however. Their enthusiasm for the teacher and their doctor carried the
day.

"It has been slow," the teacher said, "but at the end of it all, they
see better, hear better, eat more wholesome, nourishing food, live
better, and understand themselves better. On the whole it has paid."

X Theory and Practice[28]

The rural schools of the South have no monopoly on progressive
educational views. A number of Southern cities have taken up their
position in the vanguard of educational progress. Notable among these
cities is Columbus, Georgia,--a city of 20,554 people, in which
Superintendent Roland B. Daniel has undertaken a vigorous policy of
shaping the schools in the interests of the community. There were in
1913, 5,356 children of school age in Columbus. Of this number, 4,089
were in the schools. The school population is rather unevenly divided,
racially,--3,348 of the children of school age are white, and 1,198 are
colored. About one-quarter of the white population depends for its
livelihood upon the mills. Columbus is surrounded by an agricultural
district from which come many children in search of high school
training. The city of Columbus presents an industrial problem of an
unusually complex character, and the manner in which this problem has
been handled by the schools is worthy of the highest commendation.
Superintendent Daniel has laid down three definite planks in his
educational platform for the city of Columbus. In the first place, he
aims to provide school accommodations which are fitted to the peculiar
needs of each part of the community. In the second place, he aims to
shape the school system of Columbus in terms of the local environment of
the children. In the third place, he has inaugurated a high school
policy, which makes high school training practical as well as
theoretical.

Among the mill operatives of Columbus, Superintendent Daniel estimates
that there are approximately 800 children of school age. The situation
presented by these children was critical in the extreme. There was an
absence of compulsory education laws; few of the children attended any
school, and when they did enter a school they seldom remained long
enough to secure any marked educational advantage. Less than 5 per cent.
of the children continued in school after they were old enough to work
in the cotton mills.

Pursuant of his intention to make the schools supply the needs of all of
the children of Columbus, Superintendent Da