Chapter IV

h4>From 1900 to 1920

Although the beginning of the educational revival in North Carolina is closely associated with the beginning of the twentieth century, we should not overlook the fact that preparation for this great awakening was being made as early as the eighties when Charles D. Mclver and Edwin Alderman stumped the state in the interest of popular education. No doubt, much of the enthusiasm and spirit of this educational revival radiates from Walter Hines Page, a North Carolinian, who at that time was living in the North. At the invitation of Dr. McIver, who amid marry difficulties has established the State Normal college for women, page delivered an address at this institution in 1897, in which he used the phrase, "The Forgotten Man" This became tile slogan for the educational campaign, because "It summed up in a way, that a thousand speeches could never have done, the great purpose for which the best people in the state were striving."

The educational sentiment created by these men, the increased wealth, the elimination, of the negro from politics, and the suggestion of a provision in the constitution requiring a literacy test for voting, all tended to make the time ripe for an educational revival. Probably, most prominent among the leaders was Governor Charles B. Aycock who like an unending tornado, so full of energy, covered the entire state in behalf of its educational interests.

In this chapter an effort will be wade to indicate the results of this revival on the Educational conditions in she county between the years 1900 and 1920, attar giving a brief discussion of the general educational conditions in the county, comparative statistics are given for the five year intervals from 1905 to 1920 inclusive, followed by a brief interpretation of the facts revealed by these statistics.

The spirit and enthusiasm of this educational awakening in the state appears to have had little immediate effect on the conditions in Ashe. As late as 1905 only one district in the county had voted a special tax to supplement the public school tern. There were no rural libraries in the county before 1905. The following excerpt from the annual report of the Ashe County Superintendent of Schools for 1905 gives a general survey of the conditions at that time.

There is only one district in the county that has voted local tax to supplement their public school term. This is the Jefferson district. We have only six rural libraries in the county. They have all been taken this year. These libraries contain 500 volumes, and from the report of the librarians it is very evident that they are appreciated by the communities in which they are located.

The system of gradation adopted for the schools was put in operation this year. The schools have been made more efficient by this, and the rules and Regulations adopted by the Board of Education have made school government less difficult. I am glad to report that substantial progress has been made along all lines of educational work. More interest has been showing by the patrons, the enrollment was the largest, and the attendance was the best in the history of our schools. The old log school house has about disappeared from our county, and good substantial buildings are taking their place. We now have in the county nine school houses built after the state plan and five more in the progress of erection. During the year, township meetings have been held in each township in the county. Most of these meetings were well attended by both teachers and citizens, and much interest manifested.

One evidence of local interest in education is the number of districts which voted a special tax for school support. As the above statement indicates there was only one such district in 1905, but by 1912 the number had increased to five. Jefferson voted the special tax in 1903: North Fork, Ebenezer, and Helton Academy, in 1906; Mill Creek in 1912. The special tax consisted of a thirty cent levy in all of the districts except Ebenezer which voted a twenty cent levy.51 Seven local tax distracts are reported for the year 1920. Although this shows an increase of only two over the number reported for 1912, the tendency to-ward an increase in the number of local tax districts has been lessened by consolidation, but the amount of territory and the number of pupils residing within the districts may have been increased as the size of the units are enlarged by consolidation. That some efforts were being made toward consolidation is indicated by the decrease in the number of one-room schools from seventy-five in 1915 to fifty-eight in 1920.The number of schools reported as having two or more teachers in 1910 was eleven, but in 1920 there were thirty-three schools employing two teachers each; five employing three teachers and three employing four or more teachers.

Although the state passed a law in 1907 making provisions for the establishment of high schools, as late as 1916 only one such school was reported for Ashe County--the Helton High School with an enrollment of thirty-nine, and employing one teacher.52 The report for the next year, however, lists the following high schools: Grassy Creek, Helton, and West Jefferson.53

A brief explanation of some of the obstacles that have tended to prevent the rapid growth of the school system in Ashe County, and also an account of the progress in school building during the latter half of the period covered; by this chapter are contained in the following statement by Mr. C. M. Dickson on County Superintendent of Schools:

On account of the geography of the county we can do very little consolidation, but wherever possible we are consolidating.

When the state authorities learn that our schools run in zero weather; that the streams become unfordable in a very few minutes; that the snow drifts are often six to eight feet deep; that the streams are frequently frozen over; and that in consequence of these things that we have to visit most of these schools on horseback, they will be ready to be somewhat indulgent if our progress does not appear to be as "marked" as some of the more for fortunate counties.

We might further say that we have no Rural Supervisor, no Farm Demonstrator, no stenographer, nor help of any kind.

Notwithstanding these handicaps with two severe epidemics of "flu" and four years of war, we have built new and; put additions to 60 per sent of our school houses, or an average of six a year for the last ten years.

The further fact that we are paying road bonds and that the reaction in business that has none about considerably retards rapid progress along educational lines, yet we feel optimistic and are striving for greater things in the future.54

Although the obstacles referred to above have bean real problems in any attempt to build up a creditable system of schools in Ashe County, on account of the changed conditions that have recently occurred in the county, especially the facility with which the people are brought together because of the county and state system of highways, many of these former hinderances are no longer to be considered.

The following pages give a brief statistical summary of the educational development of this period taken from the reports of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Total School Fund and Total Expenditure
Year Receipts Disbursements Balance
1905 $14,302.32 $12,563.39 $1,738.93
1910 $17,418.55 $17,088.34 $330.21
1915 $36,241.08 $29,038.10 $7,202.98
1920 $71,956.20 57,810.22 14,145.98
School Population and Attendance
Year White Colored
School Census Enrollment Average Daily
Attendance		 School Census Enrollment Average Daily
Attendance
1905 7150 5912 2854 275 248 173
1910 7166 5770 2154 275 248 182
1915 7158 5992 5880 85 80 53
1920 7228 5689 2955 198 131 24
Number of Teachers, Average Monthly Salary, & Length of School Term in Days
Year White Colored
Number of
Teachers		 Length of School
Term in Days		 Average
Monthly Salary		 Number of
Teachers		 Length of School
Term in Days		 Average
Monthly Salary
1905 110 70 $24.73 10 70 $12.48
1910 110 68 33.16 10 60 15.83
1915 124 100 36.52 10 65 12.09
1920 159 129 – 6 65 –
Number of School Houses, Number of Districts, and Value of School Houses
Year White Colored
Number of
Districts		 Number of
Houses		 Value of
Houses		 Number of
Districts		 Number of
Houses		 Value of
Houses
1905 96 94 $12,975 10 10 $350
1910 95 93 $14,975 9 – 350
1915 100 100 $40,380 10 10 700
1920 100 100 $54,050 10 9 1900

The foregoing tables of statistics indicate a general trend of improvement in the educational situation in Ashe County, although in some respects the growth was not what might have been expected. The total expenditures for the county for school purposes increased from $12,563.39 in 1905 to $17,088.34 in 1910. This increase represents an annual increment of almost one thousand dollars .The expenditures increased from $17,088.34 in 1910 to $57,810.22 in 1920, which represents an average annual increase of about three thousand dollars. It is interesting to notice that there was a balance of $14,145.98 for the year 1920. This seems to indicate that the receipts for school purposes were increasing more rapidly than the school system was expanding as judged. by the total expenditures. One reason for the larger proportional increase in the total receipts and expenditures over the five year period, extending from 1915 was the passage by the General Assembly in 1918 of the act requiring a minimum school term of six months for the state, and provisions for greater state aid.

If we accept the general principle that attendance is in direct proportion to the efficiency of tire schools and the school system the results during the period under discussion were not as satisfactory as might be expected from an examination of the total receipts and. expenditures. There was only a slight change in the total school population during this period. The number reported for 1905 was 7150, which was only eight less than reported for the year 1915. In 1920 the number had reached 7228, an increase of only seventy during the five year interval. The following table shows the per cent of the school population enrolled and the per cent of enrolment in average daily attendance in compassion with the standards for the state. The facts to presented in this table were derived from the reports of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Per Cent of school Population enrolled and Average Daily Attendance
Year Per Cent of school Population enrolled Average Daily Attendance
County State County State
1905 82 69.2 48 59
1910 80 72.9 37 67.1
1915 83 77.4 64 69.8
1920 78 83.3 51 68.5

These tables reveal the rather interesting fact that the per cent of school population enrolled in the schools of Ashe County exceeded the state average for each period with the exception of 1920. Although the per cent of the school population enrolled in the schools of the state as a whole shows a uniform increase during this period, the reverse situation is true in Ashe. There were only 5689 children enrolled in the schools in 1920 as compared with 5912 in 1905, which is a decrease of 223, or 3.7 per cent. It will be seen that the per cent of school population enrolled in the schools of Ashe County in 1905 was 12.8 greater than the enrollment for the state during the same year, but in 1920 it was 5.3 per cent less than the state average. Probably, a better index as to the real situation is the per cent of the enrollment in average daily attendance. As the tables show, this at no time, during the period under discussion equals the state average. In 1910 only 37 per cent of the children enrolled in the schools wee in actual daily attendance, which represents only about 30 per cent of the total school population in the county. In 1920 about 40 per cent of the school population was in average daily attendance. An examination of the above tables shows that the percentage of negro school enrollment in average daily attendance was greatly reduced during this period. In 1920 only 17 per cent of the negro children enrollees in the schools was in average daily attendance as compared with 69 per cent in 1905. The low average daily attendance for these years was, no doubt an indictment against the efficiency of the school system. However, there were other factors that tended to deep the attendance low. The severity of the weather and the frequent impassable condition of the roads have made regular attendance in the schools difficult in these mountainous sections. It is probable that the increased school term may have kept the average daily attendance low. Many of the parents who felt it burdensome to send their children to the short term schools sent them more irregularily as the term became longer, the children dropping out of school early in the spring to assist in the work on the farm and in the home was a common occurrence. The lack of any organized effort to enforce the compulsory attendance law in Ashe has kept the attendance irregular.

The number of white teachers increased from 110 to 159 in 1920, or an increase of 44 per cent. The number of negro teachers :vas constant until 1920 when there was a decrease of 40 per cent. The length of the school term for the white schools increased from 70 days in 1905 to 129 days in 1920. This is an increase of 44 per cent. The length of the term in the negro schools in 1920 eras 7 per cant less than in 1905. The salary of the negro teachers was slightly less in 1915 than in 1905. During the same period the average monthly salary of the white teachers had increased from $24.73 to $36.52-an increase of 48 per cent. Although there is some evidence of improvement in the school system in the county during this period, still it is obvious that the pace kept by the state as a whole was not maintained.

Footnotes:

  1. Report of Superintendent of Public Instruction, 1911-12.
  2. Report of state High school Inspector, 1916.
  3. Ibid.,1917.
  4. News and Observer (Educational Edition) Raleigh, North Carolina, August 3, 1922.