SCHOOL 



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SCHOOL 



Mrs. Stewart the head of the commission. A 

 state-wide war against illiteracy, through moon- 

 light schools, has been launched, and the com- 

 mission organized the state for it with the 

 slogan, "No illiteracy in Kentucky in 1920." 



In 1917 twenty-two states had moonlight 

 schools, and eleven of these were working under 

 illiteracy commissions, all of which is a direct 

 outgrowth of the Kentucky plan. The moon- 

 light school ministers to illiterate fishermen on 

 the coast of Maryland, to illiterate immigrants 

 on the coast of California, to illiterate Swedes 

 in Minnesota, to Indians in Oklahoma, to 

 mountaineers in the Appalachians and to both 

 whites and negroes in all of the Southern states. 

 Kentucky reduced its illiteracy one-half during 

 the three years following the creation of its 

 commission. North Carolina taught 10,000 dur- 

 ing 1915, and continues with energy to stamp 

 out its illiteracy. Alabama is contesting with 

 Kentucky for first place of honor in 1920. 



The moonlight schools are conducted entirely 

 by volunteer teachers. The readiness with 

 which teachers have responded is remarkable, 

 but is no less remarkable than the ease and 

 rapidity with which illiterates have learned. 

 Many have learned to read simple books and 

 papers in two or three weeks, and some have 

 learned to write their own letters in even a 

 shorter length of time, showing that adult il- 

 literacy is easy to overcome. The ages of some 

 who have learned in the moonlight schools 

 show that neither the ambition nor the power 

 to learn is confined to the young. One man 

 aged ninety-four and one aged ninety-eight 

 learned to read and to write their own letters. 

 Most significant are these facts for the hope 

 and encouragement which they give. 



The name moonlight school signifies that it 

 is a school conducted only on moonlight nights. 

 In the beginning this was true, the moonlight 

 being used to light the people over the roads. 

 Their clamor for a continuous session caused 

 the plan to be changed, and the opening week 

 only is now regulated by moonlight nights. 



Unique and attractive equipment has been 

 prepared for these schools. Readers that deal 

 with the road, the farm, the bank, the news- 

 paper, and with other matters of interest to 

 adults, and copy books with colored sheets and 

 grooved letters make up part of this equip- 

 ment. The plan is that illiterates shall not only 

 be instructed, but also that they shall have 

 books and supplies free of all cost. c.w.s. 



Correspondence Schools, institutions organized 

 to provide instruction in various branches of 

 learning by means of lessons sent by mail. 

 These schools aim to reach and benefit at least 

 three classes of people. A person of middle age 

 may deplore his lack of early training and seek 

 to remedy the defect ; even if his financial con- 

 dition makes it possible for him to go to school, 

 he hesitates to enter ordinary school classes on 

 an equality with boys and girls. A teacher 

 may wish to study under competent direction 

 while engaged in his profession, and thus pre- 

 pare for a better position or work towards a 

 college degree. A mechanic, clerk or machinist 

 may wish to perfect himself in his chosen voca- 

 tion by evening study. To such, and to others 

 with needs less specific, correspondence schools 

 have made a strong appeal since President 

 William R. Harper, of the University of Chi- 

 cago, about the year 1895, declared he could 

 teach Sanskrit by mail as successfully as in the 

 classroom. He exerted a profound influence 

 upon this means of education. 



Dr. Harper's courses by correspondence were 

 not the first to be offered, but he doubtless 

 gave to the world the earliest practical ideas on 

 the subject. The University Extension move- 

 ment in England adopted such means of in- 

 struction in 1868, and America put the same 

 plan into operation on a small scale in 1873. 

 Since then nearly a hundred correspondence 

 schools of every conceivable type have made 

 their bids for public patronage. Some were 

 organized sincerely to promote education; of 

 this class are the correspondence study depart- 

 ments of the universities of Chicago and Wis- 

 consin, of several state universities and a very 

 few privately-owned 'institutions; others have 

 been conducted by people without educational 

 equipment whose main object has been finan- 

 cial gain. The schools of the latter class have 

 injured the cause of correspondence instruction 

 by breaking down the confidence of the public ; 

 it has been impossible for the prospective 

 student always to determine the educational 

 soundness of the school which sought his pat- 

 ronage, and often he has failed to receive ade- 

 quate return from his investment. E.D.F. 



Related Subject*. The reader who Is inter- 

 ested in the subject of schools is referred to the 

 article on EDUCATION, paere 1929. It has numer- 

 ous subheads, while at the close of the article, on 

 pages 1954 and 1955, there appears a Ions list 

 of topics which may also be consulted in this 

 connection. 



End of Volume Eight 



