$2,154.35; from State appropriation for colored schools, $7,477.44. The 

 county le\y was $30,000, and the receipts from all sources, including 

 balance on hand, were $59,546.60." This shows that in most respects 

 substantial progress has been made. 



PATRONS OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 



In order really to estimate the significance of the public school system 

 and to place the proper value upon the work which it is doing, it is neces- 

 sary to ascertain what place it actually fills in the total life of the com- 

 munity. The first step toward this end is to consider the schools objec- 

 tively, i.e., investigate the material equipment, the teaching force, the 

 enrollment and attendance and all the various activities of each individual 

 school. This we have already done, but it is quite conceivable that one 

 might have a correct understanding of all these points and still fail to 

 grasp the significance of the school. It is also necessary to understand 

 the attitude of the people toward the schools. This aspect of the inquiry 

 into the educational conditions was undertaken with several ends in view: 



(a) To discover whether the school patrons feel that the schools as 

 actually operated are serving their respective communities in a satisfac- 

 tory manner. 



(b) To discover what they consider the greatest weaknesses of the 

 schools, whether as locally conducted or as conceived in the general 

 "system." 



(c) To learn what they would suggest in the way of improvement and 

 particularly what would be their attitude toward the adoption of a policy 

 of consolidation with the public transportation of pupils. 



(d) Lastly, by means of these inquiries it was hoped that some light 

 might be thrown on the general temper and attitude of the people of the 

 county. Two lines of approach were followed. In the course of the 

 general survey of the county the investigators discussed various phases of 

 the school question, both privately with numbers of representative men 

 and women, and publicly at meetings of farmers' clubs and similar 

 organizations. In addition to this, that the results might be more repre- 

 sentative of the entire body of the people, a questionaire was prepared. 

 Copies of this were sent by the superintendent of schools to all the teachers 

 throughout the county, who were requested by him to obtain from the 

 heads of families in their districts written answers to the six more or 

 less pertinent questions on the blanks. These questions were as follows: 



1. What, in your opinion, are the principal weaknesses of the country 

 schools? 



2. Do the schools need a different course of study? 



3. How may they serve the community other than as an ordinary day 

 school for children ? 



78 



