~ublicatiom of the University of Tena 
Publications Committee: 
FREDERIC DUNCALF J. L. HENDERSON KlLLIS CAMPBELL E. J. MATHEWS D.G.CooKE H.J. MULLER 
F. W.GRAFF F. A. C. PERRIN 
C. G. HAINES HAL C. WEAVER 
The University publishes bulletins four times a month, BO numbered that the first two digits of the number show the year of issue, the last two the position in the yearly series. (For example, No. 2201 is the first bulletin of the year 1922.) These comprise the official publications of the University, publications_ on humanistic and scientific sub­
ject.a, bulletins \>repared by the Bureau of Extension, by the Bureau of Economic Geology and Technology, and other bul­letins of general educational· interest. With the exception of special numbers, any bulletin will be sent to a citizen of Texas free on request. ·All communications about Univer­sity publications should be addressed to University Publica­tions, University of Texas, Austin. 
UICJVEISITYO i TllA.I PaESS, AUSTIN. 
~­

University of Texas Bulletin 

No. 2339: October 15, 1923 
A STUDY OF RURAL SCHOOLS IN SMITH 
COUNTY, TEXAS 

BY 
E. E. DAVIS 
Specialist in Rural Education 
Bureau of Extension 

AND 
F. J. ADAMS 
Instructor in Education 
PUBLISHED iJY THE UNIVERSITY FOUR TIMES A MONTH. AND ENTERED AS 
SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POSTOFFICE AT AUSTIN . TEXAS, 
UNDER THE ACT OF AUGUST 24, 1912 

The benefits of education and of useful knowledge, generally diffused through a community, are essential to the preservation of ·a free govern­ment. 
Sam Houston 
Cultivated mind is the guardian genius of democracy. . . . It is the only dictator that freemen acknowl­edge and the only security that free­men desire. 
Mirabeau B. Lamar 
CONTENTS 
Page CHAPTER I. Financial Conditions of the Common­School Districts of Smith County. 7 CHAPTER II. The White Teachers in the Rural Schools of Smith County ........ 29 CHAPTER III. Community Relationships. . . . . . . . . 37 CHAPTER IV. Consolidation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 CHAPTER V. The Non-Taxpaying Districts for the School Year of 1922-23. . . . . . . . . . 53 CHAPTER VI. The Transfer Evil. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 CHAPTER VII. The School Trustees. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 CHAPTER VIII. Grounds, Buildings, and Equipment. 66 CHAPTER IX. The \Vhite Pupils, School Attend­ance, and the Course of Study 70 SHAPTER X. Results From Standard Tests . . . . . . 78 CHAPTER XI. The Negro Schools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 CHAPTER XII. Conclusions and Recommendations 96 

FOREWORD 

A Study of Rural Schools in Smith County is the fourth of a series of bulletins setting forth the results of studies made in typical counties in Texas, during the years 1921-23, with a view to throwing some light on the status of rural education in Texas at the present time. 
The object of these studies is twofold: (1) to enable the counties in which they are conducted to see where they stand educationally, and to assist them in the work of edu­cational self-improvement; (2) To obtain a fund of definite, reliable, comprehensive information on the rural-life situa­tion in Texas to be placed at the disposal of the students and teachers of education in this big State. It is hoped that these studies may be of material value in enriching the con­tent of the courses in rural education now being offered in the normal schools and the colleges of Texas. 
The information gathered in the course of these surveys has been obtained through personal interviews with teach­ers, school patrons, and school trustees; observation of the character of the instruction being done by the teachers in the classrooms; standardized tests given in silent reading and arithmetic; inspection of school furniture and school property; the sending of questionnaires to teachers and trustees; the use of such statistical data as could be ob­tained from the county departments of education, the offices of the county tax assessors and the tax collectors, the State Department of Education at Austin, and the reports of the 
U. S. Bureau of the Census. In each county where these studies have been made a representative of the Bureau of Extension has spent approximately thirty days, in co-opera­tion with the County Superintendent of Schools, collecting the necessary information. The blanks and forms used in the course of these surveys may be found in the appendix of this publication. 
T. H. SHELBY, 
Director of the Bureau of Extension, University of Texas. 
INTRODUCTION 
Smith County is located in the timbered country 100 miles to the east of Dallas. It is one of the oldest counties of Texas, being created from Nacogdoches County in 1846 and organized the same year. Tyler, the county seat and chief city, had a population of 12,085 in 1920. Troup and Lin­dale ar~ towns of some importance. Arp, Winona, Omen, Bullard, Mt. Sylvan, Garden Valley, Swan, and Whitehouse are village centers in the county. 
Smith County had a population of 46,769 in 1920; 41,746 in 1910; and 37,370 in 1900. The population has shown a steady increase since 1870 at which time the county con­tained 16,532 people. At present the population is com­posed of 24,500 whites and 17,246 negroes. Practically all of the whites are native-born and English-speaking. The schools have no foreign-born population problem to reckon with. · 
Part of the county lies in the very western edge of the pines. Most of the pine timber, however, has been cut away. Agriculture is the primary industry. The soil is sandy and the farms are small. Most of the land is de­voted to diversified farming, though cotton is the principal crop. 
Tomatoes, sweet potatoes, berries, and general garden vegetables can be produced in great abundance. To some extent they are grown on a commercial scale. There are canneries at the towns of Lindale and Tyler. The Elberta peach, once so prominent in the county, has about lost the position it formerly enjoyed. Insect pests have almost de­stroyed the commercial peach orchards. 
Farm tenancy in Smith County decreased 4.5 per cent for the decade 1910-1920. At present 49.5 per cent of the 6,299 farms in the county are operated by tenants. There are 3,571 farms operated by whites, 57.9 per cent of whom are classed as owners; and 2,728 farms operated by negroes, 
40.5 per cent of whom are classed as owners. There are 
42.1 per cent of the white farmers and 59.5 per cent of the 
University of Texas Bulletin 
negro farmers classed by the Bureau of the Census as farm tenants. 
The improvements of the country roads in Smith County during the past three years have been phenomenal. There are magnificent highways radiating from Tyler to the county line in five directions. In addition to the main high­ways, many of the cross-roads have been greatly improved. The indications are that road improvement will lead to school improvement by consolidation with transportation in some instances. 
There are eight independent school districts and sixty common school districts in the county. The independent districts include the city of Tyler and the towns and vil­lages of Arp, Bullard, Lindale, Mt. Sylvan, Omen, Troup, and Whitehouse. All of the independent districts, except Tyler and Troup, are essentially rural in composition. For the school year 1921-22 there were 5,919 children of school age enumerated in the independent districts and 8,351 in the common school districts. There are 4,247 white chil­dren and 4,104 negro children of free school age in the common school districts of the county. 

CHAPTER I 

FINANCIAL CONDITION OF THE COl\DION-SCHOOL DISTRICTS OF SMITH COUNTY 
Can the school districts of Smith County educate the children within their respective bounds? Are they finan­cially able to foot the bills for the elementary and second­ary schools? Some of the large independent school dis­tricts can. Most of the common-school districts cannot without state aid. 
For the year 1921 the average wealth per school child throughout the State of Texas was $2,663. It varied from the minimum of $799 in Houston County to the maximum of $78,128 in Winkler County. l\fany of the West Texas counties have more than $10,000 of wealth per school child. Most of the East Texas counties have less than $2,000 of wealth per school child. The wealth per school child for each county of the state is given in Map No. 8 of this chap­ter. The figures for this map are obtained by dividing the assessed valuations of each county as given in the Comp­troller's Report for 1921, by the number of scholastics in each county as given by the State Department of Educa­tion, for the school year of 1921-22. 
For the year 1921 the wealth per school child in Smith County, including the city of Tyler, was $1,069. There were at the time this school survey was made in January, 1923, fifty-one common-school districts in Smith County voting local taxes for school maintenance. Only seven of this number had more than $1,000 of wealth per school child. There were nineteen common-school districts with less than $500 of wealth per school child. They were: Antioch, $475; Murph, $341; Baker Springs, $481; Cross Roads, $480; Elm Grove, $382; Hebron, $456; Holts, $373; Joy, $379; Model, $341; Nebo, $346; New Harmony, $439; Noonday, $446; Oak Grove, $388; Red Springs, $439; Salem, $458; Smyre, $263; Stewart, $358; Swan, $488; Walnut Grove, $416. 
University of Terns Bulletin 
The average wealth per school child in the nineteen poor districts enumerated above is S408.79. Is such a sum capable of educating a child and earning an attractive rate of inter­est in addition thereto? No. The district ad valorem school tax is not capable of carrying the cost of education in the rural districts of East Texas. If the country children are to be decently educated, the state must help, and some new sources of school revenue will have to be found. Taxes on incomes, inheritances, oil, sulphur, etc., are now being proposed for that purpose. 
School Tax Rates in the Common-School Districts. 
Of the sixty common-school districts in Smith County, fifty-one were voting and collecting local school taxes at the time this survey was made. The school tax rates for these fifty-one districts ran as follows: ten districts had a rate of $1.00 each; two had 75 cents; one had 65 cents; one had 60 cents; 32 had 50 cents; one had 45 cents; three had 25 cents; and one had 15 cents. Nine of the common-school districts were levying and collecting no school taxes at all. They were educational paupers of the State of Texas. For fuller discussion of these nine districts, see Chapter V. 
The average school tax rate for the fifty-one common­school districts voting local school taxes was 59 cents per $100 of wealth, and produced an average of $3.70 per school child. In the city of Tyler the average wealth per school child is $2,293.46. The school tax rate is 75 cents per $100 of wealth and produces $17.04 per school child. The aver­age wealth per school child in the fifty-one common-school districts voting school taxes at the time of this survey was $617.21. To raise $17.04 per school child in these country districts, the amount raised in Tyler, would require the enormous tax rate of $2.76 per $100 of wealth. Such a rate added to the ad valorem taxes already being levied makes first-class educational opportunities by local taxation almost prohibitive in most of the country districts of Smith 
County. There is an economic limit to the amount of taxes the real property of a community can bear. It is probable that the limit has already been reached in some parts of Smith 
TABLE I FINANCIAL CONDITION OF THE RURAL SCHOOLS OF SMITH COUNTY 
School tax Amount Children Name and number Area in Assessed rate per 
school of of district square valuation $100 of taxes school miles of wealth wealth levied age 
1 2 3 5 
6 
7 8 9 10 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 
Antioch .................................... 
Murph ...................................... 
Baker Springs ......................... 
Black Fork ............................ 
Brown ...................................... 
Bullard ----------------------··--······---­Burns ........................................ 
Carroll ...................................... 
Center ...................................... 
Cross Roads .............................. 
Rice ········································· 
Elm Grove ............................... 
Enterprise ................................ 
Eureka ...................................... 
Evergreen ....... ................. 
Fllint ...................................... 
Flora .............. ··--------------­Garden Valley ········ ........... 
Hanis Chapel ------··············· 
Hebron ................................. 
IIoils ............... ...................... 
Hopewell ......................... .. ...... 

12.4 $ 65,991.00 $ .50 $ 329.95 139 $ 
20.4 77,140.00 .60 462.84 226 
10.4 49.592.00 .25 123.98 103 
11.8 81,522.00 1.00 815.22 159 
Wealth per school child 
475.00 
341.00 
481.00 
513.00 
Revenue per school child $2.37 
2.05 
1.20 
5.13 
;i::.. 
Cr.i 
<-<­
~ ~ 
<::: 
0 
...... 
~ 
~ 
"': 
~ 
.50 301.51 59 1,022.00 5.11
12.2 60,302.00 
Cr.i 
C'>
(?) None
9.5 (?) None None 63 
~ 
3.48 
0
7.4 40,414.00 .50 202.07 58 697.00 
0 
c;;"
17.9 70,876.00 .50 354.38 135 525.00 2.62 
12.9 (?) None None 105 (?) None 
"'· 
~ 
78.07 65 480.00 1.20 214,534.00 .50 1,072.67 
9.5 31,228.00 .25 
233 922.00 4.61 
~ 
19. 
~­
382.00 1.91 
"' 
7.6 41,984.00 .50 209.92 110 
<-<­
;::;­
1,668.00 8.34
8.5 88,404.00 .50 442.02 53 Cl
23.8 75,770.00 .50 378.85 111 683.00 3.41 
0
538.00 2.69 
~
16.2 62,376.00 .50 3 1.1.88 116 
;:5 
15.5 $256,657.00 1.00 2,566.57 328 783.00 7.83 
'""" 
'.;:::
(?) None None 45 ( '!) None
7.5 >--j
16.2 81,360.00 1.00 813.60 147 553.00 5.53 
~ 
:>-;
9.4 79,984.00 .50 399.92 96 8a3.00 4.17 
i:::: 
12. 48,744.00 .50 243.72 107 456.00 2.28 
"' 
12.8 81,993.00 .15 122.!19 220 37a.00 .56 
102 !l77.00 4.88 I
12. 99,708.00 .50 497.04 w 
........ 0
School tax Amount Children Wealth Revenue I 
Name and number Area in Assessed rate per school of per per of district square valuation $100 of taxes school school school miles of wealth wealth levied age child child 25 Independence .......................... 13.8 84,458.00 .50 422.29 151 559.00 2.80 26 Indian Creek .......................... 16.1 119,718.00 .50 598.59 109 1,098.00 !).49 27 Jackson ···································· 17.8 (?) None None 159 (?) None 28 Jamestown .............................. 17.6 57,780.00 .50 288.90 104 556.00 2.78 
c::! 
29 Joy ............................................ 17.5 70,100.00 .50 350.50 185 379.00 1.89 

~ 
""'·
~
31 Liberty Hill .............................. 6.9 67,493.00 1.00 674.93 105 643.00 6.43 

<:':> 
"'I
32 Bascom .................................... 23.9 112,991.00 1.00 1,129.91 222 509.00 5.09 

e,, 
,,...
33 Midway .................................... 14.4 (?) None None 164 (?) None 

""'· 
~ 
34 Model ........................................ 7.5 35,140.00 .50 175.70 103 341.00 1.70 

0 
.......

35 Mt. Carmel .............................. 15. (?) None None 93 (?) None 

38 Neals Chapel ............................ 4.7 27,584.00 .50 137.92 6 (No School) 

'""-3 
<:':> 
39 Nebo .......................................... 8.2 42,178.00 .50 210.89 122 346.00 1.73 

P. 40 New Harmony.......................... 12.9 53,115.00 1.00 531.15 121 439.00 4.39 
~ 
41 New Hope ................................ 9.8 (?) None None 116 (?) None 

b;j 
42 Noonday .................................. 30. 167,410.00 .50 837.05 375 446.00 2.23 

~ 
(;;"'
43 Oak Grove ................................ 6.9 36,820.00 .50 184.10 95 388.00 1.94 

,,... 
46 Pleasant Hill ............................ 6.2 70,000.00 .50 350.00 47 1,489.00 7.44 

""· 
~ 
47 Pleasant Retreat .................... 11.3 122,768.00 .25 306.92 88 1,395.00 3.49 
48 Pine Springs ............................ 14. 236,602.00 .50 1,183.01 209 1,132.00 5.66 
50 Prairie Lea .............................. 9.6 61,233.00 .75 459.25 70 875.00 6.56 
51 Providence .............................. 14. 92,253.00 1.00 922.53 116 795.00 7.95 
52 Red Springs .............................. 22.6 104,926.00 .50 524.63 239 439.00 2.19 
53 Sabine ...................................... 13.1 65,727.00 1.00 657.27 113 582.00 5.82 
54 Salem ........................................ 10.8 51,286.00 .65 333.36 112 458.00 2.97 

School tax Amount Children Wealth Revenue of per per
Name and number Area in Assessed rate per school 
;:i:.. 
of district square valuation $100 of taxes school school school 
V:l
age child child 
<-!­
miles of wealth wealth levied 
55 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 67 68 70 
71 
Saline ----------------------------------------Smyre --------------------------------------Starrville ---------------------------------­Stewart -----------------------------------­Swan ---------------------------------------­Thompson -------------------------------­Union Point ---------------------------­Village Creek -------------------------­Walnut Grove -------------------------­White's Chapel -------------~---------­Winona -----------------------------------­Wood Springs -------------------------­Rabbit ----------------------------------------Loftin -------------------------------------­
~
96 695.00 3.48
66,750.00 .50 333.7 5 
R.
15.8 
<i::::
263.00 1.18
10.7 38,631.00 .45 173.84 147 
0
(?) None
21.4 (?) None None 159 
358.00 2.68 
-
10.9 52,950.00 .75 397.12 148 
~ 
488.00 2.44
122,110.00 .50 610.55 250 
~
13.8 .50 137.56 23 1,196.00 5.98
5.5 27,512.00 
~ 
2.56
51,698.00 .50 258.49 101 511.00
11.3 
V:l
3.35 
<:">
15.3 77,678.00 .50 388.39 116 670.00 
;::,­
2.08 
0
38,690.00 .50 193.45 93 416.00
10.i'> 
0
(?) None 
c;;"
14. 7 (?) None None 125 
428 756.00 3.78
323,356.00 .50 1,616.78 
;;;·
23 .3 
63 611.00 3.05
38,492.00 .50 192.46
36. 
'.{1
59 777.00 7.77
8.4 45,827.00 1.00 458.27 
;:::
74 816.00 8.16 
-.
60,370.00 1.00 603.70 
<-!­
13.7 
~ 
("') 
0 
~ 
;:: 
<-!­
~ 
'-3 
~ ~.....: 
>:> 
"' """' 
"""' 
University of Texas Bulletin 
County. For example, the total taxes for all purposes on some of the sandy-land farms in the Good Road District No. 6 reach the enormous rate of S4.82. They are dis­tributed as follows: state, 75 cents; county, $1.82; school, $1.-00; roads, $1.25. 
When the total tax rate becomes so heavy that real prop­erty becomes undesirable as an investment in a community then the danger point has been reached. Then it is that the community begins taxing its economic foundation from beneath its feet. Its capital will migrate to other com­munities and into those securities where taxes are less ex acting. To provide adequately for the rural schools of Smith County by local ad valorem taxation would require that the State free-school funds be supplemented by a local school tax rate of approximately S3.00 for each common­school district in the county. That added to the State, county, and road taxes already in existence would make a total rate in excess of $6.00 in many districts. Would ·a Smith County sandy-land farm be a desirable piece of property in the face of such a tax rate? Would not renting be more desirable than home ownership and tax payments? Educating the country children of East Texas by ad va­lorem district school taxes is an economic impossibility. If they are properly educated, the State must continue to help. Moreover, it must help more liberally than it has in the past. But if the State cannot find the revenues wherewith to render this help, then there is little hope that the rural schools of East Texas will ever rise very much above the level of their present conditions. To some extent they can be improved through reorgnization. That will be discussed later in this bulletin. 
Many of the Common-School Districts Are Not Doing as Much to Help Themsel1.:es as They Should. It is true that most of the rural districts of East Texas are very poor and cannot bear the full burden of educating their children in an acceptable manner. On the other hand, many of them could do more toward helping themselves than they are do­ing. They have formed the habit of perpetually looking 
A Study of Rural Schools in Smith County, Te:;.:as 13 
toward Austin and crying for help. They are as helpless babes lying prone in the cradle of the State. They are inert weaklings suffering from lack of exercise and self-effort. 
Self-effort is good for an individual. It is equally as good for a school community. People and communities sel­dom appreciate as they should gifts that are gratuitously bestowed upon them. They appreciate most the things they help pay for. It would be a fortunate thing for public education in Texas if every school district in the State were required to vote a minimum school tax rate of Sl.00 in order to become eligible to participation in the State free-school funds. It would make better schools and better school spirit on the part of those patronizing them. 
Smith County is so poor in wealth and so rich in its number of children that each year it receives back from the State Treasury more in free-school funds, free text­books, special aid for rural schools, etc., than the total amount it pays into the treasury in taxes. According to the Thirteenth Annual Report of the State Tax Commis­sioner for the year 1922, Smith County paid into the State Treasury $94,920.30 in taxes and received back from it in free-school funds, etc., the total amount of 8215,746. For each $1.00 paid in taxes Smith County received back $2.27. The very best annual investment that Smith County makes is the payment of its State tax bills. It is an investment paying annual dividends of over 200 per cent in actual cash returns. Of all the counties of Texas that should pay their quota of State taxes with the highest degree of cheerful­ness and willingness, it is those receiving back from the State each year more revenues than they pay to it. It is highly profitable to them to belong to the fraternity of counties in the bonds of Texas statehood. For the year 1922 there were 112 counties in Texas that received back from the State Treasury more than they paid into it in taxes. For the three-year period, 1919 to 1921 inclusive, Smith County paid into the State Treasury the total. of $306,733.75 and received back 8672,002.17.* 
*State Tax Commissioner's Report for 1922. 
University of Texas Bulletin
14 
Why Some Counties Receive Back from the State Treas­ury Each Year More Than They Pay Into It in Taxes. Since Smith County falls within the group of counties some­times dubbed as "dependents" upon the State, an analysis of the causes of this "dependent" condition logically falls in the discussion of the county's school finances in this bulletin. 
Some of the West Texas counties feel that they are pay­ing more than their just and proportionate share of the State's tax bills. That may be true in some instances. Just how extensive this injustice is no one knows. Many vio­lent assertions and wild guesses are being hazarded. The 
CoUNTIES THAT RECEIVE MORf fROM THE STATE 
TllEASURY THAN T\fEY PAY INTO IT IN TAXES 
* Counues 111.ltreuil'e back more l!llnf3 ror111eh•1 paid in. ~m1:®.~::-nlr !!!!IC Cou11t1es l&ltrect1vebackfro111•2 to+J lllreJChfl paid in . '-0-iiW//l /JTITirllll rum Countits tliat ra:eile lllck fro1t1 f Jy, to • 2 For each41 pa id i11. llillII !'.ounhesthltm:til'fbackFru'"_.t to HY.lore,ich•I piid in. = Clllurties M Pd)' in 111011? tha" they·receive Nck._. 
MAP No. 1: Counties That Receive From the State Treasury More Than They Pay Into It in Taxes. (Data taken from the Tax Com­missioners Report for 1922.) 
A Study of Rural Schools in Smith County, Texas 15 
true and dependable facts cannot be had until an unbiased analysis of the underlying causes for this condition is made. 
Opinions unsupported by facts are dangerous things. The great trouble is that some of our educators and states­men have made the mistake of hastily spending their opin­ions before analyzing the underlying social and economic causes for the poverty of East Texas. East Texas has been unjustly charged with "falling down" on its rendition of property values. Upon investigation the author of this study finds much evidence to the effect that the sin of under­valuation of property for taxation is quite as prevalent in the rest of the State as it is in East Texas. · The great trouble with East Texas is that the per capita of wealth is very low. 
Map No. 1 gives us a bird's-eye view of the 112 counties of Texas that received back more from the State Treasury than they paid in for the year 1922. The six counties in­dicated by the big stars received back more than $3.00 for each $1.00 paid in. All of them are East Texas counties. They are the counties of Cass, Houston, Rusk, Morris, Shelby, and Upshur. The greatest beneficiary of this group is Upshur County which received back $3.60 for each $1.00 paid in. 
The counties indicated by the checkered shading in Map No. 1 received back from the State from $2.00 to $3.00 for each $1.00 paid in. There are eighteen of these coun­ties. They are also in East Texas. They are the counties of Hopkins, Franklin, Wood, Raines, Titus, Camp, Marion, Harrison, Panola, Gregg, Smith, Van Zandt, Henderson, Cherokee, San Augustine, Trinity, San Jacinto, and Leon. 
Why do we find these counties localized in East Texas? Does it mean that the office of tax assessor in that part of the State is universally filled by men who are experts in cheating the State of Texas by protecting their respective counties against their proportionate shares of the State tax bills through the permission of property renditions that are disproportionately low and unfair? It does not stand to reason that this should be the case. There may be a few rascals in the office of tax assessor in Texas, but we would 
University of Texas Bulletin 
naturally expect to find as many of them in Western and Central Texas as in East Texas. Surely there must be some fundamental underlying causes for the low property values in East Texas that reach further back than the me­chanical and official details of assessing and collecting the ad valorem taxes. 
Upon careful analysis of the data available the author of this study is convinced that there are four fundamental reasons why so many of the East Texas counties receive back from the State Treasury each year more than they pay into it: (1) There is a large negro population that are poor producers of wealth and great producers of children to whom annual school appropriations are made; (2) the number of school children per 1,000 population is higher in East Texas than in any other portion of the State; 
(3) East Texas is in the cotton-producing area of the State, and it seems that the cotton crop throughout the State is productive of rural poverty; (4) much of the land is sandy and thin but well adapted to the production of sweet potatoes, syrup made on the farm, all kinds of fruits and vegetables, etc., which make it an easy place for a farmer to make a living and rear a large family of children, though it is a poor place for making money and accumulating sur­plus wealth. 
The Negro as a Cause of the Poverty in East Texas. 
Map No. 2 shows the distribution of the negro population of Texas for the year 1920. It is remarkable to note that the counties previously mentioned as the heaviest "dependents" upon the State (Cass, Houston, Rusk, Morris, Shelby, Upshur, Hopkins, Franklin, Wood, Raines, Titus, Camp, Marion, Harrison, Panola, Gregg, Smith, Van Zandt, Hen­derson, Cherokee, San Augustine, Trinity, San Jacinto, and Leon) lie within the area where the negro population is densest. This suggests that there may be some relation­ship between the economic condition of these counties and the character of their population. 
It is a well-known fact that the average negro farmer is a very inefficient economic producer. He does not possess the skill, farm equipment, and other capital wherewith to 
A Study of Rural Schools in Smith County, Te:cas 17 
produce a profitable crop. Most of the rural negroes belong to the class of subsistence farmers. They barely make a living. That is all. They are creating and accumulating very little surplus wealth. Though 40.5 per cent of the negro farmers of Smith County are classed as home owners, most of their farms are small and not very productive. Though 41.3 per cent of the entire population of Smith County is negro, it is most probable that the negroes own less than 10 per cent of the wealth of the county. The negro is a great producer of children but a poor producer of wealth. He calls children into existence more readily than he does bales of cotton and bushels of corn. 
If the negro farmers of East Texas were as thrifty as 
TEXAS 
P•r cent. tar hzaa0 16.9 • 
Cou.nt1•• •1th ~Oto 2fi per omt. 
Count1•• wlth 26 to &O per omt. 
• COUllU.e• With 60 per otat or IDOHo 
MAP NO. 2: The Negro Population of Texas. 
University of Texas Bulletin 
the Yankee farmers of Ohio and Indiana, the rural com­munities of the eastern portion of this State would have more wealth for the financial support of the free schools and for the payment of the county and State tax bills. Fewer of the East Texas counties would fall in the "de­pendent" list. Before East Texas can contribute her full quota of ad valorem taxes to the State Treasury, the wealth upon which such taxes are computed must first be created. Just here the main question for the statesman and educator is a simple but highly important one: If the State can give the kind of scholastic training that will make of its con­stituency more efficient economic producers, then it can profitably continue its work of free education. If it can­not, it must either limit its educational expenditures or find itself ultimately confronted with a hopelessly bankrupted State Treasury. This matter is more fully discussed in 
the chapter on Negro Schools. 
Other Racial Complications in the Matter of Public School Finance in Texas. Why do the counties of Caldwell, Guadalupe, Gonzales, Wilson, Karnes, Bee, San Patricio, Dimmitt, La Salle, Webb, Duval, Zapata, Hidalgo, Cameron, and Presidio, fall in the list of "dependent" counties as shown in Map No. 1? The answer to this question is best given in Map No. 3 showing the distribution of the Mexican population in Texas for the year 1920. The Mexican, like the negro, is a poor economic producer. Where the Mexi­can farmer is found in great numbers, there you find much rural poverty. The per capita wealth of a community is always lowered by the presence of the Mexican agricultural laborer. During the past twenty years the Mexicans have driven a great wedge of immigration into the very heart of Texas. The greatest density of rural Mexican popula­tion in Texas is not along the Rio Grande frontier. It is in Caldwell County, just thirty miles to the south of the city of Austin. The inefficient productivity of the negro and the Mexican constitutes one of the greatest of all the econom~c difficulties in the road to better rural schools in Texas. It is for that reason that the author digresses here just long enough to compare the economic effects of the 
A Study of Rural Schools in Smith County, Texas 19 
presence of the Mexican in Central and Southwest Texas with that of the negro in East Texas. 

MAP NO. 3: The Mexican Population of Texas in 1920. 
Before dismissing this topic the author begs to invite the attention of the readers to the counties of Fayette, Austin, Colorado, Lavaca, and De Witt. In Map No. 1 they are literally surrounded by a belt of "Dependent" counties. But the counties of Fayette, Austin, Colorado, De Witt, and Lavaca are paying handsome balances into the State Treasury each year above what the State is spending on them in its work of free education, etc. Why does it happen that these five counties do not fall in the "dependent" list? First, from Map No. 3 it can be seen 

University of Texas Bulletin
20 
that there are very few Mexicans in them. Second, the n€groes these counties possess are more than offset by the Continental Europeans and their immediate de­scendants-Bohemians, Czecho-Slovakians, and Germans -all of whom are capable, industrious producers of wealth. These counties are not in the "dependent" group 
tJ.l.C.DllU far l9to. 
CrOJI for 19111 r , tn, '67 MJ.u. 
~dot= 1,000 b&l••· 

MAP NO. 4: Cotton Production in Texas in 1920. 
because of their thrifty, wealth-producing population. They have produced the wealth where·with to pay their full share of revenue to the State. 
Cotton and Porerty. By this time some of the readers are asking the question, Why the large group of slightly dependent counties west of the Cross Timbers? l\'Iap 
A Study of Rural Schools in Smith County, Te:tas 21 
No. 1 shows that there are 23 counties west of the Cross Timbers receiving more from the State than the total amount tht!y pay in taxes. They are tlie counties of Wheeler, Collingsworth, Hall, Crosby, Dickens, Kent, Stonewall, Haskell, Dawson, Scurry, Fisher, Jones, Howard, Mitchell, Nolan, Taylor, Coke, Runnels, Cole­man, Brown, Mills, and McCulloch. For this condition we must look for some other cause than the low produc­tivity of negro and Mt!xican farm laborers, for there are very few negroes and Mexicans in that part of the S~ate. 
The cotton field has an affinity for poor people. Farm tenancy and poverty have followed in the wake of the cot­ton field. Prior to 1900 there was very little farm tenancy in West Texas. It was during the decade 1900-1910 that people first learned that cotton could be grown successfully west of the Cross Timbers. By 1910 there were 23 counties west of the Cross Timbers with more than 50 per cent of farm tenancy each. They were Hall, Childress, Cottle, Hardeman, Wilbarger, Wichita, Knox, Baylor, Stonewall, Haskell, Scurry, Fisher, Jones, Howard, Mitchell, Nolan, Taylor, Sterling, Runnels, Coleman, McCulloch, Concho, and Tom Green. The readers are here invited to note how strikingly the cotton-producing counties of West Texa:o shown in Map No. 4 coincide with the "dependent" counties of West Texas shown in Map No. 1. Surely there must be some relationship between the cotton plant and the de­pendent condition of these counties upon the State Treasury. 
This little excursion of two short paragraphs into West 
Texas helps us better to understand the nature of the eco­
nomic straits into which Smith County and the rest of East 
Texas have fallen. Smith County is a cotton-producing 
county. It has been for many decades. So has most of the 
rest of East Texas. Thus we find East Texas to be thE 
depressed victim of the combined influences of the small cot­
ton field and the negro farmer of very low productivity. 
Moreover, many of the white farmers of East Texas are 
not as thrifty as they should be. It is a regrettable fact that 
illiteracy among the native whites of East Texas is more 
University of Texas Bulletin
22 
than twice as prevalent as it is among the native whites of West Texas.* 
Distribution of the School Children of Texas. Map No. 5 is based upon the Report of the United States Bureau of the Census for 1920 and shows the number of school chil­dren per 1,000 population for each county of the State. It is interesting to note that the State's crop of school children is heaviest in East Texas. According to the United States Census for 1920 there are eight counties that reach the high 
TEXAS 
u.s.conaue tor 1920. ~.countiee with 300 or core per l,000 population. rzon_ coo.nun .ttb 280 to 30U per 1,000 populat1o:i.miffiil count1ea •I.th 2:60 to £80 per 1,000 populet1on. •C=:J count1ee with 1088 t.hon 260 per 1,000 population.
* Cowit1ee conta1nln8' 01 t1e o . 
+ 
COQ.nti~a oonta1n11'J8 oil :Uelda. 
MAP NO. 5: Number of Children of Free-School Age per 1,000 Population for the Year 1920. (Data taken from the U . S. Bureau of the Census for 1920.) 
*
0 A Study of Illiteracy in Texas," p. 14, Extension Bu1letin of the University,
1923, No. 2328. 
A Study of Rural Schuols in Smith County, Te:cas 23 
mark of 300 or more children of school age per 1,000 popu­lation. Six of these counties are in East Texas. They are San Augustine, Panola, Marion, Cass, Upshur, and Raines.* 
Smith County has 284 children of school age per 1,000 population. There are only thirty-eight other counties in Texas that have as many school children per 1,000 popula­tion as Smith County has. The ctrnnty of Wichita has relatively the fewest children of school age of any county 

MAP NO. 6: Sweet Potatoes on Farms in Texas in 1920. 
*"A Study of Illiteracy in Texas," p. 43, Extension Bulletin of the Univer· 
sity, 1923, No. 232 . Note: The other two counties with more than 300 children of school age per 1,000 population are Coryell and Motley. ('.oryell County accidentally. falls into 
this group because of the number of boys imported from other counties to the 
Boys' Reformatory School at Gatesville. Motley County is a very sparsely settled county with only 4,107 people in 1920. For some unknown reason its fatio of scholastic to total population is very high. 
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in the State. It has 172 school children per 1,000 popula­tion. 
Causes foi' the Large Numbe1· of School Children in East Texas. Slightly less than a century ago there li\·ed in England a distinguished economist by the name of ~Ialthus. He called the world's attention to the fact that there is a very close relationship bet\veen the birth rate and the food supply of a community. The more abundant the food sup­ply, the greater the number of marriages and births. 
As has already been stated, East Texas is the land of the tomato, Elberta peach, sweet potato, cornfield pumpkin, ribbon cane syrup, and many other edible products raised on the farm and in the garden. In that locality it is an easy matter for a farmer to raise a large family of children and provide them with the physical necessaries of life on the farm. Food maps for the State of Texas show that where we find the greatest amount of food produced on the farm, there we find the greatest number of school children per unit of population. The reader may be interested in comparing :\laps 6 and 7 showing the distribution of sweet potatoes and syrup made on the farms of Texas with :\fap No. 5 showing the distribution of the school children in the State. ·where \Ve find the greatest number of bush.els of sweet potatoes and the greatest number of gallons of syrup made on the farms, there we find a corresponding increase in the number of children of school age. Other food maps bearing out the same fact could be produced if the space of this brief publication could admit them. 
Another factor contributing to the large scholastic popu­
lation of East Texas is the negro race with its low stand­
ards of living. In Southwest Texas the ~Iexicans with their 
low standards of living also augment the ratio of the scho­
lastic population to total population. This becomes quite 
obvious when the }Iexican Population Map No. 3 is com­
pared with the Scholastic Population Map No. 5. As a 
rule, the lower the standards of liYing a race of people 
maintains, the higher the birth rate. 
The Wealth Per School Child in TeJ.:as. Map No. 8 giYes 
the wealth per school child in Texas by counties. In gen­
A Study of Rural Schools in Smith County, Terns 25 
eral, West Texas is better able to take care of public educa­tion that East Texas. However, this does not mean that there is a greater concentration of wealth in \Vest Texas than in East Texas. The large amount of wealth per school child in West Texas is due to the sparse population and the small number of school children rather than to any large concentration of wealth. 
By comparing ::.\laps No. 5 and No. 8, we see that those parts of the State with the fewest children to educate are the most able to educate them and those parts with the most children to educate are the least able to educate them. Rel­atively speaking, those sections of the State ·where the ::\Iex­icans and negroes are most numerous are the poorest in 

"EXAS 
...... ~.. il~~~·~j_ 
_...... :->---~._., / 



~~j:::t).~f?
--:--_z :-·:J 
-1a.:..Y-1~:-~r1 
.
·+ --r. ·1·..)...,:L ~:5:· -!-: -.-i-..-i-~

. 	IUD 11.&.pi 01 P11KS II Bli8 
o.a.C...• tor 1H01 l,Ul0 t.6t pUoa.s. 
Om tot 1: 0 000 plloaa. 

MAP NO. 7: Syrup Made on Farms in Texas in 1920. 
L'ni-cersity of Te.rns Bulletin 
26 
wealth and the richest in the number of children to whom State school funds are appropriated. 
The counties v.;ith large cities and great concentrations of wealth haYe fewer children per 1,000 population than the agricultural counties having no cities. For example, Dallas County has 194 children of free-school age per 1,000 popu­lation CCnited States Census for 1920); Tarrant County, 196; Harris, 206; Bexar, 202; El Paso, 208; Wichita, 172. On the other hand, the number of children of school age per 1,000 population in some of the strictly agricultural coun­
A.T•r1.t• •ealtb per ecl:ool c:t::114 t cro-,;,ibo-:t. 
tt:.e State. t 2,663 . 

C=:JC<r.l.llt1.ea Yi th l e aa tb.n t 2,eoo pu ec~c.l cbUd . 
~Co'll.Dt1n • 11.h t 2,500 to t,b, oao per ecl:o.;.l cl:Ud. 
~Col.l..Dthe • 1tb $5,0CO to tl0, 000 per echo~l cl:i1 d. ... c.,.,,., •ltb no,ooo ., co" ••: acbool <b!ld. 
MAP NO. 8: Wealth per School Child in Texas by Counties. (Data taken from the Comptroller's Report for 1921, and from Bul­letin No. 126 of the State Department of Education for the school year of 1921-22.) 
A Study of Rural Schools in Smith County, Te.ms 27 
ties that are helping to build and support the cities run as follows: Red River, 290; Panola, 303; Limestone, 290; Shelby, 294, etc. 
Conclusion. The greatest difficulty in the way of rural elementary education in Smith County is the obstacle of poverty. The same thing is true of many other rural sec­tions of Texas. Chief among the fundamental causes of the rural poverty in Texas is our large population of ne­groes, Mexicans, and a great many thriftless American whites on the cotton farms of the State. These people and cotton farming are chiefly responsible for the financial con­ditions of the 112 "dependent" counties receiving from the State Treasury more than they pay into it. Their stand­ards of living are low and their families are large. They draw heavily upon the State Treasury in the apportionment of free-school funds and free text-books. They produce so little wealth that they return to the State but a small amount in ad valorem taxes. 
The State must continue to help in the financing of free elementary and secondary education, but the local districts must do more for themselves. Too much dependence upon the State is a dangerous thing for the local school district. It is conducive to social atrophy and educational pauperism. Each district should help pay for its schools through local taxation. 
It may be that the kind of free education the State is now offering is not just what it should be. It is quite probable that our country schools would be much more beneficial if their interests and activities tended more ,to­ward preparation for citizenship, homemaking, community building, and increased industrial productivity. As a plain business proposition, the State will be inevitably compelled to limit its free educational expenditures in the future un­less it can successfully offer the kind of education that will make for thrift and more efficient economic producth-ity on the part of its constituents. East Texas is suffering from under productivity. It will remain as a charge upon the rest of the State until the day comes ·when through 
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increased productivity it can contribute its proportionate quota to the State's revenues. 
The rest of the State must continue to assist the im­provident counties in the work of free education. The pur­pose of the State school tax and the State school fund is to secure equality of educational opportunity throughout the State. A half century ago there were persons who con­tended very strongly that it was wrong to take one man's money for the education of another man's child. They thought that every family should be held responsible for the education of its children. But that theory has long since been discarded as poor statesmanship in our democ­racy. It is a fundamental principle in American education 
that the wealth of the State must help in educating the children of the State regardless of where the wealth is lo­cated and where the children reside. 
The foregoing facts and figures, without further am­plification, can easily give one a wrong impression of East Texas. It is true that East Texas is not a land of great wealth; yet, at the same time, it is not a land of poverty unto the point of hunger. It is true that there are many subsistence farmers. They cannot accumulate a great deal of surplus wealth, but they can make a living. More than that, they can make a good living. The sweet potato, all kinds of fruits and berries, a great diversity of garden vegetables, the dairy cow, hogs, and poultry make East Texas one of the easiest places in the State for a thrifty farmer to make a good living on the farm at home. East Texas is not an attractive place for money making, but it is a good place to make a living. It is a land naturally adapted to small farm home-ownership. Therein consists its future hope. 

CHAPTER II' 

THE WHITE TEACHERS IN RURAL SCHOOLS OF 

SMITH COUNTY 
There are sixty-six school districts under the jurisdiction of the county superintendent in Smith County. Sixty of them are common-school districts and six are small inde­pendent districts with less than 500 scholastics each. The small independent districts include the villages of Arp, Omen, Bullard, Lindale, Mt. Sylvan, and Whitehouse. 
There are sixty white schools in the common-school dis­tricts employing a total of 120 teachers. Twenty of them employ one teacher each; twenty-six employ two teachers each; ten employ three teachers each; two employ four teachers each; and two employ five teachers each. 
The six small independent school districts employ a total of thirty-three teachers. One of them employs ten teach­ers; one employs eight teachers; three employ four teachers each; and one employs three teachers. There is a total of 153 white teachers under the jurisdiction of the county superintendent. 
In the course of this survey information as to age, teach­ing experience, professional qualifications, etc., was gath­ered from 125 white teachers. Of this number ninety were women and thirty-five were men. 
The percentage of men teachers is slightly higher in Smith County than in other counties where school surveys have been made in Texas. In Smith County 28 per cent of the teachers responding to the questionnaires sent out are men, as compared with 27 per cent for Wichita County; 
22.8 per cent for Karnes County; and 5.8 per cent for vVil­liamson County. One teacher ventured to account for the large per cent of men teachers in Smith County by saying, "A great many of the young men in East Texas go into teaching because teaching is about the best thing open to them. In the West where business and industrial oppor­tunities are better, teaching is less attractive to the average young man." 
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The salaries paid to teachers in West Texas are better than the salaries paid in East Texas. But in West Texas it is difficult for better salaries to hold capable men in the teaching profession in the face of the superior industrial temptations. Business opportunities are not so good in East Texas. For that reason a very considerable number of men remain in teaching even though the salaries are poor. 
Age and Teaching Experience. In Smith County the median age of the women teachers was found to be 23.2 years and that of the men teachers 28.8 years. There were 82.2 per cent of the women teachers and 58 per cent of the men teachers under thirty years of age. The women began teaching at the median age of 18.6 years and the men at the median age of 19.9 years. The median teaching ex­perience for the women was 2.9 years and for the men 
4.8 years. Professional Qualifications. There were 37.2 per cent of the women teachers and 57.1 per cent of the men teachers who did not graduate from high school. This is attrib­utable to the fact that most of them were born and reared in the country beyond . the reach of adequate high-school facilities. Seventy-seven per cent of the women and 97 per cent of the men now teaching in the rural schools of Smith County were reared in the country. For the most part, the rural schools of Smith County are being taught by the sons and daughters of farmers. More than that, the vast ma­jority of them were born in Smith County. They are home products. It is true that the educational attainments of most of the rural teachers of Smith County fall far short of what they should be. But their qualifications cannot be meas­ured by the test of high-school graduation indicated above. Such a criterion would be both misleading and unfair. Quite a number of them who did not graduate from high school because of inadequate opportunities during childhood worked their way through to normal school graduation 
after reaching the years of maturity. Twelve per cent of the white women teachers and 26 per 
A Study of Rural Schools in Smith County, Texas 31 
cent of the white men teachers graduated from colleges and normal schools. Twenty per cent of the women teachers and 11 per cent of the men teachers never attended college or normal school. Eighty per cent of the women teachers attended colleges and normal schools for periods varying from three months to three years, the average being 1.6 years. Eighty-nine per cent of the men teachers attended colleges and normal schools for periods varying in length from three months to four years, the average being two years. 
The certification of the women teachers runs as follows: 
15.5 per cent hold permanent certificates; 46.4 per cent first-grade certificates; and 38.1 per cent second-grade cer­tificates. There are 22.8 per cent of the men teachers holding permanent certificates; 68.6 per cent first-grade certificates; 8.6 per cent second-grade certificates. 
The most commendable effort on the part of the teachers for self-improvement is the fact that slightly more than one­third of them spent a portion of their vacation months last year attending schools for the professional improvement of teachers. In most instances this was done at a very con­siderable personal sacrifice. Attending school during the summer cost some of them more than their short school terms and meager salaries enabled them to save during the entire year. There is no doubt that the devotion of many of the teachers to the work they have chosen is prompted more by the spirit of altruism than by any hope for ultimate financial reward. 
The author feels safe in saying that no other force is contributing so much for the professional improvement of the rural and village teachers now in the service in Texas as :are the summer courses for teachers offered ·by our institu­tions of higher learning. Just here the normal schools and colleges might get a few valuable suggestions for their own improvement by noting some of the answers given to the question: What, in your judgment, could the normal school in which you studied have done in its training to prepare you better for your present work? "Taught me how to present subject matter to pupils instead of teaching me sub­
University of Texas Bulletin 
ject matter of which I already had a fair knowledge." "Given me more practical, concrete school-room problems and less of general principles." "Provided instructors who have had first-hand experiences with all the hardships that confront the rural teacher." "Should have given me a course taught by an instructor with a good personality and with a successful record as a rural teacher and a rural community builder." 
Though the teachers show a very commendable degree of willingness to go away to school for their professional im­provement during the summers, the indications are that, on the average, they do very little professional reading in the meantime. Only fifty-one of the 125 teachers reporting read as much as one good professional book during the year. Ninety of the 125 were subscribing for one or more profes­sional magazines, with the Normal Instructor and Primary Plans leading the list. 
Salaries. Salaries for the women teachers ranged from $50 to $125 per month, the median being $81.43. For the men teachers the salaries ranged from $60 to $166.66 per month, the median being $108.33. The median length of school term contracted for by the women teachers was 6.1 months and that for the men teachers 6.4 months. In many instances the number of days that school was actually taught fell short of the number of days called for in the teacher's contract. This was due, in most instances, to the general shortage of State school funds for the school year 1922-23. As near as can be computed from the data in hand, the median annual salary for the white women teach­ers is $497 and that for the white men teachers $690. 
The salaries paid the rural teachers of Smith County do not compare very favorably with the salaries paid to rural teachers in some other parts of the State. For the school year 1921-22 the median salaries for the rural teachers of Wichita County were $1,330.50 for the men and $1,124.33 for the women; in Karnes County they were $1,000 for the men and S800 for the women; in Williamson County, $1,268.80 for the men and $719.50 for the women. 
Salaries for rural teachers never have been as good in 
A Study of Rural Schools in Smith County, Texas 33 
East Texas as in West Texas. For instance, for the school year 1920-21 the average salary for rural teachers in twenty contiguous East Texas counties in the vicinity of Smith County was $449.50 as compared with $688.40 for twenty contiguous West Texas counties with Amarillo as the center. Present indications are that salaries never will be very at­tractive to rural teachers in East Texas. As has been pointed out in the previous chapter, most of the rural school districts of East Texas are very poor. They are not able to build and maintain ideal schools. But that is not the worst of it. The great difficulty is that, even though they are poor, the vast majority of them are not doing as much as they could in the way of local financial support for education. Can East Texas ever have the schools and the well-trained teachers that the children are entitled to until more of the local school districts wake up and try to do things for themselves? Will the practice of perpetually looking toward Austin and calling for more financial aid build a school system in any part of the State? These are questions which thinking citizens of East Texas might well ask themselves. 
Boarding Facilities and the Cost of Living. Eighty per cent of the women teachers and 46 per cent of the men teachers were not married. Out of a total of 125 teachers reporting, only twenty-three were maintaing independent households. The rest were either living with their parents or boarding in private homes. Quite a number of those maintaining independent households \Vere doing light house­keeping. 
The facts of the foregoing paragraph are quite signifi­cant. They suggest that teaching in the rural schools must be, for the most part, an occupation for unmarried people. The natural inference is that it must be exceedingly diffi­cult for one to marry, establish a home, rear a family, and maintain satisfactory standards of living as a rural teacher. The person desirous of a family and a home is practically compelled to leave the teaching profession in order to have them. In all probability, this is the chief reason why so many young men use teaching as a stepping stone to other things. 
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One young man remarked, "This is my last year in the school room. I can never have a home of my own as a teacher. Continuance in the teaching profession practically condemns one of my ideals and standards to an unmarried, companionless life. I might as well go and enter a mon­astery. It is true, these rural and village schools have to be taught; but I resign the task to others. Next year I am going to college and study law." 
For more than half a century men teachers have been steadily deserting the profession. In the year 1879, 77.7 per cent of all the teachers in Texas were men. In 1900 the percentage of men teachers had fallen to 46.4. In 1910 it was 30.5. By 1920 the number of men teachers had dwindled to 18 per cent of the entire pedagogical body. Teaching is constantly becoming less and less attractive to men as a life work. 
It must be remembered that out of the small salaries paid to the teachers of Smith County must be subtracted the cost of living. For the women teachers the median expenditure for board, room, laundry, and transportation was $33 per month. After deducting these items for 6.1 months from the median salary of $497 for the women teachers we have a balance of $292.40 at the close of the school term. For the men teachers the net balance at the close of the median school term of 6.4 months was $395.60. These deductions include nothing for clothes, dental bills, magazines, books, recreation, incidentals, etc. Then, too, teachers must live during vacation and must also attend summer schools, if they keep up-to-date. 
Here, again, it is easy to see why there are so few men teachers. It is equally evident why some of the men teach­ers do farming, poultry raising, etc., with teaching as a side line. They cannot rely upon teaching alone for a liv­ing. Consequently, we find young girls, boys, and unmar­ried women of mature years teaching most of the schools. 
Teaching is attractive employment for many young girls till they marry and establish homes of their own. It is equally attractive to many young men getting a start in life. It gives them a convenient income and many rich 
A Study of Rural Schools in Smith County, Texas 35 
experiences in addition. But while they are getting ex­perience the children are being practiced upon. That is where the cost to society mounts high. Their inexperience and lack of education is being charged up against the cul­tural welfare of the children. 
Indications were that boarding facilities for the rural teachers of Smith County are much better than in some other counties of Texas. Most of Smith County is rather densely populated. In some portions of it the rural popula­tion reaches as high as forty inhabitants per square mile. As a rule, it is easier for a rural teacher to procure a satis­factory boarding place in a densely populated community than in a sparsely populated one. The more homes there are in a school district the greater the number of choices the teacher has in the selection of a boarding place. The density of population and the hospitality peculiar to East Texas explains why it is that most of the teachers were able to procure board near the school houses. More than 50 per cent of the teachers were located within less than 500 yards of the buildings where they taught. Most of the boarding teachers reported satisfactory places to live and satisfactory means of transportation to and from town at week-ends. 
Twenty per cent of the teachers reported that they spent all of the week-ends in the communities where they taught, and 10 per cent reported that they always went away for the week-ends. The reports indicate that the boarding teach­ers spent approximately half of their week-ends in the communities where they taught. 
In pedagogical circles rural teachers have often been severely berated for not spending the week-ends in the com­munities where they work. The chief criticism has been that it is impossible for them to identify themselves prop­erly with the life of the community if they spend their Saturdays and Sundays at some other place. To the au­thor, however, it seems that there is less ground for that criticism today than in former years. Rural social cus­toms are changing. The silent, powerful forces of social evolution are bringing about a new rural social order. The 
University of Texas Bulletin 
movement is on. It has come to stay. It may be guided, but it cannot be stopped. Thousands of rural communities which in "the good old days" were socially sufficient unto themselves are now looking towards the nearby towns and villages for most of their social, religious, and recreational life. Automobiles and good roads have come. Country people and town people are getting better acquainted all the time. As a result, many of the small country schools and country churches are being discontinued. In many parts of America they are giving way to the consolidated church and the consolidated school. Many of the small churches and schools have fulfilled their mission. Their day and generation have passed. Their lights have grown dim. For teachers and preachers to try to keep alive many of the dwindling community fires that the onward momen­tum of inevitable social progress is destined to extinguish, is but little short of professional folly. There is very little justice or wisdom in requiring teachers to spend dreary week-ends at such places in the helpless and hopeless task of keeping them socially alive. 
All of the small, backward, intolerant communities will not pass out in a day. Some of them will struggle along for yet another generation or two. But in the end, expan­sion will triumph. The rural school and the rural church are slowly and silently moving on to bigger and better things. This is calling for a new type of teacher, preacher, and community builder. There is an unbounded opportu­nity for them in these larger units into which rural society is recasting itself. In Smith County these opportunities are to be found at such natural centers as Noonday, Whitehouse, Winona, Arp, Swan, and many other places. It is at such places as these that the week-end efforts of the teacher as a community leader bear the most fruitful possibilities for permanent, constructive community uplift. 

CHAPTER III 
COMMUNITY RELATIONSHIPS 
Social and Recreational Acti'rities. Reports from the prin­cipals of forty-six schools were almost unanimous in their protests against the dearth of social and recreational agen­cies in the country. Except for chance meetings at country stores, a few church services per month, an occasional gathering at the schoolhouse, and a small amount of visiting among neighbors on Sunday afternoons, the country people would be virtual strangers to each other. 
There is very little in the way of recreation to hold the amusement-loving young people in the country. The social life of the country community is practically dead. Outside of the few basketball teams at school there is almost noth­ing in the way of organized recreation. 
A very large per cent of the country young people go to town for their pastime. The principal recreations open to them at town are the movies and the ice cream parlors. The following are typical of the answers to the question calling for the per cent of the young people going to town for their amusement: "Fifty per cent of our young people go to town for the movies and the others would go if they had suitable conveyances"; "Life is too draggy for the young people out here. They go to town to break the mo­notony." "One hundred per cent of the young people would go to town if the roads were good and they had cars" ; "The movie is the greatest of all modern diversions. We cannot have movies in the country. If the young people see them, they necessarily have to go to town to do so"; "All of our young people go to town because the roads are good and the town furnishes them some entertainment and amusements while this community has none"; "None of our young people go to town for amusements because the dis­tance is too far. The roads are poor, and none of them have cars." 
Twenty-seven schools reported the per cent of their stu­
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dents fifteen years of age and over desirous of moving to the towns and cities to live. The number ranged from 10 per cent to 100 per cent, the average being 32 per cent. The following are some of the reasons given: "Because we have been raised on the farm and know its hardships"; "Prefer bookkeeping and clerking to farming"; "To have a good time" ; "To study for the professions" ; "Dissatisfied with the drudgery of farm work and the small money re­turns from it"; "Better social and educational advantages"; "To find employment that requires less labor and gives better pay than the farm"; "Education, amusements, and conveniences." 
Thirty-three schools gave the per cent of their students fifteen years of age and over who desired to remain in the country to live. The average was 26 per cent. Many of them could give no definite reason why they preferred to remain in the country. This contrasts very strikingly with the group desirous of moving to town. Those desirous of going to town knew exactly why they wanted to go. 
Some of the reasons for desiring to remain in the country were: "Have been brought up here and prefer to remain at this place" ; "Because I am accustomed to the farm"; "Be­cause we are attached to this community"; "Father owns his farm and I like to live there" ; Do not know how to do anything but farm work"; "We are the daughters of farm tenants and will have to remain in the country"; "Because we are acquainted with the people in this community." 
The Churches. There were sixty-three rural churches in the county reported as having an average of two church services per month. There were forty-three Sunday schools, six Baptist Young Peoples' Unions, six Epwort~ Leagues, and one Christian Endeavor at the time this sur­vey was made in January 1923. 
There were ten of the school districts reported as con­taining no churches. But this does not necessarily mean that more rural churches should be organized and built in Smith County. Nor does it mean that the people residing in the districts are necessarily without church privileges, for the boundaries of the church community do not always 
A Study of Rural Schools in Smith County, Terns 39 
coincide with the boundaries of the school district. The 
great likelihood is that Smith County has too many rural 
churches rather than too few. In a great many instances 
the rural church situation, like the rural school situation, 
could be greatly improved by the process of consolidation. 
There are about as many weak country churches as there 
are weak country schools. Some poor communities are 
trying to sustain two or three churches when they are not 
financially able to sustain one in an acceptable manner. 
Weak churches attract and perpetuate weak preachers just 
as assuredly as weak schools make places for weak teachers. 
The church is not a business institution. But when the 
rules of good business are disregarded in its management, 
the Lord's business must suffer. Some of the white rural 
churches that were social and religious necessities in pioneer 
days have about fulfilled their missions of usefulness as 
local organizations. Many of the whites have moved out 
and negroes have moved in. Population centers have 
shifted. Good roads have come. Reorganization is nec­
essary. 
In Pioneer days the schoolhouse was often used for both school and church purposes. This partially explains why it happens that so many of the church buildings and school buildings in the rural districts are on adjacent lots today. This community of location is often a hindrance to school 
consolidation. Tradition and rural conservatism sometimes prevent the school being removed from the church site. The following quotation is typical of this sentiment: "We must never move the schoolhouse from this sacred spot­the church and the graveyard." 
It is commendable that people should remember their deceased friends and respect the places where their dead relatives and ancestors are buried. But which is the more sacred, the welfare of a live American child or the memory of a dead ancestor. The work of reorganizing the rural school and the rural church better to meet the needs of our changing social conditions is a work for the clear eyes of reason and sound common sense. It cannot rely upon the human sentiments and the sanctity of local traditions, no 
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matter how sweet they may be, for safe and complete guidance. In a few instances petty rivalry between churches of 
adjacent communities is preventing school consolidation. Church jealousies are obstructing the practical avenues to better schools. It is difficult for the constituents of twc rival churches, even though they be of the same denomina­tion, to forget their differences and join hands in cooperat­ing for bigger things in education. 
The rural church has done a great work. Its service must be continued. But it is very doubtful if it has the hold on the lives of the rural people it once enjoyed. It is lacking in competent leadership. The old-time, resident pastor of "great power" is gone. The weight of his presence and influence cannot be replaced by the modern non-resident pastor driving out from the town or city and preaching one or two times each month. The rural churches are just as greatly in need of parsonages and full-time resident pastors as the rural schools are in need of teacherages and a perma­nent corps of capable educators. In an ideal rural com­munity the preacher and the head teacher of the school should live in the community twelve months in the year. They should work together as moral leaders and community builders. But under the present enfeebled conditions res­ident pastoral and educational leadership are impossible of achievement. The only hope lies in consolidation. The rural church of the future must be a consolidated church as assuredly as the rural school of the future must be a con­solidated school. 
The Small Village and Its Trade Area. A study made in Wisconsin and given considerable publicity during recent years places much emphasis on the fact that the trade area of the village is destined to have much to do with the ulti­mate extension and adjustment of its school boundaries­that the tendency is more and more for country people to send to school and go to church where they do most of their trading.* Some Texas educators have erroneously inferred 
•Galpin, C. J .. Rural Life. New York: The Century Company. 
A Study of Rural Schools in Smith County, Te:tas 41 
from the Wisconsin study that the pull of the village's trade influence will be equally as dominant in the extension and readjustment of school district lines and boundaries in this State. But the influence of the Wisconsin village upon the surrounding country is not analogous to the case of the Texas village. The man who recently said, "Nothing is analogous to Texas," was substantially correct. 
We must not overlook the fact that the pull a village ex­erts upon the people within its trade area may be greatly strengthened or weakened by the character of the local in­dustries. A Wisconsin village engaged in the manufacture of cheese and the collecting and marketing of dairy products will exert a much stronger puV on its clientele than is pos­sible for a Texas village in the heart of a cotton-growing community. Dairy products are perishable. They must be marketed with expedition and regularity. They necessitate many trips to the marketing center. Each trip gives the village a stronger hold upon the patron with milk to sell. It helps the village merchant and the country producer to understand each other better. It helps to deYelop the co­operative attitude on the part of both. Their interests are so obviously mutual that the prosperity of the one depends upon the prosperity of the other. 
But the case of the cotton-growing community produces a different effect. Cotton is a non-perishable product. It can be marketed at any time. Its marketing requires very few trips to town. Two or three trips may be all that are necessary to market the product of an entire year's labor. Then the likelihood is that the seller will return home feel­ing that he has not been treated fairly by the buyer and the general marketing system. He will have an anti-social attitude toward the village marketing center and most of the persons and business activities connected with it. The pull that the average Texas village has upon the good will of its cotton-producing clientele is a thing entirely too weak and uncertain to admit of satisfactory measurement. 
Again, the Wisconsin village with its strong influence as a trade center is usually surrounded by a rural population possessing traditions and social inheritances quite unlike 
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those found in the South. Many of the inhabitants of the dairying communities of Wisconsin have but recently mi­grated to America from Scandmavia and north-western Europe. Since the days of Tacitus and Julius Caesar the rural population of north-western Europe have dwelt in vil­lages. They have brought their village-dwelling, com­munity-minded instincts to America with them. But in the South whatever of village-dwelling traditions might have been brought to America by our English, German, and Huguenot ancestry quite two centuries ago has long since atrophied and succumbed to the spirit of individualism. The old-time Southern plantation was an independent unit suf­ficient unto itself. The small farmer of the South today is an isolated individualist in industry. The nature of his in­dustry has made him so. It has not developed within him the strong social cooperative attitude so evident in the lives of the Wisconsin dairymen mentioned above. 
Throughout the Smith County survey special effort was made. to observe and evaluate properly the influence that the village as a trading center might have upon the enlarge­ment of its boundaries as a school center. Under ideal con­ditions the village's trade influence, educational influence, and religious influence, should include practically the same area. But that condition does not very generally exist in Texas. The trade influence of the average village is so weak that it is almost negligible as a factor in the extension of its religious and educational influence. 
The new type of village, school in Texas will not be a by­product of the village's trade influences. It will be the product of a lofty idealism and a direct demand for better educational facilities. The village high schools are develop­ing more rapidly than the high schools in the adjoining country districts. Numerous high-minded, forward-look­ing rural parents with children to educate are facing toward the village high school and saying: "There lies my child's opportunity. It is his only chance for a high-school educa­tion. We cannot have it out here. We must patronize the village school. We must unite with the village and assist in its support." 
A Study of Rural Schools in Sniith County, Te:ras 43 
The village is destined to play one of the major parts in the reform of rural education in Texas. Many of the best rural high schools of the future will be located in the vil­lage centers. Our normal schools should now be carrying special courses for the training of village principals. 

CHAPTER IV 
CONSOLIDATION 
The N eed for Consolidation. An examination of Table No. 1 of the first chapter of this bulletin reveals the follow­ing facts: There are thirty-two common-school districts in Smith County containing less than thirteen square miles each and seventeen containing less than ten square miles each. The smallest school district in the county is the Thompson district with 5.5 square miles and a property valuation of $27,512. In area the Noonday district is the largest, containing thirty square miles. The average area for all the common-school districts of the county is twelve square miles. Forty-two of the fifty-one districts voting local school taxes contain less than $100,000 of wealth each. Winona takes the lead in wealth with a property valuation of $323,356. 
The well-organized rural high school is a thing beyond the reach of most of the country children of Smith County. It is an institution that the small poverty-stricken community cannot maintain standing alone. The only hope for ade­quate high-school opportunities for the country children of Smith County lies in the reorganization of the present sys­tem of rural schools. There are hundreds of bright, am­bitious country children who cannot .go to the town high school. If they are to receive a high-school education, it must be brought to them. The only practicable instru­mentality by which this can be done is the consolidated rural high school. 
Prior to the time of the field work of this survey in Jan­uary, 1923, very little had been done toward rural school consolidation in Smith County. Since that time the dis­tricts of Black Fork, Pleasant Retreat, and Enterprise have consolidated, forming a new district containing 30.6 square miles with 169 white school children. For the ensuing year, instead of seven teachers teaching in four different schools in these three districts, there will be five teachers in the centrally located building. 
A Study of Rural Schools in Smith County, Texas 45 
The author of this survey has borne witness to many 
rural school consolidations. In the light of previous ob­
servation he confidently predicts two things for the Black 
Fork-Pleasant Retreat-Enterprise consolidation: (1) The 
total number of days of school attendance by all the white 
pupils for the new consolidated school next year will exceed 
the total number of days of school attendance by all the 
white pupils for the four schools last year; (2) there will be 
an appreciable demand for homes on the part of desirable 
white families wishing to move into the new district be­
cause of its school advantages. 
One other consolidation has been effected since this sur­
vey was made. It calls for the union of the Thompson and 
Pleasant Hill districts. Several more consolidations are 
now pending and some of them will doubtless be completed 
before this publication comes from the press. 
There are two types of rural-school consolidation having 
great possibilities for the improvement of the rural schools 
of Smith County: (1) Consolidation for high-school pur­
poses only; (2) consolidation of all the grades into one 
centrally-located building. The one centralized school for 
all the grades is, no doubt, the better plan for the triangular 
consolidation mentioned above. 
In some cases consolidation for high-school purposes only 
may be the better plan. For instance, the districts of Mt. 
Sylvan, Carroll, and Garden Valley contain a total area of 
48.7 square miles with approximately 325 white children of free-school age. There should be a modern rural high school somewhere in that locality. The elementary schools through the first six grades might be continued just as they are being run at present. But it would be infinitely better if there were a strong central school for those above the sixth grade. 
The districts of Carroll, Mt. Sylvan, and Garden Valley have a most excellent student body-white, vigorous, Eng­
. lish-speaking children 	and young people. By pooling their interests in the spirit of sympathetic cooperation these dis­tricts could have one of the best central schools for those above the sixth grade to be found anywhere in East Texas. 
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It could maintain classes for all the high-school grades. The classes would be large enough to be interesting and worth while. The teachers would be college-bred and the student body of high-school age would be sufficiently large to produce the spirit and inspiration that numbers always give. There would be a real high school in the country­one capable of taking its place by the side of the small town school in the character of work done. 
Such an arrangement is about the only practicable one whereby a creditable high-school education can be placed within reach of these children. It can be done with very little additional cost. The three communities now employ nine white teachers. No more teachers would be needed under the new arrangement. But under the new plan the high-school students and the high-school subjects of study would have a much better chance. The class periods would be longer because all the little children of the lower grades would be in the other schools. The new school would take on the tone and characteristics of a real high school because none but mature children, grown young people, and teach­ers would be there. 
How would the students make the trip from home to school and return? They would have to walk, drive, or ride. It is the opinion of the author that the wealth of these three communities is not sufficient to bear the cost of transportation of pupils to and from school at public expense. But if a real modern high school is placed within reach of the robust, ambitious youth of these districts the ones of high-school age will devise ways and means of get­ting to it either on foot or by some sort of private convey­ance. Such is their only chance for a high-school education at home. 
If need be, a healthy person of high-school age can walk three miles to school and return each day. The author of this investigation went four miles to school and walked much of the time during the first seven years of his school life. From the most centrally located part in the three districts under discussion most of the students can be 
A Study of Rural Schools in Smith County, Texas 47 
reached within a radius of four miles. Even five or six miles is not a prohibitive distance for driving or riding. 
Other districts which might do well to consider pooling their interests for better things in education are as fol­lows: 
1. Arp, Omen, New Hope, Cross Roads, and Model. 
The area embraced by these five schools affords an excellent opportunity for a central school for the students of the high-school grades. It might include those of the seventh grade also. Such a school should have better library fa­cilities than the schools now have and should be equipped with laboratories for elementary science and industrial work for boys and girls. It should have the equipment necessary to make it eligible to participation in the federal aid provided by the Smith-Hughes fund for vocational edu­cation. 
2. 
Whitehouse, Brown, Burns, and Walnut Grove. Whitehouse is making a very commendable start toward the development of a modern rural school. In the adjoining districts, some of the parents with children to educate are looking toward Whitehouse with considerable interest. Whitehouse is the logical high-school center for that lo­cality. 

3. 
Bullard, Oak Grove, Eureka, and Loftin. The village of Bullard has one of the best small high schools in the county. Last year sixteen students, most of whom be­longed to the high-school grades, were transferred from Oak Grove to Bullard. The only open roads to better high­school facilities for Oak Grove, Eureka, and Loftin are the ones leading to Bullard. By uniting their efforts these four districts could make a better high school for all parties concerned. 

4. 
Noonday and Midway. There were twelve white children and 119 negro children enrolled in the schools of the Midway district this year. There are not enough white children left in the Midway district to make possible the numbers and the inspiration a school should have. One wagon could haul all the white children of the Midway dis­trict to Noonday. 


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5. Winona, Center, Mt. Carmel, Starville, Whites Chapel, Joy, and Friendship form a group of schools with the vil­lage of Winona as the center at the intersection of the Dixie and the Jim Hogg highways. Quite a number of students are transferred from the surrounding schools to the high school at Winona. Winona is the natural high-school center for this group of schools. The character of the roads is such that it might be good business economy to discontinue some of these schools and transport all the children to Winona. Possibly it is costing more to maintain some of these small schools than it would to provide transportation to Winona. 
5. 
Lindale, Nebo, Saline, Sabine, Flora, Neal's Chapel, and Union Point. Last year there were forty-six transfers from the surrounding districts into the village of Lindale. Some of those residing in the surrounding districts show almost as much interest in the development of a good high school at Lindale as the people of Lindale themselves do. It is the only opportunity that most of them have for a high-school education for their children. That many of them are taking advantage of this opportunity is indicated by the large number of transfers. If these people have to go to Lindale for high school, why could not high-school privileges be provided for most of those remaining behind by consolidation for high-school purposes? 

6. 
Swan, Hopewell, and Wood Springs. The safest guarantee against a decrease in white population for these three districts is schools with longer terms and better equipment. Working separately it is impossible for them to maintain schools meeting satisfactory twentieth-century requirements. Each of these districts needs the help and support of the others. All of them are financially weak. The cost of operation could be reduced if all the children of these three districts above the fifth grade were concen­trated in a single school. 


HINDRANCES IN THE WAY OF CONSOLIDATION 
1. Vested Interests of Landowners. One man said, "My farm joins the school playground. The school en­
A Study of Rura,l Schools in Smith County, Texas 49 
hances the value of mx land. By consolidation the new school would be located more than a mile from my place. The change would cause my property t~ suffer a decrease in value. I shall do all I can to defeat the consolidation plan." 
The schoolhouse in question is a frightful affair: one room, unpainted, neglected, and run down. The community could scarcely have a poorer advertisement for itself. It would cause a desirable white homeseeker with children to educate to turn away and locate elsewhere. It has already compelled some of the best white families of the community to sell their homes and move away to educate their children. As the years go by this community is slowly and silently evolving into a rendezvous for colored people and unam­bitious whites. The old ramshackle schoolhouse is like a depressing millstone on the neck of property values in that locality. Instead of holding property values up it is keeping them down. 
The forward-looking white homeseeker and community builder with children to educate will pay a premium for a desirable farm located within two or three miles of a modern, well equipped school with four or more teachers. He understands that satisfactory high-school work cannot be done in a rural school of two or three teachers trying to meet the needs of all the grades from the first to the tenth or eleventh. One of the best advertisements a community can have is a good school. One of the very worst is a poor school. 
2. Inadequacy of the Laws Providing for Consolidation. As a rule, it is very difficult for needed consolidations to be made where they have to be decided upon by popular vote. It too often results in divided communities and hard feelings between neighbors. Human frailty is such that the voter is too often swayed by petty prejudices and vested personal interests detrimental to the community's general welfare. 
The people of two or three communities having the very clearest of understanding and the best of good will among themselves may not be able to agree upon the very things they most desire. For instance, the author one time sat in 
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conference an entire half day with fl. group of nine trustees from three school communities trying to get together on a school consolidation project. The meeting closed with noth­ing definite accomplished, at which time one of the trustees remarked: "We are the best of friends. We understand each other. We are agreed upon the kind of school we ought to have. But we cannot decide where it should be located. Some one will have to do that for us." 
If a reorganization of our rural school districts is ever made in a constructive, statesmanlike manner, it will have to be done by some legally constituted board or commission for that purpose. Texas might well profit by what Ala­bama, Ohio, Maryland, and other states have done in that respect during recent years. Would it not be better if the power of school consolidation were vested in the county board of education? 
3. The Backward District. In some places reactionary districts and persons will indefinitely delay centralization. Under the present plan of consolidation there is great dan­ger that centralization will begin and end with the more progressive districts. This will result in leaving isolated strips of territory that cannot come into any centralized district. And many of the districts left behind in this man­ner will have insufficient valuation for adequate support. 
So long as the district system remains in control, there will be rich districts and poor districts, good schools and poor schools, and literate sections and illiterate sections in almost every county in Texas. The right of the small po­litical group to run its own political aff~irs is an inherent right so long as it brings justice to all. But it ceases to be an inherent right when it deprives thousands of our children of their educational rights and endangers the citi­zenship of our country. 
An educational system is badly at fault when it permits a portion of a county or a portion of a state to produce ig­norant, inefficient people to turn loose on the rest of the state. Even the educated are badly handicapped when they have ignorant neighbors. In self-defense, the cultured and 
A Study of Rural Schools in Smith County, Te;cas 51 
the wealthy must help the ignorant and the poor to become educated. 
The small backward districts do little for themselves. 
They are among those looking to·ward Austin calling loud­
est for help. But give these schools all the money they are 
calling for and they will still be poor schools. The real need 
is reorganization. Would it not be good educational policy 
if a portion of the special State aid for rural schools were 
administered as a premium upon consolidation and trans­
portation? 
4. The Backward Individual. On one occasion there was a conversation between a visitor and a giggling, fifteen­year-old school girl who i.vas the speaker and mouthpiece for her five giggling girl comrades of like age. The con­versation follows: 
Visitor: "Where will you girls attend high school?" 
Girl: "We won't go to high school. We quit when we finish the sixth grade." Visitor: "What do you do then?" Girl: "We get married." Visitor: "Where will the boys attend high school?" Girl: "They won't go to high school either. They quit when they finish the sixth grade." 
Visitor: "What do they do then?" 
Girl: "They marry us." 
One father said, "Five months a year is all a country boy should go to school. He is needed to work the rest of the time." 
Another father said, "Educate a country boy beyond the seventh grade and he \vants to go to town. ·what sort of condition will we have when there are not enough people left in the country to make a living for those in the towns?" The implication of this statement is that it is best to keep the country people in ignorance. 
Is it safe for democracy when the educational policy of the backward district is being determined by a fifth or sixth grade citizenship? Can we hope that such ideals will make the rural community a better place for people to live in? 
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Is not democracy in Texas being driven to the necessity of reorganizing its system of free schools as a measure of self-protection? 
CHAPTER V 
THE NON-TAXPAYING DISTRICTS FOR THE SCHOOL YEAR OF 1922-23 
At the time this survey was made in January, 1923, there were nine non-taxpaying districts in Smith County. The schools of these districts always have depended upon the free-school funds of the State for financial support. For the most part, these nine districts might be designated as "vanishing white communities"; that is, the whites are de­creasing in numbers and the negroes are increasing. This process of social transition is the fundamental cause for the stranded condition of the schools. The in<lications are that in the course of only a few decades the white population and the need for white schools in some of these places will disappear entirely. At present the schools for both the whites and the blacks are the unfortunate victims of cir­cumstances. They are choked and smothered by the silent but powerful forces of social readjustment. This is a con­dition quite visible to the eyes of the discriminating observer in many rural districts throughout East Texas. But in the end it will correct itself. The process of correction will be a natural one. It is in progress now. It is developing strictly white communities for the whites and strictly negro communities for the negroes. In this we see hope for sub­stantial improvement in the educational facilities for both races. 
An examination of the first four columns of Table No. 2 shows that the whites in these nine districts did not enroll as many children as were enumerated, the loss being 18.3 per cent; while the negroes enrolled more than were enum­erated, the gain being 7.2 per cent. Some of the whites moved away and others transferred to better schools. The increased enrollment for the negroes can be accounted for in two ways: (1) New families moving in; (2) Some of the negro children, because of moving about, were enrolled in more than one school during the same year. 
Ol 
~ 
TABLE No. 2 
The Non-Taxpaying Districts for the School Year of 1922-23 
Number of Number of Length of Total paid for Annual expen-Name of district white colored school term teachers' diture per child pupils pupils in days salaries enrolled 
Enu-En-Enu-En­me rated rolled m e rated rolled White Colored White Colored White Colored 
Bullard (Col.) --············ 63 77 130 $ 780 $10.13 Center ·····--------------·-···--·· 44 40 61 72 160 120 $ 800 540 $20.00 7.20 Flora --------------------·········­
54 29 26 0 120 600 20.69 Midway --····-·--···········-----21 12 120 119 120 120 812 810 ·67.66 6.81 Mt. Carmel ---------------·--·-34 32 54 82 150 150 750 450 23.44 5.41 New Hope -·-·····-·--·········-34 21 86 141 140 120 630 783 30.00 5.55 Starrville ----------------------53 63 94 119 140 110 1100 710 17.46 6.95 White's Chapel .............. 23 15 102 69 160 120 720 990 48.00 14.34 161
Jackson -----------------------· 16 223 210 180 120 675 1410 42.19 6.71 
279 228 829 889 Av: 146 Av. 124 Av. 609 Av. 381 $26.69 $ 7.28 
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A. Study of Rural Schools in Smith County, Texas '55 
The average length of school term for the white rural schools of Smith County for 1922-23 was 131 days and for the negro rural schools 108 days. But the average length of school term for the white schools in the nine non taxpay­ing districts was fifteen days longer than the average for the white rural schools throughout the county, and the average for the negro schools was sixteen days longer than the av­erage for the negro rural schools throughout the county. Moreover, the records show that for several years some of these districts have had nice balances left in their school treasuries at the close of the school terms. The secret of this condition is revealed in the paragraphs that follow. 
This year ten white teachers and seventeen colored teachers were employed in the nine districts under consid­eration. There was an average of twenty-three white pupils enrolled for each white teacher employed and fifty­two colored pupils for each colored teacher employed. The white teachers received an average salary of $609 and the colored teachers $381. The average expenditure per white .child enrolled was $26.69, per negro child $7.28. 
Bullard (Colored). There are two Bullard districts in Smith County-the Bullard Independent school district and the Bullard Common School District. The Bullard Com­mon School District has no white school children in it. The negro school is very poorly equipped. The negroes have asked for a petiti_on for a tax election. They desire to vote a $1.00 tax and put up a new Rosenwald building. How­ever, they seem to have overlooked the fact that their dis­trict is so very small, 4895 acres, that the property values are not sufficient to take care of the school and a new build­ing, even with a $1.00 tax rate. Since the Rosenwald school of the Bullard Independent District is only about one and one-half miles away, consolidation would be the better plan. 
Center. This district has a scholastic enumeration of 105 pupils-44 whites and 61 negroes. Its free-school ap­portionment for this year at $10.50 per capita was $1,102.50, but by drawing upon its balance from last year it was able to maintain one white teacher at $100 per month for eight months and one colored teacher at $90 per month for six 
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months. There were forty white pupils and seventy-two colored pupil~ enrolled in the two schools. 
Flora. There are twenty-six negro children of school age, but no negro school in this district. This year the State school funds for fifteen of the negroes were transferred to the Stewart school. Prior to this year all of the State pro­rata of the negroes has remained in the Flora district. 
There were fifty-four white children enumerated in this district for the present school year, but twenty of them were transferred by their parents to other schools. The total state funds remaining to this district after all transfers were made was only $472.50. However, the balance to the credit of the district from the previous year enabled it to have a white school of one teacher for six months at a salary of $100 per month. The schoolhouse is very old and in a poor state of repair. 
Midway. The Midway district has no local school tax but its school finances are managed so that the treasury usually has a balance at the close of the school year. The balance brought forward from the school year 1921-22 was $108.52; from 1920-21, $558.88; from 1919-20, $426.58. · 
This year the district received state school funds for 164 children-23 whites and 141 negroes. However, only 12 of the whites and 119 of the negroes were enrolled in school. A large portion of the whites enumerated in March were reported as having moved away before school opened in November. The district received state school funds for twenty-one more negro scholastics than were enrolled in school. This is chiefly due to the fact that the funds for twenty-three negro children residing in other districts were transferred to Midway. 
The school terms were six months each for both the negroes and the whites. For the twelve white pupils en­rolled, two white teachers were employed at a salary of $812 for the two, and for the 119 negro pupils enrolled two colored teachers were employed at ai salary of $810 for the two. The average expenditure per white child enrolled was $67.66, and the average expenditure per negro child enrolled was $7.45. 

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Mt. Carmel. This district had enumerated thirty-four whites and fifty-four negroes. It enrolled thirty-two whites and eighty-two negroes. The schools for the whites and the negroes ran seven and one-half months each. The white teacher received $750 and the negro teacher $450. 
New Hope. The balance in the treasury of this district at the close of the school year 1921-22 was $252.70; for 1920-21 it was $474; for 1919-20, $159.91. This year it enumerated thirty-four whites and eighty-six negroes. It enrolled 21 whites and 141 negroes. The white school had one teacher for seven months at a salary of $630, the negro school had two teachers for six months at a salary of $783 for the two. The cost of operating the schools this year was $30 per white child enrolled and $5.55 per negro child enrolled. 
Starrville. There are one white school and two negro schools in the Starrville district. The white school employs two teachers. The two negro schools have oue teacher each. This year there were 53 whites and 94 negroes enumerated, and 63 whites and 119 negroes enrolled. The white school had a term of seven months paying a total of $1,100 to the two teachers employed, and the two negro schools had terms of five and one-half months each, paying a total of $710 to the two teachers employed. 
Whites Chapel. There were 23 whites and 102 negroes enumerated in the Whites Chapel district this year, but only 15 whites and 69 negroes were actually enrolled in school. 
The enrollment for the two races was 32 per cent less than the number enumerated. The author does not know the cause for the heavy shrinkage of this district's scholastic population. 
At the close of the school year 1921-22 this district had a balance of $754.34; for 1920-21, a balance of $882.82; for 1919-20, a balance of $467.04. It has a white school em­ploying one teacher for eight months at $720. There are two negro schools running six months each and paying three teachers a total of $990. 
For the present school year the expenditure per white pupil enrolled was $48.00 and the expenditure per negro 

University of Texas Bulletin 
pupil was $14.34. Such an expenditure looks as if it were an impossibility when we recall that the district has no local school tax and the state apportionment for the year was only $10.50 per child. However, the problem becomes an easy one when we remember that the district received free school funds for 32 per cent more pupils than were enrolled in school and that in addition thereto it had a balance of $754.34 in the school treasury brought forward from the previous year. 
Jackson. This year the Jackson district enumerated 16 white children and 223 negro children. It enrolled 16 whites and 210 negroes. One white teacher was paid $675 to teach the 16 white children for nine months. Four negro teachers were paid an average of $352.50 each to teach the negro children for six months. 
This district has carried a balance in the school treasury for a great many years. For the year 1921-22 it was $182.24; for 1920-21, $678.52; for 1919-20, $957.22. 


CHAPTER VI 
THE TRANSFER EVIL 
State school funds apportioned to a child in one district may be transferred to some other district if the parents or guardian of the child so desire. This is as it should be. There are many instances where it is very just that the parents or guardian of a child should have this privilege. The intent of the transfer law is good. But in its practical functioning it is working hardships upon some districts. There are three cases wherein that is true: (1) An enter­prising district that votes taxes, issues bonds and builds up a good school is often imposed upon by transfers from less enterprising districts surrounding it. (2) Some districts receive funds for more children than they enroll and thus get more than their equitable share of the State school money by stealthily soliciting the transfer of funds for children residing outside of their boundaries but attending school elsewhere. This is no uncommon occurrence in those sections of the State where the Mexicans and negroes are most numerous. (3) Persons with a grudge against a dis­trict are often known to induce certain parents over whom they have influence to transfer their children's school funds elsewhere in order to injure the community. 
Throughout Texas there are more transfers from the scholastic census rolls of the rural districts to the to\vns and villages than there are from the towns and villages back to the country. For example, in Smith County this year the names of 237 white scholastics were transferred from the common-school districts to the independent dis­tricts, but only eighteen were transferred from the inde­pendent districts to the common-school districts. :Jiost of those transferred to the town and village districts are chil­dren of the upper grades without high-school opportunities in the country. 
High schools in the towns and villages haYe de\·eloped more rapidly than high schools in the open country. It is 
University of Texas Bulletin 
right that the country children should have access to the village high school as part of the free-school system of the State. But this right ceases when a person or a community abuses it to the point of injustice. For instance, residing in a common-school district adjacent to a Central Texas village are three obstinate landlords with children of free­school age. For many years these three men have stood in collusion solidly against voting a school tax and building a decent school in the community where they reside and their blackland farms are located. At the same time they have transferred and sent their children to the nearby vil­lage school in the next district. There-should be a remedy for unjust impositions of this sort. 
In the course of the Smith County survey one day a man made the bold remark, "Why increase the school tax out here when we can send our children of the upper grades to the good school in the next district. It would be a foolish thing for us to do." The just and ultimate remedy in cases of this sort lies not in the restriction of the transfer privilege, but in consolidation and the reorgan­ization of school district boundary lines by State authority. If a district is to participate in the superior school advan­tages of a neighbor district, it should pay its just and proportionate share of the tax cost. 
In many instances rural educational opportunities could be greatly enriched if the village school and the districts clustering immediately around it were unified into a single system. This does not necessarily call for the discontinu­ance of all the small schools now in the immediate vicinity of the village. But it does make possible a creditable cen­tral high school for the good of all. The village high school of the future must be the rural high school for the districts of the open country surrounding it. It is the most logical and economical solution to the educational problem for both the village and the surrounding country. 
There is another type of rural school guilty of imposing upon neighboring districts. Instead of transferring pupils out to other districts, it would rob them of their financial subsistence by the transference of school funds in from 
A Sheely of Rural Schools in Srnith County, Te.ms 63 
them. For instance, in a certain Southwest Texas district a white American farmer is reputed to have had an influ­ential :.\Iexican to solicit all the :Mexican parents of the sur­rounding country to transfer their childrens' free-school funds into the district where he resided. B,· this means his district could have a nine-months term of ~chool for the white children supported entirely by State free-school funds. Few of the :.\Iexican children ever entered school anywhere and most of those who drd, entered the very schools from whence their State free-school moneys had been transferred. In a similar manner a \vealthy planta­tion owner in a South Texas county, in order that the necessity for voting a local school tax might be relieved in the district where his plantation is located, is alleged to have secretly paid an influential colored minister 50 cents apiece for all the negro transfers he \VOuld procure from other districts. The indications are that there are a few instances where the transfer privilege has been similarly abused in Smith County. 
Fortunately, so far as the author knows, the third case mentioned above, where a person with a grudge against a district may use his influence to have free-school funds transferred out in order to injure it, was not apparent in Smith County. However, such a thing may occur at any time. So long as the transference of State free-school money from one district to another is left entirely to the discretion of parents and guardians, many of whom are negroes, very easy to influence, the malicious enemy of a school community will have this temptation open to him. 
There are at least t\vo remedies by which the transfer evil could be corrected : (1) The apportionment of State school funds to each district upon the basis of actual school attendance instead of upon the number of scholastics enu­merated; (2) by giving the county superintendent strong discretionary powers in the matter of transfers. 

CHAPTER VII 
THE SCHOOL TRUSTEES 
Each common-school district has three school trustees. There are sixty common-school districts with a total of 180 trustees and 198 teachers (white and colored) in Smith County. The· task of selecting the 198 teachers is legally referred to this enormous committee of 180 trustees. 
The management of the county's business is committed to a board of five men-the commissioners court. Some people are strongly of the opinion that the common schools of the county could be greatly improved if their manage­ment were committed to a single board of five members instead of sixty boards of three members each. As a rule they give three reasons for believing this change in the management of the schools should be made : (1) It would solve the transfer problem; (2) it would make possible some needed school consolidations that are impossible under the present system; ( 3) it would reduce the number of weak teachers employed because they happen to be "home girls" or have a "pull" with some trustee. 
Questionnaires were sent out to the secretaries of the sixty school boards and fifty-six replies were received. Forty-eight of this number stated that they always con­ferred with the county superintendent in the selection of teachers and eight said they did not. 
The length of time that each of these persons had served as trustee varied from the minimum of ten months to the maximum of thirty-six years, the median being 5.2 years. This, it must be remembered, represents the time of service only for the secretaries of the school boards. As a rule the secretary is the senior member of the board. The me­dian length of service for the entire 180 trustees would be somewhat below the 5.2 years for the secretaries of the boards. 
There were nine of the fifty-six trustees responding to the questionnaires 1Yho stated that they 1vere appointed by 
A Stz!dy of Rural Schools in Smith County, Te:ras 65 
the c:ounty superintendent. Such appointments are made in case of death, resignation, or failure to hold election. In Texas, mo1·e often than not, the appointment of a school trustee by the c:ounty superintendent means that no election was held. This is a \·en· common oc:currence in those dis­tricts where little intere~t is taken in school affairs. 
The reports from the trustees indicated that there \Vere seventeen districts offering no instruc:tion in the high-school branches. In nine of these districts the students of the upper grades could go to the nearby to\\·ns and yilJages for high-school instruction if they so desired, so the trustees stated. 
The trustees were called upon to state, as they saw them, the three greatest needs of their schools. In the order of their frequency of mention they gave: (1) ::\Iore and better teachers; (2) more and better equipment; (3) more money; (4) consolidation; ( 5) longer school terms; (6) a better spirit of cooperation. 
Many of the trustees complained that their schools were over-crowded and that the teachers i,vere young and unset­tled and otherwise lacking in the qualifications that teach­ers should possess. 
Second in the list of needs, as the trustees saw them, was the need for better equipment. The need most commonly specified in way of equipment was new buildings. Further specifications in this respect i,vere libraries, single desks, playground apparatus, teacherages, etc. 
The following are a few of the brief comments on the need for more money: "::\Iore scholastics and the full limit of taxes"; "more State appropriations as i,ye are doing all we can by voting a Sl.00 tax"; "consolidation to gi\-e a larger basis for taxation"; "higher appropriations from the State"; "amendment to the sc:hool law so trustees i,\·ith a balance in the sc:hool treasury c:an spend some of it for school equipment." 
CHAPTER VIII 
GROUNDS, BUILDINGS AND EQcIPl\IENT 
For the school year 1922-23 there were in the sixty com­mon-school districts of Smith County sixty schools for the whites and fifty-five for the negroes. The area of the school grounds for the whites varied from one acre to ten acres, the average being 2.9 acres. But very few of the school yards were fenced. A large number of them were crossed by roads and gullies. Some of them were entirely too rough for children to run and play on 'vith safety. There needs to be much leveling and improving of the play­grounds. A good playground should be as level as a floor. 
Most of the schoolgrounds are adequately supplied with shade trees-native oaks, elms and hickories. Ho,vever, approximately one dozen of the schools are located in bar­ren fields entirely destitute of shade. The grounds of these schools should be supplied with young trees so arranged as to give the needed shade and at the same time not interfere with the play space. ~Iany times trees have been set on school playgrounds in such a way as to ruin the best part of the play space for basketball, baseball, and other games requiring open courts. It was for this reason that an edu­cator in the State of Ohio recently remarked: "Half of the trees that ha,·e been set out on the schoolgrounds of this State should be dug up." 
In most instances the playground apparatus is not up to standard. According to reports from the teachers the sixty white schools have a total of forty-one basketball courts, eleven volleyball courts, nineteen baseball diamonds, five see-saws, one swing, four horizontal bars, one tennis court, one giant stride, one slide, and one croquet court. And it must be remembered that this equipment is not evenly dis­tributed among the schools. In some instances two or three of the basketball courts listed above may be at a single school. A great many of the schools have practically no play equipment at all. 
A Study of Rural Schools in Smith County, Te xas 67 
The school buildings range in character all the way from the old run-down, one-room, shoebox type to a few fairly modern brick structures. The sixty white schools are housed in fifty-four wooden buildings and six brick build­ings. The Whitehouse district has the best building of any common-school district in the county. Its picture is shown below. In contrast to it is the picture of the ::\'It. Carmel school of the old-fashioned, one-room shoebox type. There are approximately fifteen white school buildings in the county of the Mt. Carmel type. 
According to the reports of the teachers there were 2,343 single desks and 687 double desks in the white schools. In some of the white schools a portion of the children were using old-time, home-made desks and long slat benches. It is the author's opinion that not less than 30 per cent of the white pupils were improperly seated. In some cases the size of the seat was either too large or too small for the size of the pupil. In other cases there were rickety old double desks, home-made desks, or slat benches squeaking and slipping about loosely on the floor. 
In a great many of the schoolrooms much of the noise could be overcome, the general order improved, and the character of the seat study by the pupils made much more valuable, if the pupils were properly seated with single desks fastened tightly to the floor and all the desks in each row of the same size. As it is, the noise and physical discomfort are irritating to the nerves and temperaments of teachers and pupils alike. Neither teachers nor pupils can be at their best under these conditions. Comfortable seats would mean much for the improvement of schoolroom discipline, and equally as much for the improvement of the character of study done by the pupils and the quality of the instruction offered by the teachers. 
Thirty-five of sixty schools reported having in the school libraries a total of 3,557 books other than text-books.* This is an average of approximately 100 books per school reporting. The actual number of books per library for the 
•Note.: One school library contained over 100 volumes from the teacher's personal library. Others had been similarly supplemented by teachers. 

A Study of Rural Schools in Srnith County, Texas 69 
thirty-five schools reporting ranged from the minimum of twelve books to the maximum of 800 books. It was esti­mated by the teachers that approximately 10 per cent of all the books in the school libraries were so ill-chosen that they were of no use to the schools. One teacher said that more than half of the library books in the school where she taught were of no use to the pupils. 
Ten schools reported that they had no library books at all. Fifteen schools made no report. Most of those failing to report are one and two-teacher schools, and to the author's personal knowledge some of them are entirely destitute of library equipment. 
· Since there were 4,332 white scholastics enumerated in the common-school districts of Smith County for 1922-23, the above figures indicate that the number of usable books in the school libraries amount to less than one book per child. The schools are relying almost entirely upon the State free text-books for the literary education of their children. This is a very costly mistake. 
At best a text-book education is narrow, limited, and deficient. Outside of the primary grades the text-book should be used for but little other than a reference book. The text-book can furnish but little more than the outline of an education. Its fuller enrichment and complete am­plification are to be had through intelligent observation of the actual affairs of life and through extensive collateral reading. But the collateral reading cannot be done if the appropriate books are not in the school libraries. No doubt the best single investment the rural schools of Smith County could make just at this time lies in the proper equipment of their libraries. 


CHAPTER IX 
THE WHITE 	PUPILS, SCHOOL ATTENDANCE, AND THE COURSE OF STUDY 
Enrollment and Attendance. At the time of the writing of this chapter the county superintendent's annual report for 1922-23 is not completed. Consequently, we have to · look to the report of the previous year, 1921-22, for our study of enrollment and school attendance. The figures for enrollment and attendance are summarized in Table No. 3. 
For the school year of 1921-22 there were 4,142 white children enrolled in the common-school districts of Smith County. They attended school a total of 363,765 days, or an average of 87.8 days each. 
An examination of Table No. 3 shows that the poorest average attendance is found in the smallest schools. The pupils enrolled in the one-teacher schools attended 84.8 days each and those in the two-teacher schools attended 
81.2 days each. The lowest average daily attendance in the county is in the one and two-teacher schools. But t~is is an old story well known to all persons familiar with the practical workings of rural schools. It is just as true of 
TABLE NO. 3 

Enrollment and Attendance in the White Schools of the Common 
School Districts of Smith County for the Scheol Year 1921-22 

~ 	0 "O
0 "' 0 
I->i~

0 "' 	.,,.,_
·;:;.
.c 
-5 	~~I .Q'O ::
;;: .. 
" af~ ~ E"" 
~
Kind of school H ~ "' 0 ... ~"' ""'" 
000 .. 
cu!:=
0 ... ..... ..."O ..... ~ """' 
"'" 	.. .,_ oo+>.c 
.0 " .. -..c-	.... .,
... 0 ""' -..co
E so 	... "' .s:l
"0 	'"E o
::! ...
> -= 	c; ::f ..c:: 
> .... 
""" 
z" <;;: z~ ~I::~ ..:...,., 1 Teacher schools ---·--18 134 595 50,498 84.8 2 Teacher schools _____ _ 
27 131 1698 137,956 81.2 3 Teacher schools _____ _ 
9 137 968 84,572 87.4 4 Teacher schools _____ _ 4 130 507 47,664 94.0 
5 Teacher schools ·-·---2 160 374 43,075 115.2 All schools ____________ ,,___ ___ 
60 134 4142 363,765 87.8 
A Study of Rural Schools in Smith County, Texas 71 
the small schools of the other counties of Texas as it is of Smith County. As a rule, the smaller the school the lower the average daily attendance upon the part of the children 
enrolled in it. The pupils enrolled in the three-teacher schools showed an average attendance of 87.4 days; those in the four­teacher schools 94 days ; and those in the five-teacner schools, 115.2 days. Pupils and parents will make greater efforts to attend a school that is adequately supplied with teachers and equipment than they will the small school that is over-crowded and under-equipped. The unfortunate thing for Smith County is that 55.3 per cent of the white children in the common-school districts are enrolled in the one and two-teacher schools. Ages and Grades of Pupils. In Table No. 4 we have the ages and grades of 3,849 pupils enrolled in forty-seven rural schools of Smith County. There are 761 pupils, or 
19.8 per cent of the entire number, enrolled in the first grade. Only eight boys and seven girls have survived to the eleventh grade. This is less than .004 per cent of the entire enrollment. It means that only one out of each 257 enrolled has reached the last grade of the high school. The country child's chance for completing the high-school grades in the rural schools of Smith County is as 1 to 257. 
There are 3,088 children above the first grade in these forty-seven rural schools. Of this number 1,152, or 37.3 per cent, are "over-age" pupils. This means that they are 
ONE-TEACHER SCHOOLS 
84.8 days TWO-TEACHER SCHOOLS 
81.2 days THREE-TEACHER SCHOOLS 
87.4 days FOUR-TEACHER SCHOOLS 
94 days FIVE-TEACHER SCHOOLS 
115.2 
DIAGRAM NO. 1: Average Daily Attendance of the White Children Enrolled in the Rural Schools of Smith County. 
University of Texas Bulletin
72 
older than the normal ages for the grades in which they appear. In other words, they are behind the grades and the classes you would expect to find them in. Most of these "over-age" pupils are from one year to five years behind. Such are the inevitable results of short school terms, ir­regular attendance, poor school equipment, over-crowding in the lower grades, etc. 
There are 1,547, or 50 per cent, of the 3,088 pupils above the first grade that are of "normal age"; that is, they are in the grades you would expect to find them in. They are "up with their classes." Then there are 889 pupils above the first grade that are younger than the usual ages for the grades in which they appear. They might be termed as "ahead of their classes." They represent that small group of bright pupils to be met with in every school system. They are sometimes referred to as "under-age" pupils. 
In Table No. 4 the pupils of "normal-age" are included 
TABLE NO. 4: Ages and Grades of 3849 Pupils Enrolled in Forty-seven 
White Rural Schools in Smith County, 1922-1923. 

Qrades 
Sex-,---,-5-~6~7~~8~9~-1~0-~u-1=2-~13~~H~~15~~,=7-1~e-1~9-2=0~'1.l,--1----I
16~~
and. 
over 
251 119
2 
230
+ 
227 
213 217 
6 
5 
202 
182 l 
1~5
1 
225
2 
Boys
8 
G irls 

'2 1 
77
Boys 
78
2 I
G1r1s 
10 
Boys

Girls .t I ; I~ I 1~ t 
Boys 1 l Girls I I 12 
11 
Boys

G1r1s 
Boys 14 77 172 196 190 206 190 206 179 156 151 69 51 ?.~ 22 9 3 
19'20 GirlS 18 99 33 10 5 z 
Totals 
76 175 za 199 2o:s 1e2 10+ 169 102 io;1 67 
1929 
Number of boys who entered school for the first time this year: Five years old-14; six years old-73; seven years old-89; eight years old-17; nine years old-9. Number of girls who entered school for the first time this year : Five years old-18; .six years old-67; seven years old-89; eight years old-17; nine years old-7. 

A Study of Rural Schools in Smith County, Texas 73 
between the heavy zig-zag lines. The "over-age" pupils are the ones to the right of the zig-zag enclosure, and the "under age" pupils are to the left of it. They are distrib­uted as follows: "Over-age," 37.2 per cent; "normal-age," 50 per cent; and "under-age," 12.8 per cent. 
In an ideal school system the great majority of the pupils should be of "normal-age," or in the grades intended for them. Then, of course, there would be a few retarded ones of the "over-age" group and a similar number of zeal­ous or unusual ones of the "under-age" group. In other words, an age-grade sheet such as Table No. 4 should have the vast majority of the pupils included between the zig-zag lines, and the remaining ones distributed in almost equal numbers to the right and to the left of the zig-zag enclosure. But this is not the case for the rural schools of Smith 
County. Barely 50 per cent of those above the first grade are of "normal-age" and included between the zig-zag lines, while the retarded "over-age" pupils to the right of the zig­zag enclosure outnumber the "under-age" ones to the left of it practically three to one. 
Perhaps some of the readers have asked before now why Table No. 4 includes a range of two years between the zig­zag lines as the normal age for each grade. For instance, the pupils of normal age in the first grade are seven and eight years old; those of the second grade, eight and nine years old, etc. That can best be explained as follows: The fiscal school year begins the first of September at which time all of the first-grade pupils of normal age would be over seven years but under eight years of age. Assuming that it takes a year to complete a grade, a great many chil­dren will have passed their eighth birthday before the first grade is finished. This survey was made in January, the very middle of the school year. Consequently, by that time part of the normal first-grade pupils had passed their eighth birthday, part of the normal second-grade pupils had passed their ninth birthday, etc. Therefore, at the time of the year this survey was made the normal age for the first-grade pupils was seven and eight years ; for the second-grade 
pupils eight and nine years, etc. 
University of Texas Bulletin 
What Is the Trouble with the First Grade? The first grade is overloaded. It contains 761 pupils as compared with 471 in the second grade. Many of the children have been in the first grade for two or three years. The condi­tions in the first grade are abnormal. There are 19.8 per cent,. approximately one-fifth, of all the pupils in school en­rolled in the first grade. Note Diagram No. 2. 
A study of seventy-one class-room programs showed that on the average 8.9 per cent of the time of the school day was being devoted to the first grade. Hence, we see that approximately 20 per cent of the pupils are receiving less than 10 per cent of the teachers' time. This partly accounts for the large amount of retardation in the first grade. 

FIRST GRADE 19.8% SECOND GRADE 12.2% '!'HIRD GRADE 13.5% FOURTH GRADE 11.9% FIFTH GRADE 11.3% SIXTH GRADE 





9.9% SEVENTH GRADE 9.3% EIGHTH GRADE 5.8% NINTH GRADE 4% TENTH GRADE 



-1.4% 
ELEVENTH GRADE 
• 0.39% 
DIAGRAM NO. 2: Distribution of Pupils Among the Grades. (This includes 3,849 white pupils enrolled in 47 rural schools in Smith County, 1922-23.). 
Note> The facts s7t !orth in this diagram do not tell the complete story. 
The lamentable part of 1t is that many of the pupils are in grades from one to five years ahead of their true mental equipment.-This is fully discussed in 
Chapter X. 
A Study of Rural Schools in Smith County, Te:cas 75 
Another cause for this abnormal condition in the first grade is the large number of very young children being sent to school. According to Table No. 4, 21.8 per cent of the children in the first grade are under seven years of age. Many of these young children will be retained in the first grade for two or more years. The great danger is that they may develop a slovenly mental attitude and a perma­nent dislike for study. The age-grade sheets returned by the teachers indicate that the per cent of retardation in the first grade is greater in the one and two-teacher schools than in the larger schools. 
The Course of Study. The story of the course ·of study is told in Table No. 5. The conspicuous thing about it is the very large place claimed by reading, spelling, and arith­metic. More than 70 per cent of all the pupils enrolled are included by these three subjects. They run as follows: Reading, 72.5 per cent; arithmetic, 76 per cent; writing, 77 per cent. The very large enrollment for these three subjects is partly due to the large amount of retardation in the lower grades, especially the first grade, where read­ing, writing, spelling, and numbers are about the only sub­jects taught. 
In the high-school grades, English and algebra claim more students than any other subjects, with English registering 
10.4 per cent of all the students in school, and algebra 10.6 per cent. Then follows early European ,history with 3.4 per cent; civics, 2.9 per cent; agriculture, 2.6 per cent; plane geometry, 1.7 per cent; American history, 1.4 per cent, etc. Would it not be wise if such subjects as civics, agriculture, general science, American history, domestic science and art, personal hygiene and home sanitation were given more conspicuous positions in the high-school pro­gram? The primary function and justification of the free school is to train for citizenship, but only 6.9 per cent of the pupils in the elementary grades and 2.9 per cent of those in the high-school grades were taking the subject of civics. These figures are taken from Table No. 5 representing a study of seventy-one daily programs submitted by teachers. 
University of Texas Bulletin 
TABLE No. 5-The, Course of Study 
(This is a tabulation from the daily programs of 71 teachers and includes 2309 pupils) 
The Elementary Grades 
Total number  Number  
Per cent of  Per cent of  of minutes  of  
Name  of  s ubject  time devoted to teaching s ubject  pupils enrolled in s ubject  per day devoted to teaching subject  pupils enrolled in subject  
Reading  -----------------­----­- 18.0  72.5  4,353  1674  
Arithmetic  -------------------­ 17.3  76.0  4,222  1751  
Language  --------------­------­ 11.6  30.8  2,752  711  
Geography  ---­-----­------­--­ 10.0  40.4  2,499  931  
Spelling ----------­------------­u. s. History_____ _________ ____  9.2 6.4  77.0 13.3  2,211 1,527  1774 307  
Grammar  ------------------­--­ 4.3  32.8  1,040  756  
Physiology  &  Hygiene..  3.2  20.9  764  482  
Writing  ---­--------------­----­ 2.6  75.0  608  1733  
Drawing  -----------­-----------­ 1.0  38.3  232  883  
Civics  ----------------------­----­ 1.0  6.9  235  160  
Stories  and  Games........  .7  1.4  168  317  
Agriculture  -----­---­-----­---­ .4  4.7  100  108  
Physical  Geography  ---­ .4  3.6  100  83  
Nature Study  --­-----­------­ .3  8.2  70  186  
Texas History  ---------­-----­ .1  .8  22  18  


High School Subjects 
English Composition and 
Rhetoric --------------------4.5 10.4 1,090 239 Algebra 2.6 10.6 630 245 Early European History 1.3 3.4 300 79 Latin 1.0 .9 235 20 Spanish .5 1.2 110 28 Plane Geometry .5 1.7 110 38 Civics ----------------------------.5 2.9 117 66 
American Literature...... .4 .4 100 9 American History .4 1.4 92 32 Other History Courses.. .4 6.2 90 140 Agriculture .4 2.6 90 60 Domestic Science ----------.4 .9 90 22 Advanced Physiology____ .3 .9 67 22 Physics --------------------------.2 .4 40 9 
Physical Geography ------.2 1.4 40 31 
100.0 Total ........ 24,104 

A Study of Rural Schools in Smith County, Te:cas 77 
A very general complaint among the teachers was the lack of time for the proper handling of the course of study. Indeed, some of the schools were badly over-crowded. For instance, at Noonday some of the lower grades were having to run on half-day schedules. One group of pupils came for the forenoon session and another group for the after­noon session. 
To relieve this condition some school patrons were calling for more teachers and others were insisting upon a longer day's work for both the teachers and the pupils. Upon in­vestigation, the author finds that the actual time in class for the seventy-one teachers mentioned above is five hours, forty minutes per day. To this may be added one and a half hours on duty during intermission periods, and fifty minutes on the grounds and about the building before and after school. That makes a full eight-hour day for the teacher, often a very strenuous one too, to say nothing of the trip to and from school and the outside work of paper grading and lesson preparation that the successful teacher always has to do. It is doubtful in the author's mind if a longer day would be the best thing for the teachers. And he is positively sure that it would not be the best thing for the pupils. With the schools running as they are, some of the pupils are having to sit still each day much longer than is natural and best for them. The real need is additional capable teachers. 

CHAPTER X 
RESULTS FROM STANDARD TESTS 
BY F. J. ADAMS, INSTRUCTOR IN EDUCATION, 
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS 

RESULTS FROM STANDARD TESTS 
In order to determine the proficiency of the pupils in the rural schools of Smith County, standardized tests were administered by the writer during the latter part of the month of February, to approximately five hundred pupils. The tests used were the Monroe Silent Reading Test, Form 1 and Monroe's General Survey Scale in Arithmetic, Form 1. Both of these tests have been widely used in all parts of this country and have been thoroughly standardized and scientifically constructed. The test in arithmetic deals with the four fundamental processes of addition, subtrac­tion, multiplication and division; both the speed and the accuracy of the pupils entering into their rating upon this test. The silent reading test measures not only the amount of material read by the pupils during the time set for the test, but also indicates the degree of comprehension of this material. 
The reason for the selection of these types of tests is apparent. The fundamentals in arithmetic and silent read­ing are among the minimum essentials of a course of study for country schools. While it may be true that the schools in the rural districts cannot give their pupils all the advan­tages which might be desired, yet if such schools are to do anything for their constituency, they should teach the four fundamental processes in arithmetic and .they should see that the children develop the ability to read, and not only to read rapidly, but with understanding. That the rural communities of Smith County have this point of view is shown by the fact that nearly all the pupils enrolled in the schools of the county, study both reading and arithmetic. 
A Study of Rural Schools in Smith County, Texas 79 
The standards used as the basis of comparison, are in each case those established by the author of tests, based upon the accomplishment of rural school children in a survey of over fifty-five thousand pupils. It should be noted that these norms or standards are records of the accom­plishment of pupils during the month of October, just at the beginning of their work in each grade; whereas t:ie survey made of the Smith County pupils was made during the month of February, four months later; thus giving the pupils of the Smith County schools an advantage of extra training and preparation. 
Table A indicates the records made upon the arithmetic test by each grade, and for purposes of comparison, the standards for rural schools. It will be seen that in the third, fourth and fifth grades the Smith County record is approximately equal to the standard set by the author of the test; but it must be remembered that the pupils of Smith County were tested at almost the close of the school year, while the standards are based upon the records made at the beginning of the school year. Therefore, in the third and fourth grades the pupils of Smith County are probably just about up to the standard or if anything a bit below stand­ard, while the pupils of the later grades are most certainly below standard. It is quite interesting to note that the standard calls for an improvement of twenty-seven points between the fifth and seventh grades, while the pupils of 
TABLE (A) 
Results for the Arithmetic Test 

Smith Smith County Grade Standard County Range of middle Record fifty per cent 
3 96 98 94-101 
4 111 114 104-125 
5 131 130 115-146 
6 
144 130 121-143 7 158 137 125-153 The Smith County Record, and the Standard are computed in terms of median scores. Footnote: The standards and data of the above table are computed in the 
following manner. The scores upon _the tests were translat7d into accompJishment 
ages according to the tables found m the handbook for this test. Then, for the 
sake of clearness, the accomplishment _ages are given above in terms of months. Thus the standards of eight years, nine years three months. ten years eleven 
months, etc., become 96, 111 and 131 months respectively. 
Uni·versity of Texas Bulletin 
Smith County make an improvement of but seven points, or just about one-fourth of the expected increase in arith­metical ability during this period. 
In the same table the range of the middle 50 per cent of the pupils of Smith County is indicated. This shows us what the average pupils are doing after the more extreme cases are eliminated. It should be noted that in the sixth and seventh grades that there are at least 75 per cent of the pupils who fall below the standard upon the arithmetic test. 
The results for the silent reading test are shown in Table B. It should also be remembered here that the com­parison is being made between Smith County records near the close of the school year, and the standard for the early portion of the same school year, giving the children of Smith County the benefit of the additional training. The first portion of the table deals with the rate in reading, and shows us that the Smith County rural children are below standard in reading rate in each of the five grades tested. It should be noted that the seventh grade children do not read any more rapidly than do the sixth grade chil­dren, and that both the seventh and sixth grade children at the close of the school year read but a little faster than the standard for children just entering the fourth grade. The range of the middle 50 per cent of the pupils for each grade in Smith County shows us that over three-fourths of the children in each grade at the close of the school year are below the standard expected of children just entering that grade at the first of the school year, as far as reading rate is concerned. 
The second portion of Table B deals with the com­prehension of the material read. Here, also, we find that the average score of the Smith County rural children is below standard in each grade. The Smith County children at the close of the fourth grade are nearest the standard for the beginning of the third grade; in the fifth grade they are nearest the fourth grade standard; and at the termina­tion of the sixth and seventh grades the children in reading 
A Study of Rural Schools in Smith County, Texas 81 
comprehension are just about equal to the standard ex­pected of pupils just entering the fifth grade. 
TABLE (B) 
RESULTS FOR THE SILENT READING TESTS 
Rate of Reading 
Smith Smith CountyGrade Standard County Range of middle 
Record fifty per cent
3 95 89 84-92 4 109 96 89-105 5 122 103 95-111 6 
139 113 103-132 7 156 112 105-138 
Comprehension of Reading 
3 95 89 85-93 4 108 98 89-104 5 120 103 97-115 6 133 116 107-138 7 157 123 114-149 
Combined Scores, Rate and Comprehension 
3 95 88 84-93 4 109 97 89-104 5 121 103 96-113 6 136 112 104-131 7 157 120 107-141 
The last portion of this table presents the results of rate and comprehension combined. There also we find that the lower grades are a year below the standard and that the later grades are two years below standard; when the rate and comprehension scores are considered together. 
WHAT IS THE CAUSE? 
We have seen that the rural children of Smith County are not up to standard during the last three grades in ele­mentary school, especially in arithmetic. We found that they are below standard both in their speed of reading and 
Footnote: The above data are computed in a manner similar to that des­
cribed in th& footnote for table (A). 
University of Texas Bulletin 
in the amount of read material which they comprehend, in the last five years of elementary school. The question must come to our minds as to the cause of these conditions. Why are not these children up to standard in arithmetic and reading? 
A farmer plants his fields and tends them during the year, but when the harvest time comes he has a much lighter crop than do his neighbors. What was the caµse? The poor crop might have resulted from poor seed or barren land; or it may be that the land and seeds were ideal but that the care of the crop was not adapted to the particular kind of seeds planted; that the seeds were planted at the wrong time of the year; or that in other ways the farmer was directly to blame. So we have two possible types of causes which might result in the conditions above described which were found to exist in the rural schools of Smith County. It may be that the material presented to the teachers for instruction, namely the pupils, are all that could be desired, but that the instruction is at fault and so the pupils fall below the standards; or it may be that the teachers are doing the very best that they can, but that the pupils are not adapted to the instruction given them. 
So, in order to determine, if possible, the responsibility for the falling below standard earlier described, the Illinois General Intelligence Scale was administered to the sixth and the seventh-grade pupils involved in this survey. If the pupils were found to equal in mental ability the rural school children of other localities, then the teachers and school organization would be to blame for their inability to meet the academic standards; but if the pupils were not found to come up to standard upon this general intelligence scale, then the blame might partially or entirely rest upon them rather than upon the methods of instruction. 
The following table shows the results obtained from the Illinois General Intelligence Scale (a standardized and widely used measure of mental ability). In order to place these data in a vivid manner, I have indicated the percentage of the pupils now found in each grade who should be trans­ferred to other grades if they were to be reclassified accord­
A Study of Rural Schools in Smith County, Te:t.:as 83 
ing to their mental ability. (Thus 12.5 per cent of the sixth-grade children have the mental ability of the average third-grade child; and 2.1 per cent of the seventh-grade children have the mental ability required for ninth-grade 
work.) 
TABLE (C) 

Mental Ability of Pupils According to the Grades in Which Their 
Mental Ability Should Place Them 

Sixth Grade  Seventh Grade  Have the Ability of  
pupils  pupils  average  pupils  of  the  
12.5%  6.4%  third grade.  
18.7%  10.6%  fourth grade  
31.3%  21.3%  fifth grade  
25.0%  34.1%  sixth grade  
12.5%  21.3%  seventh  grade  
4.2%  eighth grade  
2.1%  ninth  grade  

Thus it may be seen that probably one of the causes of the failure to reach the standards in reading and arithmetic set for different grades, lies in the inability of the pupils to accomplish the work of the grade in which they are placed; for we find pupils with but third-grade ability trying to do the work of the seventh grade. It should also be noted that 
62.5 per cent of the sixth-grade pupils have less than sixth­grade ability; and that 72.4 per cent of the seventh-grade pupils have not the mental ability normally possessed by pupils of that grade. (We have shown earlier that about 75 per cent of the pupils in these two grades fall below the expected accomplishment in arithmetic and reading; due largely, without a doubt, to their not possessing as yet suffi­cient ability to do the work of the grade in which they are placed, as indicated by the data above.) 
Another indication that the pupils are not now placed in their proper grades is that only 6.3 per cent of the seventh-grad,e pupils have a greater mental ability than is found in the sixth grade. In other words, 93.7 per cent of the seventh-grade pupils have the same ability to do school work as members of the sixth grade; and yet \Ye are ask­ing them to do more advanced work. It is obvious that we 
University of Texas Bulletin 
are doing the rural children of Smith County a tremendous injustice by trying to force them to undertake school work of an advanced nature before they have sufficient ability to accomplish this work. The solution, of course, lies in reclassifying the pupils and placing them in the proper grades according to their ability to do school work, rather than doing as is now done, viz., trying to teach sixth and seventh-grade material to pupils of third-grade ability, and keeping back in the seventh grade pupils who have sufficient ability to do ninth-grade work. 
DISTRIBUTION OF SIXTH GRADE PUPILS 
Grade 
12.5% 
34 ---· 18.7% 
5 31.3% 
6 25.0% 
7 12.5% 

DISTRIBUTION OF SEVENTH GRADE PUPILS 
Grade 
3 -6.4% 
4 10.6% 
5 21.3% 
6 34.1% 
7 21.3% 
8 -4.2% 
9 -2.1% 

DIAGRAM NO. 3: •Showing the grades in which pupils now in sixth and seventh grades should be placed, if they were to be reclassified according to their ability to do school work. (M.A. 
Diagram 3 presents the situation in a graphic manner, showing where the pupils who now come in the sixth and seventh grades should be placed, if reclassified according to their ability to do school work (M,.A.). 
It is interesting to note that the median or typical child of the sixth grade has a mental age of 78 per cent of his physical age (I.Q. 78) ; and for the seventh-gqtde pupils the median or typical child has a mental age of 81 per cent his physical age (I.Q. 81). 
We have found that the school accomplishment of these pupils is not up to standard for their grades, and we have 
A Study of Rural Schools in Smith Cow1ty, Te:i:as 85 
found that the pupils are not graded justly, but are being forced to attempt work which they are not mentally pre­pared as yet to accomplish. Have the pupils reached the limit of their ability? Are they really doing the best they can? One way of solving this problem is to compare both their accomplishment in the school subjects, and their mental ability with some one common factor. Let us take the physical age of the pupils. Let us say that a ten-year old pupil doing the work usually expected of ten-year old pupils would be 100 per cent efficient in this subject; and that an eight-year old pupil doing the work expected of a six-year old pupil would be 75 per cent efficient. In such a manner I have indicated below the efficiency of the pupils of this survey, in arithmetic and reading, comparing them individually with the standards expected of children of their physical ages, and then averaging these per cents of efficiency for each grade. 
TABLE (D) 
Efficiency in -Arithmetic, based upon pupils' ages ( A. Q.) 

Grade  Grade  Grade  Grade  Grade  
3  4  5  6  7  
82%  82%  87%  81.5 %  82%  
TABLE  (E)  
Efficiency  in  Reading  ( rate  and  compre'1ension  combined) ,  based  
upon pupils'  ages  (A. Q. )  
Grade  Grade  Grade  Grade  Grade  
3  4  5  6  7  
75%  70%  70%  72%  70%  

I have already stated that the typical pupil of the sixth grade has a mental age of 78 per cent his physical age, and that the seventh-grade typical child has a mental age of 81 per cent his physical age. From these figures it \\°ill be seen that the rural school pupils of Smith County are accomplishing in arithmetic all that can be expected of them to accomplish, in all probability. (Their A.Q.'s on the a\-erage being equal to their I.Q.'s) Howe.-er, there is 
University of Texas Bulletin 
considerable room for the improvement of silent reading, both the rate of reading and the degree of comprehension of the material read; and the pupils have the ability to do better than they are now doing in this subject. That the pupils have the ability to improve in silent reading is shown by the above data, for they have illustrated this ability both upon the arithmetic test and also in their rec­ords upon the intelligence scale or test. 
THE RURAL HIGH SCHOOLS 
The question being raised as to whether the rural high schools of the county were receiving the best of the grade­school pupils, tests of intelligence were given in three typ­ical rural high schools. (The Otis Group Intelligence Scale, Advanced Examination, 1921 revision, was used.) The results of these tests are as follows : The median or typical eighth-grade pupil has a mental age of 90.85 per cent his physical age (I.Q. 90.85), the ninth-grade pupil, 91 per cent, the tenth-grade pupil, 94 per cent, the eleventh­grade pupil, 97 per cent, showing that a selective factor is present and that only the better students remain in the high-school classes, the poorer of each class leaving school at a lower grade than the brighter pupils. Therefore, the high schools are receiving on the average the better stu­dents of the lower grades, and on the average only the brighter of the high-school students remain in high school the full period of time and are graduated therefrom. 


CHAPTER XI 
THE NEGRO SCHOOLS 
There are 17,246 negroes in Smith County. They com­pose 41.3 per cent of the entire population. ::\lost of them live in the country. There are 40.5 per cent of the negro farmers classified by the United States Bureau of the Cen­sus as home owners. However, it must not be inferred that the negroes possess 40 per cent of the rural ·wealth of the county. Most of the farms owned by negroes are very small. The negroes own and control very little of the county's wealth, quite probably less than 10 per cent of it. 
In Chapter I we took notice of the very small amount of wealth pe.r school child in the rural districts. The po\·erty of tbe negro is one of the causes for this. It helps to pull the average wealth per school child down to a very low figure. The negro in Texas is a poor economic producer. He creates very little new wealth each year. The same is true of the Mexican. This is making it exceedingly diffi­cult to finance free elementary education in those sections of Texas where the negroes and ::Mexicans are most numer­ous. A great many of our statesmen and educators do not realize in a very clear manner that much of the economic difficulty into which public education in Texas has fallen is fundamentally attributable to the low productivity of a very large per cent of our population. If the negroes and Mexicans were more efficient economic producers, the State would have more taxable wealth for the support of free education. If the State can provide for the negroes and Mexicans such education as will increase their economic productivity, then it can well afford to continue in the busi­ness of educating them at public expense. If it cannot provide them with a training and an opportunity that will make them more efficient producers of wealth, then it must judiciously limit its annual output on free education in order to a\·oid a bankrupted State Treasury. 
University of Texas Bulletin 
The abject poverty of the negro is one of the very great­est handicaps to negro education. Since the whites own most of the wealth, it is quite natural that they should balk at the idea of voting taxes upon their property for the edu­cation of negro children. 
The negro needs help. At the same time he needs to do more to help himself. In many instances he would, no doubt, do better if he had a better chance. He is seriously handicapped in many ways. Some of his handicaps are dis­cussed in Chapter V and need not be repeated here. 
Many of the negro's handicaps are the inevitable re­sults, in some form or another, of his living in proximity with the whites in the same community. They are the products of the differences of the social and economic levels of the two races. Often the wealth of the community is not capable of sustaining two school systems in a satisfac­tory manner, whereas, it could sustain one. As a result the schools for both races usually suffer. In general, the poorest schools for both the whites and the blacks are to be found in the mixed white and black communities. On the other hand, as a rule, the best white schools are usually found in the predominantly white communities and the best negro schools in the predominantly negro communities. 
The negro must work out most of his own educational and economic salvation. His best opportunity to do so is in the community of home-owning people of his own race. 
Up to date, either directly or indirectly, the white man has paid most of the bills for the negro's education. It is the white man who pays most of the State school taxes and most of the local school taxes. Most of the education the negro race has received is the product of the white man's effort in some form or another. But the negro must do more for himself. His best opportunity to do and build for himself is in the negro community, just as the white man's best opportunity to do and build for himself is in the white man's community. 
Both the whites and the negroes of Smith County are to be congratulated because of the small amount of antagonism between the two races. Each race understands the other, 
. A Study of Rural Schools in Smith County, Texas 89 
and most of their relationships are harmonious. One of the most hopeful signs for the betterment of both races is that the sorting process of peaceful social evolution is mak­ing negro communities for the negroes and white commu­nities for the whites. "I would rather be a renter in a white community than a homeowner in a negro commu­nity," said a white man moving into a white community to educate his children. But in this statement he harbored no ill will for the negro. He merely pointed out a condi­tion. And this condition holds for the negro family in the white community, as truly as for the white family in the negro community. 
It may be that the white man will always have to play 
TEXAS, 1900:  
38.7%  
TEXAS, 1910:  
24.6%  
TEXAS, 1920:  
17.8%  
ALABAMA, 1920:  
31.3%  
LOUISIANA, 1920:  
38.5%  
DIAGRAM  NO.  4:  Per  Cent  of  Negro  Illiteracy  for  the  Years  
1900, 1910, and 1920.  

the dominant part in administering and supervising negro education. Some of those best acquainted with negro psy­chology seem to think so. Upon this matter the author is not competent to speak. But he is thoroughly convinced that one of the most timely functions of the State normal school for colored teachers at Prairie View is that of train­ing leaders and builders for colored communities. 
Negro education in many of the rural districts is in a very deplorable condition. Yet the rate at which illiteracy has been reduced among the negroes of Texas during the past two decades is nothing less than marvelous. In 1900, 
38.7 per cent of the Texas negroes ten years of age and over were unable to read and write. By 1910 the number had been reduced to 24.6 per cent, and by 1920 to 17.8 per 
University of Texas Bulletin 
cent. There is less negro illiteracy in Texas than in any other Southern State. Louisiana stands at the foot of the list of the Southern States in point of negro illiterates. Texas leads all the Southern States in number of high schools for negroes. 
The Colored Teachers. There are fifty-five colored rural schools, employing seventy-eight teachers, in Smith County. Eighty-two per cent of the colored teachers are women and 18 per cent are men. It seems as if teaching is no more popular as an employment among the males of the colored race than it is among the males of the white race. Of the 4,206 colored teachers in Texas for the school year 1921-22 only 923, or 21.9 per cent, were male. 
The median age for the colored men teachers in Smith County is forty-five years; for the women teachers it is twenty-seven years. This is considerably above the ages for the white teachers, the median age of the white men teachers being 28.8 years, and that of the white women teachers 23.2 years. The median teaching experience for the colored teachers was 25.8 years for the men, and 5.3 years for the women, as compared with 4.8 years for the white men teachers and 2.9 years for the white women teachers. In point of certification 11.5 per cent of the col­ored women teachers held permanent certificates, 41 per cent first-grade certificates, and 47.5 per cent second-grade certificates. There were 11.5 per cent of the colored men teachers holding permanent certificates, 16 per cent first­grade certificates, and 58.3 per cent second-grade certifi­cates. The certification of the colored rural teachers runs somewhat lower than the certification of'. the white rural teachers as seen in Chapter II. No very satisfactory in­formation as to the high school and college attendance of the colored teachers was obtained. For the school year 1922-23, the average salary for the white teachers in the 
rural schools was $677.93, and for the negro ,teachers, 
$337.45. 
Colored Pupils, Enrollment and School Attendance. 
There were 3, 798 negro children enumerated as being of free-school age. There were 4,067 actually enrolled in 
A Study of Rural Schools in Smith County, Texas 91 
school-an increase of 269 over the number enumerated. This increase of enrollment over enumeration is due, in the main, to two causes: (1) The enrollment of children under seven years of age and not enumerated in the scholastic census; (2) the enrollment of some children in more than one school during the same year because of moving from one district to another. Most of this last-mentioned group are the children of parents who are tenant farmers. 
The average length of school term for the negro rural schools was 108 days as compared with 131 days for the white rural schools. The negro pupils enrolled in school showed an average daily attendance of 79.4 days which is 
12.9 days less than the average daily attendance for the white children enrolled in the rural schools for the year 1922-23. 
Table No. 6 gives the ages and the grades of 3835 negro pupils. There are 61.6 per cent of these 3835 negro pupils 
TABLE NO. 6: Age-Grade Classification of 3835 Negro Pupils in the 
Rural Schools of Smith County, 1922-1923. 

Totals
Asi.e
Sc><
<:lrades 
12 	lb 19 '20 21
s 6 7 8 9 10 11 13 tt-15 16 17 
a.nct 
ove-r 
73+
30 '21 1.2 5 6Boys 
38
l. 
611 267
~i ~~Im ~I'~~ 76 Z7 9 e + ~ 2
38 17 3
Girls 
'U> 3 1 1 2
J!,oyS 
1. 	48 ~ 15
2 
235
~I :;b· ~~I U 32 '26 12 8 5 1 1. I

GnlS 
2G+
57 30 'l?. 18 9 3 l
l!>oyS
3 
~I 53 
289
1 ~I i~ 	85 '11 28 21 18 6 18 I 29 50 35 33 1.5 5 
Girls 
2l4-'

13oYS
+ . 
235
~I~; 29 55 36 53 25 13 1 2 2 1


Girls 
190
41 33 '23 a 	5 2
Boys
5 
ii 13 	,,. 
21+ 6 
10 ~I *50 +1 37 26 6 I 1
Gtrls 
1.7.0
L 6 2+ 2+ 12 2 l 1
Boys 
161 Ga ; 
I 2~ I ~~ ~ 26 23 9 1 2 2
1 8

Gtr!S 
3 J£ 1+ I 7 1
7 
Boys 
132.
2 ~I 1+ 1~W 27 17 17 6 l 1
Gins 
15
3 3 2 3 	2
8 
~s 
66
, I l ~ I .~ 	" 14-+ 7 3

Girls 
-7
3 1 I 1


Boys
9 
13 10 
I '2 '21 i 2 1
2 1

Gnlc; 
Boys
GlrlS 
l1 
5oYs 
G1rl.5 
12 

J»ys 
GJTlS 
l1379
35 6+ 190 183 193 196 171 166 173 1'46 ttS 95 65 29 16 5 5
!lays
li:>tal 
32 59 18:> 1e8 nz 169 186 180 173 186 154 = 69 -49 14 12 8 
1956


Girls 
Number of boys who entered school for the first time this year: Five years old-28; 
six years old--40; seven years old-95; eight years old-28; nine years old-19. Number of girls who entered school for the first time this year: Five years old-29; 
six years old-34; seven years old-72; eight years old-29; nine years old-18. 


University of Texas Bulletin 
below the grades for the children of their ages. They range from 1 to 10 years behind. Thirty-two and three-tenth per cent are of normal age, or in the grades you would expect to find them in. Six and one-tenth per cent, mostly young children in school for the first year and less than seven years old, are under age~ 
There is evidently a great deal of irregularity in the grading and classification of the negro pupils. No stand­ard tests were applied to the negro schools. But after hav­ing listened to negro pupils recite in quite a number of schools, the author is very sure that there are many bf them above the fifth grade with the mental equipment for only the second or third grade. 
The conditions under which many of the negro pupils have to study partly explains the high per cent of retarda­tion among them. For epmple, 105 pupils and two teachers were crowded to gether in a single room seated with long slat benches. The pupils were all talking out loud. The author asked one of the teachers what they were talking about. "Nothing," was the reply. Then the author dis­covered that the teacher was correct. They were not talking to each other. They were talking and chanting to them­selves as they either studied or pretended to study. 
Grounds, Buildings, and Equipment. There are 55 negro school buildings in the rural districts of Smith county. Reports were obtained for fifty-one of them. Of the fifty­one buildings for which reports were obtained, twenty-six were of the one-room variety, twenty-one had two rooms each, two had three rooms each, one had four rooms, and one had five rooms. The accompanying pictures convey a bet­ter idea of the condition of the negro school buildings than it is possible to convey with words. 




CHAPTER XII 
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 
1. 
The poorest school attendance in Smith County is in the one-teacher and two-teacher schools. School attendance could be improved by consolidation in some instances. As a rule, the larger schools attract better attendance than the . small ones. 

2. 
Many of the rural districts are very poor. They cannot properly maintain their schools without aid from the State. However, some of these districts are not doing as much for themselves as they should. 

3. 
Under the present law, a school district has to vote a school tax of not less than 50 cents as one of the require­ments for participation in the special State aid for rural schools. The special State aid for rural schools is disbursed through the rural school inspectors on the basis of school need. Some districts with rates higher than 50 cents have actually deliberated upon lowering the rates to 50 cents in order to create a need for more State aid. The new rural aid law provides that after 1923-24 a school district to be able to participate in the appropriation must have voted a tax of 75 cents. The new law also provides aid to districts which consolidate and aid for transportation of school chil­dren. This is as it should be and will greatly increase consolidation and transportation. 

4. 
Each year Smith County receives back from the State of Texas in free school funds, free textbooks, etc., more than the total amount of all the taxes it pays into the State Treasury. For the fiscal year of 1921-22 Smith County paid a total of $94,920.34 in State taxes, and received back from the State a total of $215,746.60 in free school funds, textbooks, etc. For each dollar paid into the State Treasury, it received back $2.27. Other counties that pay into the State Treasury each year more than they receive back from it are helping to educate the children of Smith County. 


A Study of Rural Schools in Smith County, Te:cas 97 
5. There are more children per 1,000 population in East Texas than in West and Central Texas. According to the 
U. S. Census for 1920, there is an average of 253 children of free school age (7 to 18 years old) throughout Texas. Smith County had 284 school children per 1,000 population in 1920. Marion County had 300; Panola County, 303; Cass County, 300; and San Augustine County, 300. There is not a single county in East Texas that does not have more school children than the average for the State. 
6. 
There is very little racial antagonism between the whites and the negroes. Each race understands the other. Most of their relationships are harmonious. The most in­teresting sociological movement in the county is the fact that the negroes are tending to drift together into groups making negro communities and the whites are congregating into white community groups. It may be possible that the time is not very far .distant in history when the community that is half-white and half-negro will cease to be. There are strong indications that it will either become all-,vhite or all-black. 

7. 
There is a strong tendency on the part of white parents and guardians to transfer their children of the upper school grades from the country schools to the village al).d town schools. This year there were 237 white children transferred from the scholastic rolls of the common-school districts to the independent districts, but only eighteen were transferred from the independent districts to the com­mon-school districts. 

8. 
The transfer privilege is being abused in some in­stances. The County Superintendent should be given stronger discretionary powers in the matter of transfers than he now has. This is fully discussed in Chapter VI of this bulletin. 

9. 
Many of the negro school buildings are in a very de­plorable condition. Their church buildings are better than their school buildings, in most places. The negroes will have to work out many of their own school needs. They should be encouraged and aided by the whites, so far as is practicable, in the building of better schools. 


APPENDIX 
The following forms were used in securing information regarding the schools of the County. In addition, data were secured from the office of the county superintendent, the office of the county tax As­sessor and the federal census for 1920. Personal vi.sitation by a representative of the Bureau of Extension was made to practically all of the schools in the County. · 
QUESTIONNAIRE TO TRUSTEES 
Educational Survey of the Rural Schools of_ ______________________ 
--------------------------------------------------------County
Please fiill in the information called for by these questions, and re­turn to th~ County Superintendent's office as promptly as possible. In doing so you will be rendering a valuable service for the better­ment of the rural and village schools of this county. Will you please give this matter your prompt attention. 
County Superintedent of Schools. 
Name of schooL______---_____ ---------------_-'----------------­
Name of trustee_____________________________Postoffice __________ _ 
1. 
How many years have you resided in the district?-----------­

2. 
How many years have you served as school trustee?----------­

3. 
How long have you served as trustee of this school?---------­

4. 
Were you appointed by the county superintendent, or were youduly elected at the last regular election for school trustees?_________ 

5. 
Do you require the teachers to give you an inventory of the 


school property, library books, globes, charts, etc., at the end of each school year? --------------------------------------------------­
6. 
Do you always ask the advice of the county superintendent be­fore making school improvements or purchasing school supplies?----­

7. 
Do you ever purchase school supplies from agents without first consulting the county superintendent as to prices, quality, etc?_____ _ 

8. 
Do you confer with the county superintendent before employ­ing a new teacher?--------------------------------------------­

9. 
If in need of a new teacher, how do you go about finding one?_ __ 

10. 
Does your school offer instruction in the high-school subjects? ____________ ______If not, what provision is made for high-school advantages for the children of your district?_____________________ 

11. 
Has school consolidation been considered in your district? 


__________ _____If so, what was the outcome of it?________________ _ 
12. Name in the order of their importance, as you see them, three of the greatest needs of your school: 
(1) -------------------~------------------------------------­
(2) --------------------------------------------------------­
(3) -----------------------------------------------------­
A Study of Rural Schools in Smith County, Te:tas 99 
QUESTIONNAIRE TO SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 
Educational Survey of the Rural Schools of_ ________________county Please fill in the information called for by these questionnaires and return to the County Superintendent's office as promptly as possible. In doing so you will be rendering a valuable service for the betterment of the rural and village schools of this county. Will you please give this matter your prompt attention '? 
County Superintendent of Schools. Name of schooL_______________________Number of district_______ _ 
Name of principaL__________ ------_____Postoffice____ -----------­
COMMUNITY RELATIONSHIPS 
1. 
How many teachers in your schoolL-----------------------­

2. 
How many children of free-school age were enumerated for your school district by the last scholastic censusL----------------­

3. 
How many have actually been enrolled in school this year? 

4. 
How many families do the children come from?-------------­

5. 
A social center is a place where people meet for recreation or merely to pass the time away. The place of meeting may be a club, a barbershop, drugstore, postoffice, or some other place. Name the CClngregating places of your community in the order of their popularity 

6. 
What per cent of the young people of your community go w town for their recreation?________________Why?__________________ 

7. 
What per cent of your students above fifteen years of age intend to remain in the country and on the farm to live?__________ 


VVhy? --------------------------------------------------------­
What per cent intend to go to the cities and towns to live?_ __________ 
Why? --------------------------------------------------------­
8. Do you have organized athletics in your school?_____________ Basketball'/_________ ---Baseball?____________ Tennis'/_ __________ 
Other athletic sports?------------------------------------------­
9. Does your community have any of the following activities for soeial and cultural betterment: Choral club?_ _____________:\fale or mixed quartette?___________Orchestra?___________Literary society? -------_______Reading circle'/______________ Story-tellers' league? 
Victrola concerts'/___ --_____Other activities? _____ ---------______ _ 
University of Texas Bulletin 
10. Check the following conveniences for public meetings at your schoolhouse: Auditorium ?_ _________Classrooms with folding or slid­ing doors?___________ Movable seats?__________Victrola?___________ 
Piano ?_ __________Stereopticon ?.-----------Motion picture machine? __________Other conveniences? ---------------------------------­
11. How many churches in your community?----------How many church services per month?__________ \\That per cent of the people attend?_____________ _How many church societies such as Epworth League, etc. ?_ _________How often do they meet?___________________ 
How many Sunday-school services per monthL------------------­
12. Does your community have any of the following business or­ganizations: Farm bureau?_______ __Breeders' association?_________ Farmers' union?___________Sweet potato curing plant?_________ __ _ 
Other farm or business organizations?____________________________ 
13. Do you co-operate with Farm and Home Demonstration AgentsL________ _Does your school have the services of a county 
health nurse? -------------------------------------------------­
14. 
Have you an organized Parent-Teacher Association?-------­Is it active?_____ _____lf not, why notL--------------------------­

15. 
Has your school held a community fair?_ ___________Has it taken any interest in the county fair? ---------------------------­


GROUNDS, BUILDINGS, .AND EQUIPMENT 
A. GROUNDS: 
1. Playground: Area in acres?__________Neatly fenced?_______ _ Fence in good repair?__________Shade trees?__________Places for eating lunches?____________ __Provisions for play: Tennis courts? 
__________Basketball court?_ _________Baseball diamond?_________ _ 
Swings?__________Horizontal bars?_ _________Flag pole?______ 
Sand pile?________Other play equipment?_________________ ------... 

Drainage: Good? ______ -----_Fair?---~--------Poor?____________ 
Walks: Material?_ _______ ____When built?________________________ 

2. Out Houses: Boys' and girls' toilets at least 50 yards apart? 
_________ _Fly-proof and sanitary?____________ How often cleaned? ____________ Marked and defaced? _____ _______Shed for driving-stock
used by pupils coming to school?_ ____________________ ___________ _ 
3. Water Sup:Dly: Well? __________ Cistern?_ ___________Spring'? __________ Pump in well? __________ Method of distributing water: Bubbling fountains?____________Fountains in good working order? __________Hydrants and individual cups?__________Individual cups and common bucket?____________Common cups and common bucket? 
A Study of Rural Schools in Smith County, Texas 101 
B . BUILDINGS: 
1. 
Material: Brick?__________stone?__________stucco?_______ _ °W'ood?----------Number of rooins?-----------------------------­

2. 
Condition: Good?__________ Fair?__________Poor?_________ _ 


When last painted? -------------------------------------------­
Window panes Inissing?__________________clean?_________________ Number of classrooins? __________________ Halls?------------------Storeroolll?----------Condition? -------------------------------­
Auditorium: Size?_________________________Folding doors opening classroollls together?______________How seated?------------------­How lighted? -----------------------------Piano? -------------­
3. Heating: Unjacketed stove?_________Jacketed stove?_________ 
Jacketed stove properly installed and in perfect working condition? __________Stove polished ?__________No disfiguring Inarks?________ _ 
4. Lighting: Windows properly grouped and seats arranged so 
light does not collle directly into pupils' eyes?______________________ Window. space equal to one-sixth of floor space?__________No cross lighting? _______ Adjustable window shades?________Frolll top_______ 
5. 
Ventilation: Jacketed stove with outside air intake?_______ _ Ventilation by windows and doors only?_ ________________________ _ 

6. 
Cleanliness and General Order: Clean floors?________________ Sweeping coinpound? ____________ Floors oiled? ___________ Scrubbed how often?__________________Swept how often?-----------------­


When? ----------------------BY wholll?-----------------------­Rough and splintery?_____ ____ ____Clean walls and clean furniture? ___________Dustless chalk?___________QiJed dust cloth?___________ 
Erasers and chalk-rail clean ? _____________ Lavatory?------------­
Liquid soap in glass bulbL--------~----Wash basinL--~---------­lndividual towels? _____________ Mirror?_____________Clean sanitary shelves for lunch baskets?_ _____________Equipinent for serving hot lunches?__________Scales, charts, and other necessary equiplllent for weighing and Ineasuring children?__________Shoe scrapers or mats 
at door? ______________ . 
7. Interior Decorations: Pleasing interior?__________Clean paper on walls or walls properly tinted?_ ___________Pictures?-----------­Pot plants or window boxesL----------------------------------­
C. EQUIPMENT: 
1. General: Single desks of three sizes and all desks in each row of the sallle size? ___ _____Adjustable?________How often adjusted? ________Nuinber of pupils improperly seated?_____________________ 
Teacher's desk and chairL----------Desk?___________Neatly kept? __________Maps?----------Globe?__________ Charts?___________ _ Twenty-five linear feet of slate or hyloplate blackboard with chalk rail in each roolllL---------------------Proper distance from floor to s,qit pupils?-------------------------------------------------­
102 
University of Texas Bulletin 
2. Library: Cabinet for books?____________ Number of books in library?__________Are they readL ----------BY pupils?----------­By patrons?________Adaptation of books for use in school? _______ _ Number of books read last year?----------Value of books?--------­
Percentage of useless books?_ ____________Condition of books: Good? Fair?__________Poor?----------Collection of bulletins?-----------­Well filed?__________________ Dictionary? ----------------------­
3. Laboratories : Case for keeping apparatus?_________________ _ Value of apparatus for physics?____________Agriculture?_________ _ Physiology? __________ Chemistry? ____________Physical geography? Domestic science? ___________Manual training?___________What per 
cent purchased from agents?__________Js apparatus well adapted to work in general science?__________What per cent of apparatus has been improvised by teacher and pupils?________ Thermometer?______ Good clock?_ __________Textbooks well cared for?_ __________ Victrola 
and records?----------Good condition?--------------------------­
AGES, GRADES, AND SEXES OF PUPILS 
(For all children in school) 

(Please fill out and return to County Superintendent the same day 
this sheet is received) 
P1·incipal of schooL___________________Postoffice _________________ _ 

Name of school_______________________ County____________________ 

A Study of Rural Schools in Smith County, Te:i:as 103 
Number of boys who entered school for the first time this year: Five years old?__________SixL-----------Seven?_ _________Eight? __________Nine?----------· 
Number of girls who entered school for the first time this year: Five years old?_ _________six?___________ seven ?_ __________ Eight? __________Nine?----------· Instructions: Starting at the top of the table, after you have found out the ages of all the boys in the first grade, put the proper numbers in the blocks along the horizontal line marked "Boys." For instance, if there are two boys five years old, put the figure 2 in the block directly under 5. If there are four boys six years of age in the first grade, put the figure 4 directly under 6, and so on. Do the same thing for the girls. Please put the correct totals, both at the bottom and to the right, and see that they balance. 
OBSERVATIONS OF SURVEYOR 
1. General orderliness and neatness of room: Floors?___________ _ Pupils' desks? ____________ Teacher's desk?____________Blackboards? 
____________Cloakrooms? ____________ Adjustment of window shades? ----------------------Condition of stove?----------------------­
2. Heating and ventilation: Impression as to temperature of 
room? __________Air fresh and cool, or stuffy and hot?-------------­How is ventilation effected? -----------------------------------­
3. 
General appearance of teacher : Neat and orderly?___ ________ _ Careless and slovenly? -----------------------------------------­

4. 
Pupils: General bearing?_______________Neat?____________ _ _ 


Slovenly and unclean?_ __________Per cent giving attention effectively to business?_ _______Attitude towards teacher and school? __________ _ Attitude towards visitors?__________________________ ------------­
5. Class Work: Number of classes per day?__ __ ____ _Was teacher skillful in getting work out of pupils?_ _________Were the recitations bookish and formal or did they exhibit initiative and independence of thought?_________________Evidence of teacher's preparation for the lesson?____________________Evidence of use of library books or other outside reading material?___________ Questions confined to textbook? ________________Did teacher show evidence of wide reading and rich experience?_________ _______ Were examples and illustrations taken from the daily life and experiences of the. pupils?_________ ________ _ Does teacher live in the community?_ ___________Spend week-ends in community?______________Leader in community affairs?___________ 
QUESTIONNAIRE CALLING FOR INFORMATION FRO~l 
TRUSTEES 

Educational Survey of the Rural Schools of_ __ __ __ ___ __ __ __ County. Please fill in the information called for by these questions, and 
University of Texas Bulletin 
return to the County Superintendent's office as promptly as possible. In doing so ~10u will be rendering a valuable service for the betterment of the rura) and village schools of this county. Will you please give this matter your prompt attention? 
County Superintendent of Schools. Name of school------------------------------------------------­
Name of trustee_______________________Postoffice ________________ _ 
1. 
How many years have you resided in the district?____________ 

2. 
How many years have you served as school trustee?---------­

3. 
How long have you served as trustee of this school?---------­

4. 
Were you appointed by the county superintendent, or were you duly elected at the last regular election for school trustees? 

5. 
Do you require the teachers to give you an inventory of the school property, library books, globes, charts, etc., at the end of each 


school year? --------------------------------------------------­
6. 
Do you always ask the advice of the county superintendent before making school improvements or purchasing school supplies? 

7. 
Do you ever purchase school supplies from agents without first consulting the county superintendent as to prices, quality, etc.? 

8. 
Do you confer with the county superintendent before employ­ing a new teacher?---------------------------------------------­

9. 
If in need of a new teacher, how do you go about finding one? 

10. 
Does your school offer instruction in the high-school subects? _________ _If not, what provision is made for high-school advantages for the children of your district?________________________________ _ 

11. 
Has school consolidation been considered in your district?____ _ If so, what was the outcome of itL-----------------------------­

12. 
Name in the order of their importance, as you see them, three of the greatest needs of your school: 


(1) 
----------------------------------------------------------­

(2) 
----------------------------------------------------------­


(3) ----------------------------------------------------------­
QUESTIONNAIRE CALLING FOR PERSONAL INFORMATION FROM TEACHERS 
Educational Survey of the Rural Schools of_ ________________County 
Please fill in the information called for by these questionnaires and return to the County Superintendent's office as promptly as possible. 
A Study of Rural Schools in Smith County, Texas 105 
1n doing so you will be rendering a valuable service for the betterment of the rural and village schools of this county. Will you please give this matter your prompt attention? 
County Superintendent of Schools. 
Name of school------------------------------------------------~
Name of teacher___________________________ Postofiice ____________ _ 
TEACHERS 
Biographical Facts: 
1. 
Sex ________ Date of birth__________Place of birth----------­

2. 
Were you brought up in city, village, or open country? 

3. 
Occupation of your father (or guardian) during your school 


days ---------------------------------------------------------­
4. Are you married or single.1--------------------------------
Economio Status: 
1. 
Give your present monthly salary for teaching?______________ 

2. 
For how many months in the year are you employed?-------­

3. 
How did you spend the major portion of your last summer · 


vacation? -----------------------------------------------------­
4. 
State the approximate amount of money earned outside of your teaching salary the past year?----------------------------------­

5. 
Total amount saved or invested during the year?-----------­

6. 
Number of persons entirely dependent upon you for support? 

7. 
Number of persons partially dependent upon you. for support? 


Social and Living Conditions : 
1. 
Do you live with your parents while teaching?______________ 

2. 
Do you board?____________ Live in teacher's home?---------­Or maintain an independent household?--------------------------­

3. 
Approximate average living expenses per month (including board, room, laundry, transportation, etc.) 'L---------------------­

4. 
How far is your boarding place from school?_______________ _ 

5. 
Have you a room to yourself at your boarding place?-------­

6. 
Is your room heated in winter?___________________________ _ 

7. 
Are you free to entertain callers or guests in the family living room or parlor?------------------------------------------------­

8. 
What facilities have you for getting to town to shop, etc.? 

9. 
To what extent do you stay at your boarding place over the Week-ends? 


University of Texas Bulletin 
Education and Professional Preparation: 
1. 
How many years did you attend the elementary schools?-_____· 

2. 
How many years did you attend high school?________________ 

3. 
How many years did you attend normal school?_____________ 

4. 
How many years did you attend college?-------------------­

5. 
Are you a graduate of a high school?______________________ 

6. 
Are you a graduate of a normal school1-------------------­

7. 
Do you hold a university degree?__________________________ 


From where? -------------------------------------------------­
8. 
What grade of teacher's certificate do you hold?_ ____________ 

9. 
Have you ever taken any special courses in rural-school man­agement, rural sociology, or other subjects designed to prepare you specially for country school teaching?----------------------------­

10. 
Name the teachers' magazines or educational journals you are reading this year-----------------------------------------------­

11. 
Name the professional books you have read the past year? 

12. 
What, in your judgment, could the normal school in which you 


studied have done in its training to better prepare you for your prese11t work? ------------------------------------------------­
Teaching Experience: 
1. At what age did you begin teaching?----------------------­
2. How many years have you taught in aIIL----~------------­
3. 
How long have you taught in your present position?_ _______ _ 

4. 
Give number of years you have taught in each of the following positions: One-teacher rural school?----~--------Two-teacher rural school?______________ Graded village or city school?-'-------------­High school? -------------Village principal?____________Village or 


city superintendent?__________________Other educational experience 
School Management and Organization: 
1. 
Do you do your own janitor work?___________If not, how is it provided for?__________________salary of janitor?---------------­

2. 
How often is your schoolroom swept?______________________ Scrubbed? ___________________ Desks scrubbed?------------------­

3. 
Is it your practice to be with your pupils on the playground at recess and at noon intermission?______________To what extent do 


you join in the sports and games?-------------------------------­
4. How often do you have meetings with teachers and trustees? 
COURSE OF STUDY 
(Teachers in the elementary grades fill in data for the elementary 
grades only. Teachers of the high-school grades fill in data for the 
high-school subjects only.) 
Have you a daily program of study?___________________________ 
A Study of Rural Schools in Smith County, T exas 107 
Is it based upon the State Course of Study?_______________________ 
1. Elementary Grades: How many pupils in the elementary grades studying each of the following subjects: Reading____________ 
Writing? -----------Arithmetic? ___________Spelling? ----------­English grammar? ----------Oral and written English composition? ------------Texas History?____________u. S. History?___________ _ 
Civics? __________ Physiology and hygiene?----------Physical geog­raphy? Descriptive geography?__________Nature study?---------­General Science? ___________ Agriculture?___________Qther subjects: 
2. The High-School Grades: How many students in the high­school grades are studying each of the following subjects: Algebra? __________Plane geometry? __________American history? ---------­Civics and Government? __________ English history?__________Qther history courses?__________English composition and rhetoric?________ 
Latin?__________Foreign lan,guages?----------Physics? ---------­Chemistry? ----"-------Agriculture? ___________Farm accounting? Animal husbandry? -----'------Domestic science and art?__________ 
Other subjects? --------------------------------------------~--­
Total number of hours per week devoted to the teaching of high­school subjects by all the teachers in your schoolL-----------------­Total number hours per week devoted to the teaching of the ele­mentary subjects by all the teachers in your school?---------------­

THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS Bur-u of Extension 
t. Rural School Service. Lecturers and rural school specialists are available for county school surveys, for lectures on school im­provement, r.nd for general assistance in directing and organizing 
community meetings. 
2. 
The Division of Extension Teaching. Courses equivalent to those offered in residence at the University are·taught by mail, b7 members of the University faculty. Extension classes are offered in those centers in the State where there is a demand for them. Group Study Courses are available /or study clubs. 

3. 
The Division of Home Economics. Conferences and clinic. are held relative to the health and nutrition of children of pre-schoolal'e, as well as for children of school age. Budget making and budgetary spending are taught to groups whera such service is de­sired. 

4. 
Division of Government Research. Information relatiu to the problems of municipal, county, state, and national governmentmay be had from this division. 

5. 
The Division of Package Loan Library. This division collects material on an important present-day subjects and loans it, free of charge, to scho.ols, women's clubs, libraries, community and. civic organizations, and fadividuals. When demand for them ariaea, special libraries are often made up on subjects on which librariea ue not already prepared. 

6. 
The Photographic Laboratory. _This laboratofJ' is prepared to make lantern slides, produce negatives, and do technical pho­


tography. The ~boratory is also prepared to make motion picture 1llms. 
· 7. The Division of Trades and Industries. Courses in trade, analysis, lesson planning, methods of teaching, practical teach.inc, related subject work, and history of industrial education are given in industrial centers, by members of the division working in co­operation with the State Board for Vocational Education. 
8. The Division of Visual Instruction. Lantern slide sets an distributed for educational and recreational purposes. Motion pic­ture films are distributed through the division, and information rel­ative to Extension service has been prepared and will be mailed free 
upon application. 
9. The University Interscholastic League. Educational contests are promoted among the public schools of Texas in public speaking essay-writing, and spelling. It is the purpose of the League also ~ assist in organizing, standardizing and controlling athletics. A bul­letin for use in the spelling contests is i1!2UPd, also one briefing the subject for debate and giving selected arguments, one giving Bixt7 prose declamations, and one containing the Constitution and Rules mcluding a thorough description of all the contests undertaken. 
"THE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION CAMPUS IS THE 
STATE OF TEXAS." 

Address general inquiries to T. H. SHELBY, Director, Bmeau of Extension, Univemt,. of Tena.