South Carolina

A

Education

Until the late 19th century, well-to-do South Carolinians generally hired tutors to instruct their children or sent them to private academies. Still wealthier residents often sent their children abroad to be educated. During the same period, ministers, missionaries, and traveling schoolmasters played major roles in the spread of education among the less privileged classes, especially in rural areas. In 1710 and 1712 the colonial assembly passed laws providing for the education of a few needy pupils at public expense. Educational aid for the poor was also provided by a number of charitable groups. South Carolina’s first school for blacks was opened in 1740. Laws providing for an extensive program of public education were passed in 1811, but the schools that were subsequently established received inadequate support and were attended only by the needy. Attempts at public education ceased during the Civil War.

In 1868 the constitution drawn up by the state’s Reconstruction government provided for an excellent educational system. Little was done to put the system into effect until 1876. The constitution of 1895 provided more generous financial support but also legalized separate education for whites and blacks, a system already practiced. Thereafter schools gradually improved, but the bulk of the funds were spent on the white schools. Advances made in the 20th century include direct state financing and supervision of local schools; consolidation of rural school districts; and programs to abolish illiteracy and educate adults. Compulsory school attendance was first introduced in 1937. It was abolished in 1955 to avert the prospect of racial integration in the schools but was reinstituted in 1967. Despite the 1954 ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States that racial segregation in public schools is unconstitutional, and even though the Summerton School District (now known as the Clarendon County School District) was one of the systems incorporated into the Supreme Court decision, South Carolina did not begin to desegregate its schools until 1963.

School attendance is compulsory for children aged 5 to 17, although parents may waive attendance of all-day kindergarten for 5 year olds. Of the state’s children, 8 percent attend private schools. In the 2004–2005 school year South Carolina spent $8,841 on each student’s education, compared to a national average of $9,910. There were 14.1 students for every teacher (the national average was 15.5 students per teacher). Of those older than 25 years of age in the state in 2007, 82.1 percent had a high school diploma, while the country as a whole averaged 84.5 percent.

A

1

Higher Education

The first college established in South Carolina was the College of Charleston, which began offering instruction at the college level in 1790 and is now the state’s oldest institution of higher education. The state-supported University of South Carolina, chartered in Columbia in 1801 as South Carolina College, was one of the first state colleges or universities founded in the United States.

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In 2006–2007 South Carolina had 33 public and 32 private institutions of higher education, including two-year colleges and a 16-campus system of state-supported technical education centers primarily developed to prepare students for jobs in new and expanding industries. Leading schools included Columbia College, Allen University, and Benedict College, all in Columbia; Converse College and Wofford College, in Spartanburg; The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina, and the Medical University of South Carolina, in Charleston; Furman University and Bob Jones University, in Greenville; Clemson University, in Clemson; Limestone College, in Gaffney; South Carolina State University, in Orangeburg; and Winthrop University, in Rock Hill.

B

Libraries

In colonial days the South Carolina assembly became the first known in America to grant governmental aid to libraries. In South Carolina, also, is the first U.S. college building devoted exclusively to use as a library, the South Caroliniana Library at the University of South Carolina. The Charleston Library Society, founded in 1748 and still in operation, is one of the oldest municipal libraries in the country. There are 42 public library systems in the state, with an annual circulation that averages 4.9 books for every resident, a rate among the lowest of the states. Among the larger academic libraries are those at the University of South Carolina, Clemson University, College of Charleston, Furman University, and Winthrop College. The state archives are housed by the South Carolina Department of Archives and History in Columbia, and the state library is the depository for all state government publications.

C

Museums

Museums noted for fine arts collections include the Gibbes Museum of Art of the Carolina Art Association, in Charleston; the Columbia Museum of Art, in Columbia; the Florence Museum of Art, Science and History, in Florence; and the Greenville County Museum of Art, in Greenville. The South Carolina State Museum in Columbia has a collection of works by South Carolina artists but also includes extensive exhibits on science and history. The Charleston Museum houses a fine collection of South Carolina memorabilia. Other historical materials are housed in the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Museum in Columbia, Clemson University’s Hanover House, the McKissick Museum at the University of South Carolina with its collection of folk art, and the Museum of African-American Culture in the Mann-Simons Cottage in Columbia. The Citadel operates a military museum in Charleston.

D

Communications

In 2002 South Carolina had 14 newspapers that were published daily. The first newspaper in the state, the South Carolina Gazette, was founded at Charleston in 1732. The oldest newspaper still being published is the thrice-weekly Georgetown Times, which began publication in 1797. The Charleston Post and Courier, founded in 1803 as the Charleston Courier, is the oldest existing newspaper in South Carolina. Other leading South Carolina dailies include the Columbia State, the Greenville News, the Anderson Independent-Mail, and the Spartanburg Herald-Journal.

The first radio station in South Carolina was WSPA, which began broadcasting at Spartanburg in 1930. The first television station in the state was WIS-TV at Columbia, which began operation in 1953. In 2002 there were 57 AM and 75 FM radio stations and 23 television stations operating in the state.

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