History of Lauderdale County School District | Page 80

Science Courses Lacking – A Meridian Star survey of the school situation revealed the
following facts on the way our schools are meeting the challenge of 1959. With a Russian Lunik
Circling the moon and our way of life at stake on the battlefield of the science labs, not one
county school offers a course in physics or advance science beyond basic chemistry. One school
offers no chemistry, no science except biology. Only one principal said his school has adequate
science facilities for the subject it teaches. With college entrance requirements stiffening as
enrollments soar, only one county school offers a math course beyond second year algebra. One
school offers trigonometry, but none offers solid geometry. One fails to offer second year
algebra; one has no plane geometry. With skilled labor in great demand for Mississippi’s
industrial expansion, vocational training is limited in most cases to agriculture. Instructors try to
include as much shop work as possible in these courses, but the principal say shop facilities are
severely limited.