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page 14—DECEMBER 1957—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
W. Ya. Study Is Critical
Of Students’ Achievement
CHARLESTON, W. Va.
J^DUCATION GRABBED the Spotlight
again last month, but where
segregationist demonstrations pro
vided the headlines in October,
self-appraisal with a desegrega
tionist influence was the big aspect
in November.
The anti-desegregation move
ment in the state’s southern-most
counties of Mercer and McDowell
was brief and there has been no
recurrence. Schools where parents
picketed and students paraded are
back to normal routine—and ad
ministrators are looking to other,
more pressing problems.
The most startling piece of school
news came early in the month when Dr.
Eston K. Feaster reported on a $100,000
study of instructional deficiencies in the
public schools. The report, called for by
the legislature 18 months ago, said that
a child of inferior educational achieve
ment is West Virginia’s contribution to
the mainstream of adult life. (See
“Under Survey.”)
REPORT ON COLLEGES
Next day another study was de
livered to the legislative interim com
mittee that heard the Feaster study, and
it recommended better utilization of
buildings at the state’s nine colleges and
university as a means of alleviating
overcrowding in the next 20 years. (See
In the Colleges.”)
R. Virgil Rohrbough, state school su
perintendent, said at the end of the
month that education is entering a new
phase in West Virginia. With desegrega
tion moving along successfully in most
of the counties, he said, the aim of
school people is to seek a better pro
gram for all children than has ever been
available before.
Rohrbough noted that every West
Virginia county has desegregation in one
form or another, and with it moving
ahead smoothly the time has come to
seek solutions to such grave problems
as the state’s overall school inadequa-
cies. He addressed the legislature on this
* at a P re -l e gi s lative conference
at White Sulphur Springs. (See “School
Boards and Schoolmen.”)
FOR BETTER EDUCATION
Both the Feaster study and the col
lege survey grew out of a desire among
education-minded legislators to create
a better school program as the state
shifts from a segregated to a desegre
gated system. Many of them felt the
school children weren’t getting the cal-
iber of instruction they deserved, and
with a single program in sight a few
years from now for children of all
races, they demanded and got exhaus
tive studies.
The first was completed a year ago,
and the more recent ones followed the
refusal of the last legislature to take
action on corrective measures until it
was given more detailed information.
Gov. Cecil Underwood, as a result of
his stand on desegregation at the South
ern Governors Conference, has received
a feeler that might lead to West Vir
ginia’s affiliation with the Midwestern
Governors Conference. (See “Miscel
laneous.”)
The legislature, with the help of a
$23,000 grant from the Ford Founda
tion, met for two days at White Sulphur
Springs to hear experts discuss such
problems as taxation, conservation,
roads and schools. It was a fact-finding
meeting, with a better understanding of
issues coming up at the regular session
two months hence the main objective.
'The lawmakers heard an extensive
discussion of schools, along with those
on other subjects, and went home voic
ing their disappointment that the
Underwood administration hadn’t gone
beyond the conference aim and recom
mended taxes in such sensitive fields as
schools and roads.
Gov. Underwood has since said he’ll
have a tax program when the legislature
convenes Jan. 8. He did not elaborate.
UNDER SURVEY
From the time he enters school, said
the Feaster report of children of all
races, until he reaches his high school
years, the child gradually slips behind
his counterparts elsewhere until he
trails the national average by approxi
mately two years.
There are exceptions, of course. Some
West Virginia children are well above
and others below the average. But the
great mass of children aren’t on a learn
ing par with the average child of other
states.
The $100,000 survey that spawned
these facts was conducted among some
of West Virginia’s top schoolmen, 1,000
teachers and some 20,000 children.
MEETINGS SCHEDULED
The interim committee hearing the re
port directed that the survey group join
with the state department of education
in arranging a series of meetings to take
the survey’s findings to the public.
Those meetings, 18 in all, have since
been arranged.
The main object of the study was to
tell the legislature what the instruc
tional deficiencies of West Virginia
schools are before the coming session.
But the series of meetings, plus 35,000
summaries of the study, will take the
problem to the public also.
Pupil attitudes regarding their school
ing were among the things examined,
and on the whole the children confirmed
their displeasure with their courses,
their aversion for study, and their dis
satisfaction with their teachers and
teaching.
‘ALARMING SYMPTOM’
Moreover, on the subject of pupil at
titudes, the study found as a “most
alarming symptom” the disposition
among teachers to “wash their hands of
responsibility for trying to repair their
pupils’ deficiencies in mastery of mini
mum essentials.”
The report made no reference to races
or to the segregation issue, which is
slowly dissipating itself in West Vir
ginia, but it remarked:
“Regardless of the types of schools the
children had come up through, the re
sults tell the same discouraging story.
Whatever interest most of them may
have had in studying and learning in
the early years was completely, or al
most completely, gone by the 12th
grade.”
DEFICIENCY OR ASSET
Finally, after telling how little West
Virginia is getting for its investment in
education, the report concluded:
A favorable atmosphere cannot be
legislated into being. It does not grow
out of recommendations. It is a positive
disposition created by myriads of day-
to-day expressions and actions. Its lack
is a school’s greatest deficiency. If it
exists, it is a school’s greatest asset.”
In West Virginia, where approximate
ly two-thirds of the cost of public edu
cation has been borne for the last quar
ter century by the state, State School
Supt. R. Virgil Rohrbough outlined a
new approach to the educational ills
emphasized by the Feaster study. In a
speech to the legislature at White Sul
phur Springs he said in part:
“Perhaps no state in the Union is
changing any more rapidly than West
Virginia ... We are discovering that
our great resources lie, not only in the
ground, but in the minds of our citi
zens as well. This means, among other
things, that there is no limit to our po
tential wealth . . .
INDUSTRY HESITANT
“It is no secret that some industrial
leaders hesitate to move to our state
because of the present inadequacies of
our school program. To the extent that
this is true, our schools may well be
serving as a millstone to progress in
West Virginia. This is an indefensible
position because it is within our power
to remedy it . . .
“Education is one of our most pow
erful levers for up-grading the quality
of community living. When the com
munity standard is low, it is the re
sponsibility of the school to raise it. As
the standard is raised, the community’s
responsibility to improve the school
increases. West Virginia has reached
this point. I am convinced that future
programs of education in our state
should seek to restore the community’s
right to determine the local education
al program.”
Rohrbough told the legislature he
would have more specific recommenda
tions as to how his thesis should be
implemented when it comes into ses
sion in January.
In a get-tough attitude developed
after weeks of studying the problems
of West Virginia’s university-college
system, a study committee from the
legislature’s interim committee recom
mended better utilization of the mil
lions of dollars worth of facilities now
available to the youth of the state.
The survey disclosed that “the heavy
student load is during the morning
hours and tapers off sharply after 2
p.m.” Saturday classes are scheduled
to any extent at only two institutions.
Observing, in the light of this situa
tion, that something like 12,000 more
persons will be attending West Vir
ginia’s desegregated colleges and uni
versity in seven years, the subcommit
tee said better use of available space
should be made rather than launch a
costly construction program.
DORMITORIES NEEDED
The group could see no reason for
granting all the requests for new build
ings lodged with the legislature in re
cent years. It noted that “dormitories
are the No. 1 need” at the colleges. A
$3,600,000 classroom and office building
at the university also got priority, as
did a library at Potomac State School
if and when new outlays for construc
tion are approved.
Little Bluefield State College on the
state’s southern border came out poor
ly in the survey. Its costs were found
to be greatly exaggerated when com
pared with those of other colleges, and
its enrollment wasn’t keeping pace
with growth in other colleges. Blue-
field was an all-Negro institution prior
to desegregation in 1954.
BUDGET INCREASES
Bluefield also was the poor relation
of the college system when the state
board of education met last month. The
board recommended increases in bud
gets for the several institutions rang
ing from 15 to 31 per cent everywhere
except Bluefield.
For Concord, Fairmont, Glenville,
Marshall, Shepherd, West Liberty, West
Virginia State and West Virginia Tech,
the board proposed a 15 per cent in
crease in current expenses, 15 per cent
for personal services, 27 per cent for
repairs and alterations, and 31 per cent
for equipment.
For Bluefield the increase approved
was only 5 per cent for personal serv
ices and nothing more in other cate
gories. All budgets will now go to the
Board of Public Works for action be
fore being submitted finally to the
legislature Jan. 8, first day of the next
regular session.
OPERATING COSTS COMPARED
Figures presented to the board of
education by H. K. Baer, board secre
tary, showed that Bluefield’s operating
costs per student last year amounted
to $1,052, compared with an average of
$535 for other state colleges.
With an equivalent fulltime enroll
ment of 334 this fall, Bluefield is not
much more than half the size of the
next smallest of the nine state colleges.
The Bluefield president was told sev
eral months ago that he would have to
get his costs down before any appre
ciable increases in budget could be
expected.
Gov. Underwood several weeks ago
received a feeler regarding West Vir
ginia’s joining the Midwestern Gover
nors Conference, persons close to him
said, but he has said nothing further
about what he’ll do regarding it. No
changes could be made without legis
lative action.
Underwood broke with other members
of the Southern Governors Conference
at Sea Island, Ga., over the school in
tegration issue. Following adoption of
a resolution in which he cast the only
dissenting vote, Underwood said he did
not believe it was a proper subject for
the conference agenda.
His action at Sea Island was popu
larly received back home, and while
there was some feeling for leaving the
conference it lasted only a short time.
# # #
First Test of Alabama’s
Law Seen in Birmingham
MONTGOMERY, Ala.
nPHE FIRST TEST OF ALABAMA’S
■*" school placement law continued
to shape up in Birmingham during
November as the parents of chil
dren at three all-white schools
were asked how they would react
to the enrollment of Negro students
at the schools.
Questionnaires were distributed
to some 5,000 families by Dr. Fraz
er Banks, Birmingham school su
perintendent, under provisions of
the state’s placement law. Four Ne
gro children who have already un
dergone placement examinations
by the Birmingham Board of Edu
cation, are seeking admission to
Phillips and Woodlawn high
schools and Graymont elementary
in Birmingham. (See “School
Boards and Schoolmen.”)
Among the constitutional amend
ments to be decided by Alabama voters
in a Dec. 17 election is one which would
pave the way for the abolition of Macon
County, home of Tuskegee Institute for
Negroes and the county with the highest
(84) percentage of Negroes of any in
the nation. (See “Community Action.”)
Bombings, floggings and cross-burn
ings were reported in various parts of
the state during November. At Lomax a
Negro man was killed and a white dep
uty sheriff seriously wounded in a gun
fight which seemed to have been the
result of excitement generated by Klan
demonstrations several days before.
(See “Miscellaneous.”)
Although Gov. James E. Folsom has
said there is “absolutely no need” for a
special session of the legislature “at
this time,” observers predicted the gov
ernor would call the legislature back
in January.
The regular 1957 biennial session
ended without passage of an administra
tion-supported $20 million road bond
issue. This and insurance law revisions
were considered likely to be key items
in the governor’s call, if it comes. But
school finances and segregation are con
sidered almost certain to be brought up
by the legislators.
Two Alabama Ku Klux Klansmen
have been sentenced to maximum terms
of 20 years in prison for mutilating a
Negro handyman. Circuit court juries
convicted both Joe P. Pritchett, 31, and
Bart A. Floyd, 31, for the Labor Day
castration of Judge Aaron, 34, at a KKK
meeting place. The act was allegedly
performed by Floyd at the direction of
“Cyclops” Pritchett to prove Floyd’s
“worthiness” for Klan office.
According to investigating officers and
testimony in the two trials, Aaron was
a chance victim. The two men and their
companions were out to find any Negro
as their victim. According to testimony,
Aaron was forced to bow to his captors
and was given the option of death or
castration. He was then knocked uncon
scious and Floyd allegedly performed
the operation.
ACT DENOUNCED
Circuit Judge Alta L. King, who im
posed the maximum permissible pen
alties for mayhem, denounced the act
as “the most cowardly, atrocious and
diabolical crime ever to come to my at
tention.”
Under the testimony, Judge King
said, he had no choice but to give the
maximum penalty, adding: “And that is
not nearly commensurate with the
crime.”
“You have disrupted to a big extent
the friendly relations here between the
races and with our northern neighbors,”
the judge told Floyd in passing sen
tence. “You have drawn the attention
of the entire world.”
Four other white men also face trial
in the case.
GET LIFE TERMS
Two Dothan Negroes were sentenced
to fife imprisonment by a Montgomery
circuit court jury Nov. 25 in a robbery
which had race friction overtones
The victim, Charles Casmus of Mont
gomery, state commander of the Amer
ican Veterans of World War II said
Edward Hutchinson, 23, and Edward
Murray, 27, robbed him the night of
Nov. 1 and took him on a wild ride. Caj,
mus said the Negroes took him to
Lowndes County. There they led him
into a shack where the mother of one
of the men lived.
“This is the way Negro people live,”
Casmus quoted his captors as saying
Casmus also testified that the Negroes
talked constantly of the race situation,
threatened to make him have sexual in.
tercourse with a Negro woman, attacked
the racial attitudes of Montgomery p 0 .
lice Commissioner Clyde Sellers, etc.
On a rural dirt road near Selma
Casmus said, one of the Negroes pointed
a gun at his head and pulled the trigg er
several times. Casmus said the gun mis.
fired. Investigating officers said three
bullets found in the gun showed evi.
dence of five misfirings.
The ride lasted from midnight to
around dawn, according to all witnesses,
ending when Casmus promised the Ne-
groes $1,000 if they took him home and
released him. At home, Casmus said,
he was able to escape, lock his front
door and call police who arrested the
Negroes about two hours later.
Alabama’s Sen. Lister Hill said in
November that Little Rock has helped
the southern cause. “It has put people
to thinking everywhere,” the senator
said, adding:
“I can remember in my lifetime about
the question of prohibition. It came up
and was adopted by a three-fourths
majority of the House and Senate of
36 state legislatures. Yet it later became
apparent that prohibition was not the
answer and public opinion demanded
it be repealed. It was repealed and the
reason was public opinion. ... If we <
present our case to the American peo
ple intelligently and wisely, then I be
lieve we will find the majority of the
people will stand with us.”
DOUBTS EFFECT
Sen. John Sparkman, speaking to a
Montgomery Rotary Club Nov. 25 after
a 70-day trip in the Far East, said
Americans outside the South are now
beginning to realize “you don’t force
people by bayonets to change their way
of life.” ‘
Sparkman belittled the effects of
Little Rock abroad:
“You hear people talk about the ter
rific impact Little Rock had overseas,
but let me tell you that so-called im
pact has been overplayed as much as
anything I’ve heard of. The feeling
where I visited was that those nations
had their racial problems just as we
do. . . .”
‘GREATEST PROBLEM’
The president of the Alabama Cham
ber of Commerce said in his report to
the 20th annual convention of the or
ganization in Mobile that school inte
gration is “the greatest problem that
confronts us today and the solution
rests with the best brains we have.
President Roland L. Adams of York
continued:
“We cannot shrug it off. The proble®
must be solved by level-headed and
cool-headed men. It is certainly no mat
ter for Ku Kluxers and hot heads.
“The gravity of the situation is apP aI 'j
ent when we admit, as I think we al
believe, that Alabama would abolish *
public school system before it would
submit to integration, and that oth er
southern states would do the same-
HODGES HEARD , j
Also addressing the Chamber
Commerce convention was Gov.
Hodges of North Carolina who sal-
“The race problem is a national p**, •
lem . . . Any difference [in attitude
is largely explained by the differ®®
in the degree of problems facing”®,
ferent sections of the nation.” Hod®
continued:
“It is not in the national interest jjj
minority groups, of whatever race,
or belief, to be used as political P a " . i
by either or both major political P art j.,
It is high time that more of our P°. |
ical leaders came out for the majoPy
. . . instead of persisting in ® . J
sightly scramble to appease minorib
REPLIES TO INTERVIEW
Replying to the Martin
Agrd
,n#
NBC interview of Rev. Martin Lut^
King Oct. 27 (SSN, November), a
gomery Baptist minister said Nov.
consider separation of the races not ^
Christian but morally right. I
that God has made some men w'w
His will is for them to remain whiw'
The King telecast was not s f etl j^e
Montgomery until a week after & g
appearance across the nation. ”o ^
lines leading to the Montgomery ^
station were shorted out by a 1°®®
(Continued On Next Page)