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Education in South Carolina

Education in South Carolina covers the history and current status of education at all levels, public and private, and related policies.

History

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Early education in South Carolina was centered in the home, reflecting the English roots of colonial society. Literacy was low. Wealthy families typically hired tutors or sent their sons to private schools in Charleston. Education for crafts was provided through apprenticeships. Professional physicians and lawyers were trained through working as assistants in the offices of established practitioners. Seminaries were set up for ministers, such as the 1826 Baptist school Furman Academy and Theological Institution (now Furman University). Numerous military academies provided a high-school level education, with The Citadel in Columbia offering a college degree.[1] In the colonial era the missionary society of the Church of England sponsored schools attached to their local parishes. They also taught slaves and established the Charleston Negro School in 1742.[2][3]

Education for freedmen: In 1861–1865 As federal troops occupied the state slavery was abolished and the US Army agency the Freedmen's Bureau set up programs to educate the freed slaves. Teachers were recruited by Northern philanthropic and missionary societies. The two most famous schools are the Penn School on St. Helena Island and the Avery Institute in Charleston. Enthusiasm among freedmen for education was high. Southern whites tolerated schools for Blacks but strongly opposed Yankee teachers. During the Reconstruction era, the Freedmen's Bureau, northern philanthropic and missionary associations, and African American activists established private schools for black youth. Blacks welcomed their newly acquired freedom and citizenship as an avenue to obtain formal schooling and literacy. By 1900, literacy rates rose to 50% from an estimated 5–10% before 1865.[4]

South Carolina maintained a racially segregated elementary, secondary, and post-secondary system of education after Reconstruction. Black public schools within this system were underfunded and did not meet the needs and aspirations of African American communities.[5] However many private schools for Blacks were funded by Northern philanthropy well into the 20th century. Support came from the American Missionary Association;[6] the Peabody Education Fund; the Jeanes Fund (also known as the Negro Rural School Fund); the Slater Fund; the Rosenwald Fund; the Southern Education Foundation; and the General Education Board, which was massively by the Rockefeller family.[7][8]

The University of South Carolina, founded in 1801 as South Carolina College flourished before the Civil War. It closed during the war and slowly overcame postwar struggles. It was rechartered in 1906 as a university and transformed into a comprehensive institution in the 20th century. In the early decades of the 20th century, South Carolina made strides toward becoming a comprehensive university. In 1917 it became the first state-supported college or university in South Carolina to earn regional accreditation. The Great Depression temporarily stalled progress, but the World War II brought U.S. Navy training programs to campus. Enrollment more than doubled in the post-1945 era as male veterans took advantage of the G.I. Bill.[9]

Until the late 19th century there were almost no public schools and education was left to families. Nonetheless, while historically the state’s support of schooling has been hesitant, sporadic, and limited, the last two decades of the twentieth century witnessed growing attention to schools. By the end of the twentieth century, reform of South Carolina public schools had entered the forefront of political debate

Primary and secondary schools

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As of 2010, South Carolina is one of three states that have not agreed to use competitive international math and language standards.[10]

In 2014, the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled the state had failed to provide a "minimally adequate" education to children in all parts of the state as required by the state's constitution.[11]

South Carolina has 1,144 K–12 schools in 85 school districts with an enrollment of 712,244 as of fall 2009.[12][13] As of the 2008–2009 school year, South Carolina spent $9,450 per student which places it 31st in the country for per student spending.[14]

In 2015, the national average SAT score was 1490 and the South Carolina average was 1442, 48 points lower than the national average.[15]

South Carolina is the only state which owns and operates a statewide school bus system. As of December 2016, the state maintains a 5,582-bus fleet with the average vehicle in service being fifteen years old (the national average is six) having logged 236,000 miles.[16] Half of the state's school buses are more than 15 years old and some are reportedly up to 30 years old. In 2017 in the budget proposal, Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman requested the state lease to purchase 1,000 buses to replace the most decrepit vehicles. An additional 175 buses could be purchased immediately through the State Treasurer's master lease program.[17] On January 5, 2017, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded South Carolina more than $1.1 million to replace 57 school buses with new cleaner models through its Diesel Emissions Reduction Act program.[18]

Institutions of higher education

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See also: List of colleges and universities in South Carolina

South Carolina has diverse institutions from large state-funded research universities to small colleges that cultivate a liberal arts, religious or military tradition.

Furman University bell tower near Greenville

Universities and colleges ranked by endowment, 2010

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State
rank 		National
rank 		Institution Location Public / private? Endowment funds Percentage change YOY
1 142 Furman University Greenville Private $650,000,000 7.8%
2 151 University of South Carolina Columbia &
regional campuses 		Public $625,186,000 6.0%
3 153 Clemson University Clemson Public $623,200,000 9.5%
4 236 Medical University of South Carolina Charleston Public $272,319,000 13.7%
5 270 The Citadel Charleston Public $244,000,000 8.1%
6 324 Wofford College Spartanburg Private $166,619,000 10.2%
7 447 Presbyterian College Clinton Private $97,590,000 11.0%
8 530 Converse College Spartanburg Private $78,240,004 6.4%
9 782 Winthrop University Rock Hill Public $43,600,000 13.6%
10 658 Coker College Hartsville Private $37,660,000 4.9%

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Rod Andrew Jr, Long gray lines: The southern military school tradition, 1839-1915 (Univ of North Carolina Press, 2004).
  2. ^ Shawn Comminey, "The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts and Black Education in South Carolina, 1702-1764." Journal of Negro History 84.4 (1999): 360-369. online
  3. ^ See "Education" Encyclopedia South Carolina (2023)
  4. ^ Frank A. DeCosta, “The Education of Negroes in South Carolina.” Journal of Negro Education 16#3 (1947), pp. 405–16
  5. ^ See "Sad State of Education in 18th & 19th Century South Carolina" (Dataw Historic Foundation, 2023)
  6. ^ Joe M. Richardson, Christian Reconstruction: The American Missionary Association and Southern Blacks, 1861–1890 (1986).
  7. ^ Stephanie Deutsch, You Need a Schoolhouse: Booker T. Washington, Julius Rosenwald, and the Building of Schools for the Segregated South (Northwestern University Press, 2015).
  8. ^ James Christopher Carbaugh, "The philanthropic confluence of the General Education Board and the Jeanes, Slater, and Rosenwald Funds: African-American education in South Carolina, 1900-1930" (PhD dissertation, Clemson University, 1997;  ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 9833440.)
  9. ^ See "Timeline" (University of South Carolina, 2023)
  10. ^ Hunt, Albert R. (August 23, 2009). "A $5 billion bet on better education". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 10, 2013. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
  11. ^ Click, Carolyne; Hinshaw, Dawn (November 12, 2014). "SC Supreme Court finds for poor districts in 20-year-old school equity suit". The State. Archived from the original on March 31, 2016. Retrieved March 25, 2016.
  12. ^ South Carolina – Fast Facts Archived May 11, 2012, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved May 10, 2012
  13. ^ NEA Rankings and Estimates Page 11 Archived May 5, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Retrieved May 10, 2012
  14. ^ NEA Rankings and Estimates Page 54 Archived May 5, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Retrieved May 10, 2012
  15. ^ "Average SAT Scores By State (US)". LEAP blog. Archived from the original on October 15, 2015. Retrieved March 25, 2016.
  16. ^ "SC should privatize school bus fleet". Lowcountry Source. December 17, 2016. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved January 24, 2017.
  17. ^ "Update South Carolina's decrepit school bus fleet". The Post and Courier. Archived from the original on September 11, 2018. Retrieved January 24, 2017.
  18. ^ "EPA Awards South Carolina $1.1 Million For Cleaner School Buses". South Carolina Department of Education. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved January 24, 2017.
  19. ^ "About Lander University". Archived from the original on July 2, 2012. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  20. ^ "Our Third Annual College Rankings". Washingtonmonthly.com. Archived from the original on December 4, 2010. Retrieved July 31, 2010.
  21. ^ "Fast Facts – Bob Jones University". Archived from the original on December 11, 2004.
  22. ^ "Bob Jones University Enrollment Profile". Retrieved June 4, 2021.

Further reading

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Race

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