Statistics and records can provide a look at the Madison County school population before and after the turn of the century. The first is listed in the Madison County Heritage book compiled in 1994.
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"In the year 1890, there was a large number of schools in
Madison County, North Carolina. This was due to the fact that there were over
6,500 school age youngsters and no transportation system. Everyone who went to
school walked."
"In 1891, the school census records show 3,807 white male students, 2,884 white female students, 100 black male students, and 84 black female students. Anyone between ages 7 and 21 was considered school age."
"As of September, 1891, there were 74 schools for whites and 5 schools for blacks." (Phillips, p. 9).
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"In a total population of 20,644, there are 20,072 native
born whites, fourteen foreign born whites, and 558 colored persons--as nearly
a pure native white American population, perhaps, as can be found in any county
in the United States. Of the white voters, twenty-six percent are illiterate;
of the colored voters, thirty-nine percent are illiterate. In other words, about
one out of every four white voters and two out of every five colored voters, can
neither read nor write.
The school population is 8,143, an average of nineteen to the square mile. The total reported enrollment is 4,870, or sixty per cent. of the school population. The average daily attendance of schools was fifty-six percent. of the total enrollment, or about thirty-four per cent. of the school population.
The average length of the school session in white schools is fourteen weeks or seventy days; the average number of days attended by each white child enrolled, forty; the average number of days attended by each white child of school age, twenty-four. There is an average of 116 children to each white school, and there is a school for every six square miles. The male teachers are paid $24.59 a month, female teachers, $22.38.
The total number of school buildings owned by the county is fifty-seven: one brick, eleven log, forty-five frame. The value of public school property in this country is estimated at $10,417, making the average value of a schoolhouse with its equipment, $182.75.
The total amount of school money received by the county treasurer for 1900 is $6,818.03. This means that the average amount received for each school is only $97.40, and for each school day in each school, including everything, $1.39. The amount expended in 1900 is $6,232.69, or thirty cents per capita of total population, sixty-four cents per pupil per month, and three and one-fifth cents per pupil per school day.(Bacon,pp. 2070-2072).
February 9, 2010   |