By J. C. Baskervill
Wentworth, Sept. 18—Readily admitting that North Carolina still has a long way to go in order to compare favorably with other states in the matter of public education, A. T. Allen, state superintendent of education, today maintained that the first step necessary to put the state on a par with other states is the creation of an eight-months’ school term, instead of the present six-months’ term, in an address today before the teachers, committeemen and board of education of Rockingham County here today, on the eve of the opening of the county schools Monday morning. When the eight months school term has been obtained, then it will be possible to seek other improvements, one of which can be hoped for until the longer term has been made a reality, Mr. Allen asserted.
In order to clear up the misapprehension on the part of some people that the eight months’ school term may be forced upon them against their will, Mr. Allen first explained the one and only process by which the eight months’ term may become a reality, as follows:
First, it may be done only by constitutional amendment, after the general assembly has authorized a special election, setting forth in clear terms what is to be voted upon.
Second, the measure must be ratified by the vote of the people before it can become law.
Thus the next general assembly would first have to authorize the election, whoculd could not be held before the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, 1928. Then, if ratified, the general assembly of ??? would have to set up the necessary machinery for putting the longer term into effect, and the eight months’ term proper could not go into effect until the 1929-1930 term.
“It has been suggested that this would be going too rapidly for the people of North Carolina. But the more statement o fth eplan shows that nothing can be dne in the matter without ratification by the people themselves,” mr. Allen states. “It therefore becomes a question for the people to determine and cannot be setup against their will. The people of th estate must be in favor of it or nothing can be done toward accomplishing it.
“In spite of the simplicity and the apparent fairness of the plan for the realization of the eight months school term, there are those among us who would delay the beginning of the plan for one reason or another.
“One group says that we must wait until we have an ampe supply of teachers. It is possible to secure good teachers with only a six months term, and can give them employment for only half the year? At present it is possible to find good teachers in the city schools and the longer term schools. But what we desire is good teachers in every school in the state. In place then of trying to supply a better teaching force for the six months’ term schools, would we not be wiser to extend the term to eight months and thereby provide greater inducement to the young men and women of the state to become teachers? In my opinion, better teaching is dependent upon longer term rather than on a short term with a better teaching force.”
Still another group would have the state wait “until the people get ready for a longer term,” Mr. Allen said. But the question of readiness is one for the people of the state to decide for themselves—and that is all that the department of education is asking. “I am willing to abide by their decision, and I do not fear the result,” Mr. Allen said.
“We are told again that we must not start until a better scheme of taxation has been worked out. I am no expert on taxation, and shall therefore make no attempt to pass on the system of taxation, and shall therefore make no attempt to pass on the system of taxation that we now have, or to suggest any new system to be involved in the future. What I do object to is making the length of the school term await the adjustment of all questions of taxation that may now exist."
“The eight months’ school term is bigger than any scheme of taxation, for scheme of taxation can be adjusted from time to time and the people have permanent institution, to which every boy and girl in the state is entitled. And I should like to see it embedded in the constitution and guaranteed by it, supported by such schemes of taxation as each succeeding general assembly in its wisdom may see fit to provide.
“We are already committed to a universal principle of equal educational opportunity at public expense. The only new question raised here is, what shall be that extent of that opportunity?
“If we await the final and satisfactory adjustment of all the subsidiary questions and objections before we make a beginning for the eight months’ school term, generations of boys and girls will pass by neglected. Boys and girls cannot wait. The grow up into men and women whether they have had good schools or have had poor schools. Every year of delay means the passing of one crop of children who might have benefited. Does not this question of an eight months’ school term mean too much in the future of North Carolina to permit a further delay or neglect? Let the people of the state have the chance to settle for themselves this one question in its merit and in their own way.”
Editor's Note: North Carolina increased its minimum public‑school term from six months to eight months in 1933, during the creation of the statewide, state‑funded school system under Governor O. Max Gardner. That’s the moment when the six‑month term ended as the legal minimum and the eight‑month term became standard across the state.
From the front page of the Concord Daily Tribune, Saturday, September 18, 1926
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92073201/1926-09-18/ed-1/seq-1/
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