Newspapers / The University of North … / Jan. 15, 1919, edition 1 / Page 1
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h m ?! ’y-'W m fi m im The news in this publica- I tion is released for the press on I ‘ receipt. THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA NEWS LETTER Published weekly by the University of North Carolina for its Bureau of Extension. JANUARY 15, 1919 CHAPEL HILL, N. C. VOL. V, NO. o ■EdKorial Board ■ E. C. Branson, .1. G. doR. Hamilton, L. R. Wilson, D. D Carroll, G. M. McKie Entered as seoondHjlass matter November U, 19U, at the iPostoffloe at Chapel Hill, N. C., under the act of August 24,1912. BIG-SCALE SCHOOL POLICIES LOCAL SCHOOL INTEREST Have you ever thought about our pub lic school system and its place in our scheme of life? Oh, yeal I know you liave given your school an occasional passing thought and then have imme diately gone on thinking and planning about your crops, or your new shipment of goods, or your next case in court. What real, downright, serious thinking have you done, though, about our whole plane of public education as a plan for oitizen making, as a means of growing up , a race of intelligent, energetic, thrifty, j well-set-up, straight thinking and hard I hitting world citizens? Ho you see the : public school as a great and powerful in stitution of society the success and effi ciency of which makes or unmakes civi lization, or is it to you simply and solely the place where the kids are taught to read, write and cipher? For long years W'e thought that wheth er or not our boys and girls knew how to read, write and cipher was our own per sonal business, and every man was re sponsible for'the education of only his /own children, but we slowly came to see that a neighborhood where the children had been taught was a more desirable neighborhood in w^hich to live than was the one where the children had not been taught. If you doubt this statement turn to any one of your daily papers and read the advertisements of farms or cottages and see how many of them mention the nearness of the property to good schools as a desirable feature. So we were willing to agree to the establishment of a school (for all the children and pay our share in supporting it. If we could not raise ■money enough by ourselves we felt that the county ought to help us out. Now ■why? Clearly we felt that we were edu cating our boys and girls not alone for ■our own community but we were at the «ame time making our own neighbor hood and the entire county a better place to live in, therefore, the county as a whole ought to help pay for our schools. .So far, so good. 5tate>Wide Policies Then, the state governments took to ■having a look at our efforts and they found certain inequalities of educational privilege for the children, like poor houses, short terms, poorly prepared teachers, and the like. It was inevitable tliat this should be so for some districts and some counties were poorer than oth ers and were unable to do, perhaps, all tliey would have liked to do. Eealizing tliia and realizing that the best interests ■of the state at large demand as high an intellectual status of its people as possi ble the state has decreed that it will come in with its state funds and aid those com munities less, able to supply their own needs providing the folks there will them selves try to do a little more in a finan cial way. So there grows up the idea of co-operation between district, township, county and state in the effort to provide sufficient funds for universal education. But why were our state governments so greatly interested in the education of all the children? Did you ever stop to think how few of the boys and girls who are educated in any given community ever stay there and live out their lives in the town or community of their birth? The state realized this and it saw how these inequalities of educational privilege tend ed to spread poorly and partially educat ed citizens over the state. The commun ities which had become desirable because they had provided schools for their chil- -dreo were a center toward which the iin- edueated were drawn and what had been desirable localities because of the high intellectual status of their citizens became ■less and less desirable because of the in- iflux of the uneducated. The state real ized that it had a duty toward the more intelligent and better educated centers to ■protect them in their efforts to produce a worthy type of citizens. Therefore, it considered itself justified in giving finan cial encouragement on a co-operative .plan to the less able communities. In ’this way the state governments hoped to ha able to make all parts of their respec tive states desirable and attractive places of abode. Then-, too, the states looked upon the plan ef lielping to provide more adequate educational advantages as a good busi ness investment. As time went on it be came evident that as the cost of schools went up the cost of criminal prosecution went down and it was a good investment in terms of dollars and cents to aid an institution which would so manifestly help to reduce crime and at the same time produce a worthy type of young citizen who would contribute to state progress and welfare. Finally, in some of the states (among them North Carolina), the Bill of Rights declares that it is the right of all citizens to receive an education and therefore the state governments are in duty bound to protect the citizens in their rights; and if local communities will not or cannot give the children their rights to an education, it is the solemn and manifest duty of the state governments to secure these rights to the children. Our forefathers made it incumbent on us to provide adequately for the instruction of their children’s children. A Nation-Wide Policy So now our national government for much these same reasons is convinced that it, too, has a part to play in coop erating with the states and local com munities in helping to provide adequate opportunities for an education to all the children. For long years it has been a fixed policy that the national government should have no place in the manage ment of our public schools and should not contribute to their support and we have rigidly adhered to the policy. Of late years, however, nation-wide interests —like agriculture and highway building, for instance—have sought the aid of tiie federal government in several different ways and among these ways has been that of aiding in the education of agricul tural experts, dairymen, foresters, horti culturists, and the like. The great na tional government has gladly rendered such assistance as lay in its power to those interests seeking it. Now it has finally come to see how necessary it is that in other lines of educational endeavor it have a part and a voice. Realizing how much it can do and how sadly some sec tions of our great country need its aid it has awakened to the dawn of a new day and seeks a means of co-operating with state and local governments in their struggle against ignorance, illiteracy, alien populations, disease, poverty, and despair. The national government wishes to be an ally with the state and local gov ernments in their war against intellectual indifference. The Smith Education Bill With this idea in mind Senator Hoke Smith of Georgia has introduced into Congress-a bill intended to secure na tional co-operation in afl'airs of public ed ucation, the bill known as S. 4987. In brief, these are the provisions of the bill: 1. That Congress shall appropriate an nually the sum of one hundred million dollars as a federal fund for aiding the development of certain features in public education. 2. That seven and one-half millions of that fund shall be used foi* the elimin ation of illiteracy. 3. That seven and one-half millions shall be used for the Americanization of foreigners. 4. That fifty millions ha used to help in equalizing educational opportunities throughout the United States, particular ly in the village and country schools. 5. That twenty millihns be spent for health education and recreation. 6. That fifteen millions be spent to aid the several states the better to prepare teachers for the schools, particularly in the country. 7. That a United States Department of Education at Washington be created with its Secretary a member of the Presi dent’s Cabinet. 8. That any state in order to get any part of this federal fund for any one or more of these purposes must itself appro priate a like sum out of state funds for the same purpose or purposes. This is without doubt the most far sighted, far-reaching, and forward look ing bill that has ever been introduced into Congress in the interest of education. It recognizes a national duty toward the children of our nation. It places the em- THE FARMERS' VIEW Education is the basis of all prog- ress. ^ Rural education sets the solid stand ards of our citizenship and our patriot ism. It is here the ideals of American government find their bulwark. New and higher standards of citi zenship must be set up in our rural schools to meet the te.st of the new in ternational etliics that herald a new dawn for all humanity. Only as the rural citizen of the fu ture learns his true relationship to in dustry as a whole, to his own country, and to his fellowmen in other coun tries, can we hope for the solid up building of our rural life which is the mainstay of our civilization.—The Far mers’ Open Forum. phasis of educational ettbrt on the places most needing attention. It demonstrates the willingness of the national govern ment to co-operate with states and local communities'for pupil and citizen wel fare. It realizes that the diildren are “the hope of tlie world,” as Herman Hagedorn says, and it provides that the hope shall not end in hope alone but in a realization of the rich promise wtiich these boys and girls in our country schools give. i Our Share $2,578,000 Now you are asking about how much North Carolina will get under the pro visions of such a bill. For the elimina tion of illiteracy the annual income from the national fund would be $575,253. We would put in a like sum and that would give us a total fund with which to fight illiteracy, of $1,150,506 almost $4 for each illiterate. Perhaps you think we have no immi grants in North Carolina and so would get nothing on the score of Americaniz ing the foreigner. As a matter of fact we had in 1910 over 6,000 alien immi grants. That would give us a right to $3,381 from the federal fund. We would raise an equal amount and have a total, of $7,762 annually with which to help in educating the foreign born. To improve our public schools of less than college grade we could have $80.34 per teacher employed. We now have 14,550 teachers employed and so would get $1,168,947 fropi the federal fund as an equalizing fund. We would have to raise an equal amount and so qjir total equalizing fund for this purpose would be $3,337,894. Fortunately we have just recently voted a six-months’ school a- mendment to our constitution or we could not benefit under the provisions of this section of the bill, since to get any of this money a state must provide 24 weeks of school in each district, enforce an ade quate compulsory attendance law, and use only the English language of instruc tion in the common school branches. To aid in the effort toward teaching pupils and parents how to secure and maintain better physical health North Carolina would receive $479,867 each year. Double it and our total fund avail able for physical and health education would be close to a million dollars an nually. It seems strange that an agri cultural people should have to concern themselves about health for the country is the healthiest place in all the world. Wait a minute! Is it? Vital statistics do not prove that but rather the contra ry—the cities and towns have a lower mortality and sickness rate than do coun try districts. We do need education in the care of our health. Most of all we shall need more money to train teachers for elementary and high schools. From the federal fund we would receive $350,656, and we would add as much more to it giving a total of $701,- 300 every year for the express purpose of better preparing teachers for our country and small village schools. So far as North Carolina is concerned, therefore, we would receive from the fed eral government as a fund with which to carry on special types of educational en deavor a total of $2,578,103. To get this we would have to add a like sum from our state treasury, and the total availa ble fund with which to combat illiteracy, Americanize our immigrants, equalize educational opportunities, provide for physical and health education, and bet ter prepare our teachers, would amount to $5,156,206. AVhat an opportunity is here offered us to show how devoted we are to the cau.se of providing an equal educational opportunity for all the chil dren of all the people! After All, Why? But someone may ask why we ought to put forth any special efl’ort to attend to these matters. Are we not attending to them pretty well even now? Why raise all this fuss and feathers about these questions? The story of the illiterates in North Carolina has become altogether too fa miliar. AVe all know that the illiterate is neither an efl'ective citizen nor an in telligent soldier. The good citizen must be able to get for himself information about laws, about events, about national policies, and about the thousand and one things that make up successful living and not be obliged to take anyone’s say-so or accept anyone else’s opinion. The il literate cannot do this and we bad near ly 300,000 of them in this state in 1910. There can he no argument as to the ne cessity for us to give illiteracy immediate, extensive and concentrated attention. To be sure our immigrant problem is not a large one but it is of increasing im portance. The immigrant, the foreigner, who cannot read our language and think in our terms cannot catch the spirit of our great national ideals. He cannot be in truth one of us. There must always be the barrier of an unknown tongue be tween him and our Americanism. The foreigner can participate freely in our democratic government and that partici pation should be intelligent, self-direc tive, not the blind following of unscrup ulous partisan leaders. Moreover, our foreign-born ought to contribute some thing of value to our civilization and un less they are given training in our habits of thought and in our modeof expression, they will be unable to make such a con tribution. The immigrant, too, has a right td demand that we provide him with the tools of a godd citizen in a democ racy, and it is our duty to furnish such tools to him. The inequalities of educational oppor tunities throughout our country are no toriously familiar. Taxation systems dif fer, the amount of available wealth dif fers, the density of population varies, and so it goes. This special fund allotted for the purpose of lengthening terms, providing more teachers where necessary, effecting consolidation where feasible, etc., will be most valuable in helping us to meet the needs of our school chil dren. Under the first Selective Draft 29 per cent of the actual number of registrants examined by the Local Boards were re jected because of physical defects. "Very nearly one out of every three of our young men who ought to be in the pluk of condition are physically unfit to be soldiers! When we call to mind the deaths in this state from typhoid fever, tuberculosis and other perfectly prevent able diseases, we begin to realize how very necessary it is that our boys and girls be informed and well-informed about the care of their health. This is a na tional as well as a local loss, and there fore we must recognize the justice of fed eral co-operation in providing physical and health education. Does anyone need to have it proven that our public school teachers are not well-trained and well-prepared for their work? Out of 522,000 teachers in the public schools of the United States over 100,000 are nineteen years of age or less; more than 50,000 have had no education beyond the last year of elementary school. Over 100,000 teachers begin teaching each September for the first time and less than one-third of them have had so much as one day’s special preparation for their work. But why go on! We all know the old song and dance and we know on ly too well that the condition is a dis grace to a great, rich, prosperous coun try like ours. The situation is national in scope and importance. To administer these funds calls for judgment, discretion, knowledge, and ex ecutive ability. It ought to be carried on appropriately to the nation’s interest as well as to the welfare of the children concerned. It is a great national busi ness and ought to be carried on in a great national way. For that purpose the di rector of the plan ought to be a Cabinet Officer and the Bureau should become a Department on a par with AVar, Navy, Labor, Agriculture, and the like. It Has Been Said Fear is expressed in some quarters that such a bill if enacted into law would re sult in Prussianized education. How can it? Tlie administration of the funds, the methods by which the iliiterates are to be taught, or the immigrants are to be ed ucated, etc., are not specified in the bill, in fact are expressly left to the several states to administer. If management of schools by the individual states is Prus sianized education, then we have it al ready and need to change our whole pub lic school system from title page to index. Our national leaders of education see how unequal are the educational oppor tunities as now provided for in our sev- . eral states and with the sole thought of devising some just, fair and effective way by which the present inequalities may be adjusted they have drawn up this bill as introduced by Senator Smith. As the bill now stands there is no more danger of its Prussianizing our system of public schools than there is of Prussianizing our system of farming by the Federal Agri cultural Extension service and the Fed eral A'ocational Education Board. The fear that such a law would Prussianize our public schools is without foundation in fact; it is a clever bugaboo with which to frighten the timid and anaemic mind, but careful analysis will not reveal so much as a lurking trace of fact to sub stantiate the fear. But someone has said that Germany had a nationalized and centralized sys tem of schools and that she used the schools in such a way as to make Ger many a menace to the civilization of the world, and therefore, mind you, there fore a national system of schools for the United States will necessarily develop a menace to our civilization! Can you fol low that argument? It strikes us that there is a bit of unusual logic jn such a train of thinking. Isn’t such an argu ment about like this? The United States has a national system of currency and used it in such a way as to aid in the de feat of the German army, therefore, a na tional system of currency is always a menace to aU armies. Such an argument will not hold. The trouble is not with the national system of schools or of currency but with the end to which it is put and the method or methods by which the system is admin istered. It was not because Germany had a national system of schools tUat she became a world menace, but because she devoted that wonderfully fine machine to a base purpose. Now, therefore, there is always the chance that a fine instru ment may be put to wrong and selfish purposes—does it therefore prove the in strument to be wrong and bad? The an swer is too obvious. Where It Leads Even those who use this argument do not see where it leads them. For in stance, a brilliant Southern editor quotes Rev. W. J. McGlothlin on the German school system and arguing from his state ment concludes that a national system of education would be a menace. But he entirely overlooks the pulpit in Professor McGlothlin’s statement. Speaking of Germany, Professor McGlothlin says, ‘ ‘The highest pretensions and the most loathesome actions of the government have been justified and even glorified in lec ture-room and pulpit throughout the land.” The argument as set forth condemns a national system of education because Ger many had a national system and used it for a wrong purpose. But Germany also used her pulpits to justify and glorify her pretensions and loathesome actions. Does it therefore follow that the church is a menace to civilization? Is it the church and the school or the unworthy use of churches and schools that menaces civilization in Germany or any other country? , Do It Now Every last one of us who believes in the intent and purpose of this biU ought to sit down right now and send a letter to our Senators and Congressmen urging them to work and vote for its passage. Chambers of Commerce, Boards of Trade,. Manufacturers’ Associations and the like, ought to meet and memorialize our rep resentatives in the national Congress, urging them to stand by the bill. Every institution of learning, every organization in North Carolina which believes in chil dren and their welfare ought to proceed at once to inform onr national legislators as to where we stand. We must show our colors on this measure. It must nev er be said that our state, which has much to gain under its provisions, was luke warm in the matter. The voices of Wiley, Aycock, Mclver, Graham, call on us to render an accoimt of our stewardship as trustees of their legacy to North Carolina children.—-L. A. Williams, University School of Education.
The University of North Carolina News Letter (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Jan. 15, 1919, edition 1
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