as resources and public opinion in the different communities permitted his influence was exerted to secure flexibility in the course of study so that it would be adaptable to individual needs and afford suitable training for the boys and girls of the community, whose best interests it existed to serve. To these ends we worked in two directions: (a) The readjustment of college entrance requirements so as to bring about recognition of a broader range of subjects, including those of a practical nature, as contributing to preparation for the pursuing of a college education. (b) The improving of equipment and other conditions that would make possible the pursuing of given high school courses. to advantage. Whenever a new building was in prospect, or the extension of an old one was to be made, advantage was taken of the opportunity to advise the inclusion of suitable arrangements and equipment for one or more practical subjects, as well as proper conveniences for other studies. Boards of trustees who vaguely wanted a good school for their communities and were willing to put something into it, were carefully advised as to the means that would really promote this end. In these matters there was always coöperation of principals, and indeed visits to the different communities as a rule were made at the urgent request of principals who had been aroused. to the deficiencies of their schools and who either themselves wanted advice or felt the need of an outside influence in getting matters forcefully before their boards and communities. In advising the inclusion of practical studies or extending the high school curriculum it was always a point with the professor of secondary education never to go beyond the possibility of proper teaching conditions-suitable class-room arrangements and equipment, precision of subject-matter, records of students' work, and above all well qualified and not unduly burdened instructors. In the course of this effort it was necessary to discourage very small schools-schools of only two or three teachers, limited attendance, and no outlook-from undertaking to carry high school work. There is now scarcely a high school in the state that does not offer courses in Home Economics, Agriculture, or Manual Training with full equipment for efficient work. Many of them also have courses in commercial branches and other practical subjects. And in connection with these, pupils have more or less latitude in the shaping of their high school education, the old rigidity of set courses being largely modified. 3. In 1910 the state of Mississippi began the establishing of her county agricultural high school system. The law contemplated the establishing of one of these schools in each county, and several came into existence the first year of the operation of the law. For a time it was uncertain what the relation of these schools would be to the common schools and to the colleges. The professor of secondary education felt that they should be made to articulate with both, and thus give to the youth of the rural districts not only opportunity for training in scientific agriculture, but also the full privileges of the state system of education. He was made a member of the state committee and asked to map out a suitable course of study for the agricultural high schools to be promulgated by the State Department of Education and in doing so was able to direct the formulating of the work to be done in this new type of schools so that it would be truly of a secondary character. While the course of study called for broad training in Agriculture and Home Economics with emphasis on. theses ubjects, it was made to provide a rounded education that would qualify graduates to have a broad understanding of modern life and general culture, that would make them useful citizens and would qualify those who desired it to pursue their education in higher institutions of learning. The Mississippi county agricultural high school is a school of country life whose purpose is to make of the country boys and girls good farmers and home-makers and also good citizens and cultured men and women, with their opportunities and privileges abridged in no sense as compared with city dwellers. There are now in the state nearly fifty of these schools with a total property valuation of two and a half million dollars. The legislative appropriation in their aid in 1910 was $25,000 (state aid is conditioned upon attendance and county support); now it is $225,000 per annum or an average of approximately $5,000 to each school. We believe that in the establishing of these schools of country life Mississippi has exceeded the record of any other state in the Union, and has forged forward in the adaptation of education to modern life. 4. Effort has been made continually to safeguard the work of the high schools by hedging about the employment of teachers with conditions that would secure that only those properly qualified should be placed in charge of high school classes. A high school certificating bill carefully drawn to this end, through several years of close observation and thoughtful consideration, barely missed of adoption by the state legislature two years ago, and only missed adoption in the current year by the fact that the legislature whose session is limited in length by law had a great many important measures pressing for action. We have good hope that in the next biennium the law for licensing teachers for service in the public schools will include proper provisions for special qualifications in teachers for the work they assume to do. 5. In 1913 the professor of secondary education organized and instituted the practice of holding annually on the campus of the University a State High School Meet, where representatives of the high schools from all sections of the state should meet in friendly rivalry. Contests are conducted in literary subjects, in declamation, and in athletics. It was believed that by this means the high schools would become somewhat acquainted with each other, and by a comparison of attainments would be enabled the better to rate their own work Results, we believe, have justified these ideas. Incidentally, the boys and girls who come up for the meet have contact with the University, and often derive a purpose not before entertained, to pursue their education by going to college. The state high school meet was suspended during the years of the war, but the 1920 meet emphatically demonstrated its importance and popularity. 6. In 1914, in connection with the State Teachers' Association, there was instituted a department of supervision in that body. This has been found an important adjunct to the state gathering, and a helpful agency for getting progressive ideas and tested methods before those charged with the supervision of our schools. For five successive years the undersigned was elected as presiding officer over its meetings. 7. In the same year I also planned and instituted the holding of a State High School Conference each year, where high school teachers and principals might come together and discuss intimately those matters specially relating to their work. The high school conference is held in midsummer alternately on the campus of the State University and of the Agricultural and Mechanical College at Starkville, in connection with the summer session at either institution. Problems of the high school, methods, and ideas are discussed, and it is believed that this is proving an important agency in promoting the development and standardizing of the high school curriculum and administration. 7. In 1918, the State Teachers' Association projected a Better Schools Campaign, of which I was asked to take charge. The state was closely organized for the prosecution of this campaign, which has resulted in greatly increased budgets for schools all over the state. Teachers' salaries have been raised to higher figures, until now the general level is substantially higher than it was three years ago, and bears some relation to the increased cost of living. In probably no other state has the gain in teachers' salaries been more substantial and secure, admiration having been excited throughout the country for our progress in this respect. 8. The decade has witnessed the erection of scores of handsome and commodious buildings, well-arranged and equipped in all respects for best school purposes. We can but feel that the day is past when it could be said that there are in the state only common schools and colleges, with almost no connection between them. The missing link has been supplied, the field of secondary education is thoroughly formulated, and public education is now a complete system, leading progressively from the primary grades through high school to college, with each step of the course clearly mapped out and accessible to every boy and girl in the state. Undoubtedly the General Education Board has contributed an important service to the development of our state systems of education, in that this desirable result, for which there was no agency in the existing state official positions, could scarcely have come about in a well regulated way under the loose order of development that would have gone on without guidance. With the growth of population and prosperity there would naturally have been some high school development, but this could not have been characterized by common understanding and coordination of parts necessary to make of the state system a consistent whole. There is still much to be done, but in the general understanding of the high school people of the nature of the field of secondary education, its broad obligation to the people and its relation to the whole, it is believed that development in the future can proceed on assured lines. The close of the decade witnesses the most cordial relationship between the state colleges and between the colleges and the secondary schools; a complete accord exists and there is a feeling that each has its proper field and that all must work together for the educational advancement of the commonwealth. A splendid esprit de corps characterizes the teachers, and there obtains among them a fine sense of courtesy and professional etiquette. 0 High School Development in South Carolina J. A. STODDARD, University of South Carolina. When the professor of secondary education in the University of South Carolina began his work in 1906 the state had made no special provision for the establishment or maintenance of high schools as part of her system of public education. The following statement from his report on high schools published in January, 1907, shows briefly the status of secondary education in South Carolina at that time: "It is commonplace to say that the high schools of the state are far from satisfactory. Among these schools themselves there is but little unity in organization; there is almost no articulation between the high school and the college on the one hand, or between the high school and the elementary school on the other hand; but few of them offer a course of study of sufficient length; fewer than one-fourth offer more than one course of study; in most of them the teaching force is inadequate; and a few are entitled to be called high schools only by courtesy. These unsatisfactory conditions must not be used as criticisms against the principals and teachers in these schools. They are doing the best they can to bridge the chasm with the limited means at their command." The growth of high schools during the interval, 1906 to 1920, is shown by the following facts. In 1906 several of the schools taken into account were private. In 1920 only the data for public high schools are given, the facts for the sixteen private secondary and preparatory schools not being available. Total number of white schools (all grades) --- Total number of secondary schools. Number with one teacher in the high school |