PAGE TWO
THE VOICE
FEBRUARY 18, 1949
THE VOICE
OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE STUDENT BODY
Edited And Published By The Students
FAYETTEVILLE STATE TEACHERS COLLEGE
Fayetteville, North Carolina
Published Three Times During The School Year
o
STAFF
BERTHA BARNES - Editor-in-Chief
WILLIE RIDDICK Business Manager
THELMA WATKINS Associate Editor
THELMA HARRIS Associate Editor
JAMES MCDONALD Associate Editor
EDWARD TAYLOR Associate Editor
QUEEN E. LEWIS WEAVER News Editor
JOHNNY BUTLER , Sports Editor
ZEBULON GORDON Exchange Editor
CAROLYN BURW'ELL Reporter
ALENA STOKES Reporter
MARGARET PATTERSON Reporter
BESSIE PRIDGEON Reporter
IRENE WALLS Reporter
LOTTIE MUNN Reporter
GEORGE JOHNSON Typist
THELMA DICKENS Typist
JAMES PURCELL Typist
CHARLES BLACK Typist
JOHN W. PARKER Advisor
LET’S FACE THE FACTS
By now almost everyone is aware of the fact that a formal
college education is becoming more and more a "must" for
ambitious young Negro Americans. Thousands of people
have just begun to realize that a college education is a pre
requisite for almost any job that pays a decent wage. Com
petition gets keener. The once-vacant jobs are now being
filled by people who are efficient and skilled, persons who are
capable of meeting the situations of life as they present them
selves.
We who are fortunate enough to be in school have the
advantage. When we stop to consider how many students are
deprived of this opportunity because their schools have been
bombed, we are encouraged to "carry on." Yes, we are great
ly blessed, but the question is," are we taking advantage of
"all" our opportunities"?
Let us face the facts. Are we spending our time wisely by
studying in the library, or do we while our time away on un
important activities? Are we eager to learn more of the things
that we already know something of, or are we satisfied with
the little knowledge we have? Are we content just to be in
school, or are we anxious to become educated? One author
has said: "There is lots of difference in schooling and educat
ing. Schooling stops when we stop school, but education goes
on as long as there is a spark of hfe in our bodies."
Education is not subject matter alone. It reaches wider,
deeper and higher than book learning. Education is assum
ing responsibility; it is being responsible leaders; it is exhibit
ing personahty traits; it is learning and putting into practice
the social graces. Let each of us examine number one. If we
fall short of anything that will help to make us desirable
citizens, now is the time to do something about it.
IMPLICATIONS OF N. C. E. C.
(Continued from page 1)
educational levels as between the
two groups in reference to accep-
tatle standards. The Report indi
cates that during the next ten
years there will need to be con
structed for white youth approxi
mately 250 new school buildings
and 650 additions. For Negroes,
on the other hand, the data re
veal that during the same period
(ten years) there will need to be
constructed approximately 275
new school buildings and 185 ad
ditions. The program would result
in the abandonment of 330 white
3'JiQols in operation and 950
schools for Negroes now being
utilized.
Concentrating on specific rac
ial differentials evidenced in the
I’eport, it is clear that the differ
ence in achievement as between
white and Negro pupils increases
with advancement in grade level
and that the retention of students
in high school for whites is higher
than in high schools for Negroes. It
may be observed that in 1946 over
60 per cent of the Negro High
School children of the State were
enrolled in schools below the
itindard required for accredit-
ment. Similarly, of the 201 Negro
high schools, 96, or roughly 48
parccnt, employed from one to
three teachers. In other instances
the Report showed that North
Carolina ranked lowest in a group
of 7 states in the percentage of
educable children from 5 to 17
years of age actually enrolled in
school.
In schools for Negroes, the
jGunty elementary and high
schools have the largest number of
failures in comparison with other
groupings and as between the
r.ces. The Report indicates that
?nnuilly one out of eleven white
children fails to advance in grade
whereas one out of six Negro chil
dren fails to get promoted. Simi
larly, one out of four white chil
dren while only one out of 14
Negro children who enter the first
grade graduates on time. The
seriousness to the Negro group as
a whole of all these conditions is
brought to bear when it may be
observed, as the commission dem
onstrated, that in terms of median
achievements by grade levels the
average Negro child learns or
completes considerably less than
white children on comparable
levels.
The data show also, that urban
white children are further ad
vanced in all subjects than either
urban or rural Negro children
with the greatest variation of
achievement shown at the twelfth
grade, with the variation from
grades four to twelve consistent
ly increasing.
The situation means that in
adequate buildings and equip
ment, failures, grade overageness,
lack of completion of secondary
school, together with substandard
(Continued on page 4)
Yesterdays, Todays
And Tomorrows
Yesterdays, all behind us.
Serve only to remind us
Of victories we’ve won.
Of duties left undone;
Who lingers long upon them,
Most surely ware among them;
A useless life to pass
In blind unconsciousness.
Todays are always with us,
Each a new chance to give us;
One at a time well live.l.
Is truly wealth received.
Who would live in the present,
Must not cling to the pleasant
Memories of yesterday;
But master each today.
Tomorrows all before us,
To constantly allure us
On towards some fancied height,
On which we would alight,
Who waits to climb tomorrow
Must wake ere long to sorrow;
And learn, amid the gloom.
Tomorrows do not come.
The Best Is Yet~
To Be
Keep on learning. The mind is
like a muscle. It grows strong
with use. Do something every day
to discipline your mind. Under
take a hard task. Find a way out
of seme difficulty. Keep records
and do some writing regularly.
Learn to estimate and criticize
your own work. Allow time for
daily reading. Read newspapers
with discrimination and give more
time to books. Use free public
libraries. Form a library of your
own. Spend at least as much for
two books as you do for the
movies. Include biography, his
tory, poetry, science and current
affairs. Avoid the trival and the
vulgar. What goes into the mind
comes out in life. Select what goes
into your mind as carefully as you
do the food that nourishes your
body. Your mind is the master
key to the good life. The first mark
of a student .is an appreciation of
the worth, dignity, power, and
usefulness of his own mind.
From N. E. A. Journal, Jan., 1949.
For Serious
Meditation
. . No one can afford to fail
himself.
. . Society is always saved by
the few,
. , Only one stone can be laid
at a time.
. . They please us most who
demand our best.
. . Abiding happiness comes
from what one is, not what one
has.
. . Desire to do what you must
do.
. . Do some difficult reading
every day.
. . No one is free who is a slave
to a useless habit.
. . Gandhi accomplished more
for humanity in his generation
than did all the militarist of the
world.