES NEEDS OF CITY SCHOOLS Continued from Fage 1.) arc 13 rooms in the Frimary school they cannot be included in building plans sincei they are really not fit for school purposes. The inadequate lighting alone should prohibit their use. In fact. & tlie n.n-ents of the children realized that permitting their children to study in the badly lighted, over-crowded rooms of the Frimary school was a menace to the eyesight and health of the children, there is no question but that they would in sist that the school be abandoned and adequate appropriations made for school accomodation. Thus Relieve Congestion To sum up the situation in the white schools, there are 36 classes of child ren and only 16 available classrooms, (when the Primary school is eliminated. i. e., there are 20 classes without ad equate senating accomodations. More over, an increase- of between 7 and S classes, about 2S0 children, over the next 5 years must be provided for. Fur thermore, the 216 children of school age not now in school should be provided for. In other words, taking the child ren now enrolled, 1,425, those of school age out of school, 216, and the antici pated increase during the next 5 years, 2S0, it will be necessary for Elizabeth City to plan its building program that 4S classes of children, 1921 children, may be provided for in the coming bond issue. If this is done, not only will present congestion be relieved but ad equate provision made for a period of 5 years. Our Negro Schools According to the statistical report of the Superintendent of Schools, for 1914 13, there were 585 children enrolled in the negro schools in the first, 5 grades. In 1919-1920 there were 727 children enrolled in seven grades, and of this number 595 were in the 3 pub lic school, while the remainder were in the negro normal school which takes children in the practice school depart ment from grade one through to eight. The increase in the public and normal schools of children in grades 1-S was 192 in 5 years, or at the rate of about 1 class a year. There is not only- bad congestion in the negro schools but the buildings themselves are unfit for school pur poses. In 1919-20, 595 negro children in grades 1 to 5 inclusive were attend ing school in 3 wooden frame structures. In Sawyer Town school 173 children go to school in 2 rooms. One room has 27 double benches and the other has 28. Then benches are old and scarred. In one room 54 children attend in the morn ing, and another 54 in the afternoon. The building is nothing but a frame structure in such bad repair that paste board is taked over a portion of a win dow where the pane has been broken. In Sale St. school there are 224 children in four rooms. In one room there are 31 double benches; in another, 30; in another 29; and in the fourth, 22. In Shannon Street School there are 19S children. One room has 17 double seats; another, 20; another, 24 i ; another, 23; and there is also a chapel which is one long room with a platform. All these buildings should be abandoned for they are not fit for school "use. Lack Modern Facilities But there is not only great conges tion in both the white and negro schools, but also there are almost none of the m m imMTt IT A. X .Mumfl THE BUSY STORE uits modern school facilities, such as audi toriums, gynasium, shops, laboratories, drawing and music rooms, facilities which are now recognized as essential in aay modern school system, and which it is necessary to include in an adequate building program. There are in the white school 1 auditorium, no gymna sium, no shops, one cooking room and 1 laboratory with very little equipment, no drawing room, no music room, and no library. It is often difficult for men and wo men who were brought up in the country a generation ago to realize the neces sity of providing these facilities for children living in cities. In the olden days it made little difference that the school buildings consisted only of class rooms for studying the three It's, In those days, the children had plenty of opportunity for the wholesome work and play which, educationally, were just as important for them as study. There is such a common tendency to identify "schools" and "education" that it is im portant to emphasize the fact that edu cation has always consisted of work and study and play, 'and that children must not be deprived of any of these three elements in their education if they are to grow in health and strength, and develop- initiative, intelligence, and the ability to think for themselves. Our Changing Needs Fifty years ago the enviroment of the average boy and girl furnished an education in wholesome activities that developed intelligence, initiative and in dustrious habits But during the past half centry has come the growthof the modern city, until now half the popu lation of the country is concentrated in cities, and the city with its over crowding, its mills and factories and office buildings which gradually go uj on the vacant lots, is depriving children of the opportunity for the healthy, wholesome work and play which are es sential elements in their education. The city home, whether in a large or small city, is very unlike the . farm with iti many necessities for "learning by do ing." It offers few educational oppor tunities in the way of healthful worl which develops the ability to think by attacking problems to be solved. ThereVl formidable proportions. We just received 350 Men's Fall Suits, the most wonderful values w e have shown in several seasons. With clothing still high ve are showing suits at 25 to 33 1-3 per cent cheaper than they are at today's prices. You only have to look at ours and compare them and' satisfy yourself. BLUE SERGES $37.00 to $47.00 ALL-WOOL WORSTEDS $32.50 to $45.00 SILK SHIRTS One lot Tub Silk, all pat terns. $7.50 BLUE FLANNELS $32.50 to $45.00 WOOL CASHMERES $27.00 to $45.00 CLOTH HATS One lot Latest Style Cloth Hats Special $5.00 is no planting or harvesting to be done few if any animals to be taken Vare of ana it is a rare city nome mat nas a work shop or laboratory. Tet children until recently have received much ol their education through the opportun ity to handle tools, to take care of an imals and to experiment in making and using things. But the city not onlv I fails to educate children in the right direction ; it educates them in the wrong direction, for the street with its dan g.ers to the physical and moral life of the children too often becomes their only playground. And street play means education not in health and strength and wholesome lijving but precocious educatio in all the vicious sides of a city's life. Vocational Courses Advocated For these reasons, it has come to be recognized that the city . school must not only supply the opportunity for study in good classrooms under whole some conditions, but it must also return to the children the opportunity forthe helpful work and play which the home can no longer supply. It must provide playgrounds "and shops and' laboratories and drawing and music rooms, as well as classrooms, where they may be kept wnotesomely busy all day. For Eliza The first method would attempt to solve the situation by the usual proce dure of adding classrooms without chang ing the traditional school organization. All children would be expected to be in school seats at the same time, and if provision were made for special activi ties, such as shops or cooking rooms, the classrooms would remain vacant when such facilities were in use. If such special facilities were provided. therefore, they would have to be in ad dition to a classroom for every class. Cost of The Plan Let us consider the" cost of meeting school congestion and growth, in the white schools, for example, on the ba sis of the traditional type of schol or ganization. As has been pointed out, it will be - . . i necessary, m order to tane care 01 present enrollment and provide for growth in the white schools, to make provision for 4S classes. The Primary only the High School with 16 regular classrooms; therefore, it would be nec essary to erect a building with 32 class rooms in order to provide for the 4S classes. The cost of a classroom unit at the present time is $16,000. This includes the cost of auditorium and gym nasium. A 32-classroom building would therefore cost $512,000. This amount, however, would not furnish any of the modern school facilities such as shops and laboratories. Therefore, to pro vide these facilities would mean an ad ditional expense. Elizabeth City is not peculiar in re spect to her school congestion situation. Cities all; over the country, even before the war, were having the greatest diffi culty in meeting the increase in school enrollment. The rapid growth of pop ulation makes the congestion and fi nancial problems extremely difficult of solution on the traditional plan x of a reserved seat for every child. To keep pace with growth, therefore, merely on the basis of adding classrooms where they are needed at a given time, pre sents both administrative and financial difficulties. But when to this problem is added the obligation to provide the other necessary facilities such as shops and laboratories, the problem assumes Indeed, were this plan the only al ternative the situation which the Board of School Trustees is now facing would be a discouraging one. Fortunately, however, there is another way out of the difficulty.. Still Another Way A r-econd possible method of solving the building problem of Elizabeth City is what is" commonly known as the work, study-play plan now in operation in some 30 or 40 cities in the country. This plan developed in an attempt to solve- the peculiar problem created br a modern city. It grew out of recogni tion of the fact that the growth of cities makes the educational problem far more difficult than formerly; in fact, has cre ated a new school problem. The plan represents an attempt to meet these new conditions and to make it practi cable both administratively and finan cially for school administration to pro vide not only classroom accomodations, but also modern educational facilities, such as gymnasiums, shops and labora tories that children may be kept whole somely occupied in study and work and play. Briefly, the plan is this:' A sqhool is divided into two parts, each bavins? the same number of classes, and each K ff Ti f : j- i. -it 1 , - ... v.,,.y io piuu a ouuamg program on uiuuug an me eight or nine grades, the basis of providing merely class- The first part, which we will call the rooms for her school population, and 1 "A School" comes to school in the morn ignore, her obligation to furnish such ! inS say at 8.30, and goes to class modern facilities as shops, laboratories ' rooms for academic work. While this and nature study rooms would be to fail : S("hol is in the classrooms, it obviously in her duty to the rising generation, and cai1 not se any of the special facilities; to the best interests of the city. It is therefore the other school B School said that America is the land of eaual oes to the special activities, nno Mt-a opportunity in education. This, how- to the auditorium, one third to the play ever, does not mean opportunity for Sund, and one-third is divided among uniform education, but opportunity for such activities as the shops, laboratories c vciupmeni oi cne varied gifts of wing ana musia studios. At the end - - ------ Tirwmtw V T f w T f L I The Busy Store uji inaiviauais. JJemocratic educa tion means variety of opportunity in accordance with the needs of the indi vidual. If Elizabeth City does ot give this variety of opportunity in work and study and play to the children of all its people, then it is failing to tap the re servoirs of . power for its coming citi lzenship. Moreover, it is laying up trou ble for itself in the future, for nothing more serious for any community than to have the rising generation feel balk ed in their power of self expression and attainment. It is obvious from the foregoing that Elizabeth City needs a building pro gram which will1 relieve present conges tion, provide for an increase in enroll ment for at least five yearsand at the same time provide the modern educa tional facilities, such as auditoriums Playgrounds, shops and laboratories To do this will involve considerable expen diture and ?areful planning. There1 are " -i"e. metnoag of meeting tie atidn. ' ' , situ- f f n J . Ur lWo periods, that is, when the first group of children has remained according to the judgment of the school authorities, in school seats as long as is good for them at one time, the A School goes to the playground, auditorium, and other special facilities, while vthe B School goes to the classrooms. Advantages of Latter Plan The important point about this reor ganization is that all the children would have not only the same amount of time for reading, writing, arithmetic, geo graphy, and history as formerly 210 minutes but also 50 minutes of play every day, 50 minutes a day of audito rium and 50 minutes ad day of shopwork everyday in the week for a third of the year; scienee-every, day for a third of the year and drawing or music fevery day for a third of the year. At pre sent the children get a 10-minnte recess period for play, a few minutes for open ing .exercises .in the 'auditorium, and little ,ot no ; time for these special acti vities. Of course each community would decide what special activities it wanted the children to have There would, after all, seem to be no good reason why the principle of other public service institutions, i. e., multi ple use of facilities all the time, should not apply to the school, nor any reason why all children should be in classrooms at the same time, nor why the special facilities should be used only a frac tion of the day, provided, of course, that tth'e cheldren receive during the day the required amount of academic work. In fact, it is difficult to see how the problem of providing enodght class rooms, or playgrounds, or auditoriums for the mass of children is ever to be met if all children have to be in class rooms at the same time, and if all chil dren have tp play at once. Moreover, there seems to be no good reason from an educational standpoint why children should all have to do the sanre thing at the same time. Keeps Child From Streets As has been pointed out, one of the most undesirable elements in the life of city children is the street life in. which they have hitherto spent so large a part of their, time. The average city school is in session about ISO days in the year. This means that even though all the children attended the entire time, they would still.be out of school 1S5 days in the year. Obviously, because of the conditions of modern city life it'is nec essary that the school take over some of the time now spent by the child on the streets, especially the school year. At present if 10 hours of the 24 are al lowed for sleep, and 6 for meals and home duties, there still remains 8 hours to be accounted for. "Even if the child ren were in school 5 hours every day there would still be 3 hours left, and as is well known these hours are spent on the city streets and not always to the child's advantage, t least one or two of these should be taken over by the school, and wholesome activity in work and play provided. The work-study-play plan does this bj lengthening the school day an hour or more as each community may de sire, and by offering to the children the wholesome activity in shops and labor atories and on the playgrounds, which is so essential for them. It should be borne in mind, however, that this length ening of the school day does jnot nec essarily lengthen the number of teach ig hours of any teacher. It is neces sary that she be arounjl the building six hours, but she need not teach more than five hours. " How the Plan Works Let us consider' now how this plan can be applied to conditions in Eliza beth Citjr. "There are now 1,425 children, 66 classes, in the 2 white school. This makes just enough children for one fair sized school. All these children should be housed in one school plant, to be located on the present High School site. The building could be erected in the form of an "H", the present High building forming one- section, and another build ing erected to the rear of the present High SchooP forming, the 'other section with an auditorium between" the two. As has -been pointed out, the build ing would have to be planned to take care of a 4S-class school in order to pro vide for a growth over a, period -over five years. There are, however, at the present time in the High School build ing 16 regular class rooms, 4 rooms in the basement, an auditorium on the se cond floor, and 4 attic rooms. Under the work-study-play-plan, a school of 48 classes would require only 24 class rooms, or 8 more than are now available in the High School building. Another building should therefore be erected to the rear of the High School building. To do this the , Iqt on which the present building stands should be squared, the houses to the rear of the High School budding removed and a new building of 12 units, erected, with an auditorium between this building and the existing, High School. Twenty-four of the best rooms in the 2 buildings should be used as class rooms. That would leave 4 units, 2 of which can be used as laboratories,. 1 as a drawing room, and 1 as a music room. The 4 rooms in the basement of the old build ing should be. used as shops. In the basement of the new building a. gyna sium could be provided for boys, 2 units could be used for cooking rooms, and 1 unit for another ihiop. The audito riun of the old building could be used as a gymnasium for girls. In other words, with the addition of a 12 room building, the following acco modations could be secured for a 48-classl school, 24 class rooms, 2 gymnasiums, 2 laboratories, a drawing room, a music room, 5 shops, a cooking room. And an auditorium could be erected between the old and the new building, with en trances on the side and also with an entrance o the 6treet, so that it could be used easily for commuity purposes, con gestion i could be -'relieved : and provis ions madeyfocs grewth for 5 years.!' Since a class room unit costs approx imately $16,000, which includes the cost of an. auditorium and gymnasium. a building of 12 units would cost $192. 000. ' As has already been suggested land should be purchased to square the pre sent lot. Also additional playground space is needed, and for this purpose either the whole lot to the north of the present building or the lot directly across the street should be purchased. Of course, the lot to the north of the present building is preferable as it would not necessitate the children jrrossing the street for play,. Estimating the cost of land at approximately 30,000 he appropriation for the white schools would be 222,000. Needs of Negro Schools As has been pointed out, the present negro school buildings are so inadequate that it will be necessary to abandon them and erect new buildings. At the present time (1919-20) there are 595 children in the 3 public schools. 13 classes. The increase has been approx imately at the rate' of 1 class a year. Therefore, provision should be made for at least 750 children, or IS classes, in order to provide for growth for at least 4 -years. On the work-study-play plan, this would necessitate a building of 9 class rooms and 4 special activity rooms. a shop for boys, a cooking room for girls, a nature study room, and a librarv. An auditorium and gynasium would be in cluded. This makes a building of 13 units. At a cost of 16,000 per class room unit, "a building of 13 units would cost 208,000. Estimating the cost of land at 10,000, the building and land would come to 21S.00O. The total cost, then, . a building program a outlined would be 440.000. If it is desired, however, to limit the contemplated bond issue to 300,000, making temporary arrangements for the negro schools, and thereby postponing the erection of a permanent building, the following Plan II is suggested. Erect 2 portable buildings o the modern type for negro children in the northern and southern ends of the town. Each build ing should accomodate 10 classes. This would necessitate 4 class rooms, 4.(KKi, and auditorium, 2.500, gymnasium, Si 500, a shop, 2,000, a cooking room, ?3. OOO, a drawing room, 1,000. a nature study room, 1,000. All these units can be combined into a single building with corrider, principal's office, store, show ers, and heating plant; making a total approximate cost of 30,000 for each building. This would make the total budget for the negro schools 60,000, or with the cost of sites approximately 70,000, thus bringing the total budget to approximately 300,000. FOR SALE: 100 head of Sheep for breeding purposes. 10 head: cheap; milch cows. A bargain for quick buyer. Address W. S. BERRY, Belcross. X. C. p-aug.20-4t (7- DR. JOHN H. BELL Osteopathic Physician 326 HINTON BUILDING V Elizabeth City, N. C. -F6-tf Dr. Wm. Parker Dentist 317 Hinton Building Elizabeth City, N. C. Phone 584 Aug. 8-13t YOUR HEALTH AND YOUR EYES Good eyesight is essential tc good health. Nervous condi tions, head trouble and pain in the eyes are usually the result of eyestrain. An examination of your eyes will determine whether or not they are causing your trouble. DR. J. W. SELIG Optometrist , C Em Sttlk GmSl Zi