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Page TWO / ■ THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 1959 C \ PARENTS CAUGHT IN MIDDLE OF DEBATE Southern Pines North Carolina “In taking over The Pilot no changes are contemplated.' 'We will try to keep this a good paper. We will try to make a little money for all concerned. Wherever there seems to be an occasion to use our influence for the public good we will try to do it. And we will treat everybody alike.”—James Boyd, May 23, 1941. Trees Are Top Municipal Asset "Better Schools." the pub lication of the National Citi zens Council for Better Schools, recently reviewed the controversies and accom plishments of the past decade in education. Following is an' exerpt from this report: The preservation of trees was listed as an important municipal responsibility when a State College School of Design architect, Ed ward Waugh, spoke during the recent second annual conference on planning at the Institute of Government in Chapel Hill. We are pleas ed to note his remarks about trees, according to an Associated Press story about the meet ing, “struck a responsive chord sunong those present.” ' The n;any representatives of North Caro lina communities attending the conference heard the architect tell how to make their cities more attractive. “A continuing battle against those who seem determined to cut down trees” was high on the architect’s list of ways to make Tarheel towns more beauti ful. This is a tune that is well known to Pilot readers—for many years we have been urging care and respect for the fine trees in Southern Pines, both along the streets, on public prop erty, and on private grounds. This town’s rep utation for attractiveness is in large part due to its trees. It was brought out at the conference that a municipality’s trees are usually cut in the name of progress, to widen streets or to lo cate utilities such as power wires or water lines. While this is undoubtedly sometimes inevitable, it is usually a poor trade. And we have found, too, that with the exercise of a little imagination in planning, the destruction of trees in the nanje of progress is often not as inevitable or unavoidable is it is thought to be. ■/ Southern Pines is fortunate in having had, for many years, a considerable group of peo ple who were interested in making the town attractive and keeping it so. Some of these people who are still with us can remember back a half century or more when, if we can judge by old photographs, the town was bare and barren to an extent that \ve can now hardly imagine. We urge younger generations to hold fast to this tradition of municipal beautification, to preserve the trees we now have and to keep on planting trees for ^ the pleasure of generations to come. No Substitute For Personal Generosity \ oi 1^ 14-114*^ -* j • • . ... There is no substitute for personal interest and generosity in soothing the wounds caused by the slings and arrows of outrageous for tune. Though our complicated social system can no longer function efficiently without depart ments of public welfare and other tax-sup ported methods to give help of various kinds to those who need it, help beyond minimum needs must—and often does—come from pri vate sources, inspired by a great American tradition of sympathy with and generosity to the unfortunate. » This way of doing things comes down from a frontier life in which neighbors had to help each other or perish—no one man could go it alone. It has developed through the years into our great charitable foundations for mecUcal assistance and research, disaster relief and other functions. And every American commu nity, no matter how small, could cite unnum bered acts of personal kindness that often are not even generally known by the inhabitants. An extraordinary illustration of the fact that this spirit is alive and active in the Sand hills was the recent fish fry at Aberdeen when more than $1,000 was raised to build a special room for a paraplegic who is paralyzed from the chest down and who, unless this room; could be built as an addition to his home at Aberdeen, would be unable to leave the vet erans hospital where he has been a patient as a result of a crippling accident. He will now be able to join his wife and four children at home. Led by the Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Southern Pines, many other organizations, firms and individuals cooperated in making the fund-raising effort possible. It was a very heart-warming demonstration and a tribute to the conscience of the Sandhills community. Mississippi And ‘Outside’ Comment “Outside” criticism of Mississippi’s hand ling of the Mack Parker lynching case seems to drive editors in that state into a lather of fury. One editorial from a Mississippi paper, which came to our attention recently, took off in a vitriolic rebuttal featuring the unmitiga ted evil of New York City, a metropolis which the editorial said should be towed out into the Atlantic ocean and dropped thence (th^ mechanics of this are puzzling) into “the hot boiling bowels of hell.” If one were to judge by these editorials, the people of Mississippi are so violently resent ful of all “outside” discussion of their odd conception of justice that it is a wonder that all of them do not fall over in a stroke as did a 32-year-old suspect after being questioned by the FBI about the lynching. Common sense, however, tells, us that there must be some reac tion other than the unrelieved hysteria of the editor we quoted. Common sense also tells us that in a world of rapid communication and racial tension, it is folly indeed for the State of Mississippi to blandly defer grand jury consideration of the FBI’s collection of evidence until Novem ber, while the Communist propaganda mills grind out brochures on capitalist injustice and American racial intolerance—not to men tion, of course, truthful reports of the situa tion appearing in the press of all countries of the world. The truth, indeed, is damaging enough as it is. Can there be any other answer to such sit uations than federal lynching legislation that would enable FBI investigation without State invitation, quick indictments if sufficient evi dence were found and trial in a federal court? How can a state where a jailer—custodian of a prisoner in a community that is ripe for mob violence—walks out and leaves the cell keys lying on his desk, plead state’s rights and bitterly resent “outside” comment on its glaring failures to keep its house in order? ‘To Discover, Sfieak And Teach Truth’ The University of North Carolina could, in the terms of Herblock’s cartoon at the top of this page, most assuredly be listed as one of the U. S. institutions of higher learning where “people don’t show any respect for a witch doctorate any more.” The academic freedom policy statement adopted recently by the University trustees spells out in the most vigorous way the rights of faculty members in this realm that has been discussed so much but that, we feel, is not very well understood by the general pub lic. There is a great tradition of academic free dom at the University—a tradition which Dr. Frank Graham, the president for many years, fostered and nourished. Then, during the war came a loyalty oath (now abolished) for the faculty. Later, an atmosphere of hesitation and and caution influenced fSculty members 4uring the hysteria of the McCarthy years. It is gratifying now to find the University, by declaration of official policy, back on the solid, straight road. What is academic freedom? We quote from the University’s new code: his area of scholarly interest. “The University recognizes that in his role as citizen, as to matters outside the area of his scholarly interest, the faculty member has the right to enjoy the same freedoms as other citizens, without insti tutional censorship, or discipline, though he should avoid abuse of these freedoms. He should recognize that accuracy, forth rightness, and dignity benefit his assoc iation with the University and his position as a man of learning. He should not rep resent himself as a spokesman for University.” ' the “Academic freedom is the right of a faculty member to be responsibly engaged in efforts to discover, speak and teach truth. It is the policy of the University to maintain and encourage full freedom, within the law, of inquiry, discourse, teach ing, research, and publication and to pro tect any member of the academic staff against influences, from within or with out the University, which would restrict him in the exercise of these freedoms in All this is not remote from the world out side the University. The spirit of the new code is the spirit in which all persons of inquiring mind and responsible intelligence expect to be judged in a society that honors democracy and the Bill of Rights. Moreover, through its students and graduates, its extension courses and other avenues of influence, the University has a tremendous influence on the thinking— the “tone” of the intellectual outlook—of the whole state. The best test of our concern with academic freedom is to ask in what atmosphere we would prefer our young people to be taught. And this leads at once to the realization that a faculty operating in the atmosphere of the new code would almost certainly be better teachers: more relaxed, more provoking, more inspiring. That this same renewed concern with aca demic freedom, including definite accomplish ments toward that goal, is a nationwide trend, is something for which we can be thankful. The parent or other citizen was caught in the middle. He knew there was some basis for the criticism of America’s schools— as a student he had seen some of the defects with his own eyes. But when he looked for an inform ed interpretation and evaluation of the criticism he was disappoint ed. Educators, almost without ex ception, attacked the critical books—or more often their au thors — vigorously. They found numerous petty faults and some factual errors; they question ed the motives of the writers; but they gave far too little attention to the important arguments. IVhen the critical books were reviewed in the popular press, and by non-professionals, the evaluation was much more favor- f’ble. Often the reviewer shared the biases of the critic and gave him enthusiastic endorsement without a careful analysis of the charges made and without point ing out that the generalizations made were far too sweeping to provide a sound basis for com munity action. Over 2,000 Books More than two thousand books on education, other than text books, were published during the decade, and many were critical of the status quo in education. Educators cynically remarked that any writer could get rich by writing a book critical of the schools and of educators, and they attacked the authors as “write for pay” boys. But the fact was that the great majority of these two thousand books got little attention, sold few copies, and lost money for their publish ers. Probably not more than 25 or 30 had a respectable sale or received widespread critical at tention. Only two reached the best seller lists. One of these was Rudolph Flesch’s “Why Johnny Can’t Read,” which was the publishing sensation of the decade so far as books on education are concerned. Flesch charged that American children were not learning to read and that the fault lay almost en tirely in the neglect of the teach ing of phonics. His book was vig orously attacked in nearly all professional journals but was roundly praised in the popular press. It became the best seller on the Harper’s list for 1955. tional writing of the decade. Conant neither attacks nor de fends. He merely describes the best comprehensive high schools which he has seen and makes specific recommendations to other schools regarding steps they the best. It may be that this effort to work within the realm of the immediately practicable, while the immeditely practicable, while avoiding controversy, will turn out to be the best kind of educa tional statesmanship. The popular ity of “The Ameridan High School Today” seems to suggest that this is what readers are looking for at this moment in history. But the long-range problems of American education still face us: the problems of purpose, goals, and priorities; the problem of articulating our confusing assort- “It’s Getting So That People Don’t Show Any Respect For A Witch Doctorate Any More” •4^ A, . cotcecrcs' A,’ Xl t/. tihth u ^Hants^ Not Worrisome Now Vital Subject Its success was all the more remarkable because it did not deal with education in a broad sense but only with one method of teaching one subject. But the subject was the vital one of read ing and the popularity of the book made it clear that there was widespread dissatisfaction with the way reading was being taught. The only book on education on the best-seller list today is James B. Conant’s “The Ameri can High School Today.” The fact that a book of this kind is enjoying wide popularity is indi cative of the fact that the Ameri can people have grown weary of controversy and are looking for leadership which they feel they can trust. Conant’s approach is distinctly different from that found in the free-swinging critical attacks, and the counter-attacks defending the status quo, that have been char acteristic of much of the educa- Has been said that “all houses wherein men have lived and died are haunted houses”. . . Which could well be, and which reminds that in the space age, the tales of hants and haunted houses have been forgotten. . . Fact is, a good hant tale was passed on by word of mouth for generations untold, to scare the wits out of the youngsters, and to provide some meat for entertaining the brats in the days when one was sure he could contain one of the grim stories without being scared come nightfall. So somewhere along the way, those who were in the know about the hants and the houses they made untenable, have gone away without passing on the word. . . Used to be our colored friends, along with some of the white folks we knew, had , tales galore of the hanted houses, where folks couldn’t live without hearing the booming steps of the old master as he went about the place rattling a great chain, and mourning and groaning in his never-ending torment. The youngsters today, so far as we know, are not ever afraid of a church at night, when all is quiet, can maybe pass a graveyard on foot in the dead hours without whistling loud and clear to keep up waning juvenile courage. . . They have never heard our old colored friend. Aunt Addie Grimes, who still resides here, tell of the “old- woman with horns on her head”; they missed Venie Grimes’ tales of the goblins, and were never exposed to stories of the queer creatures who dwelt under footbridges and spirited the youngsters away to make hants out of them. A lad of today knows little of witches, and of the great hants of the abandoned houses and of the spots where folks had died in violence and of the bloody crea ture which carried its head un der its arm. . . And they’ve nev er. heard about the sheeted ghost which rises from a certain grave on moonlit nights. . . They said there was some doubt that the man was dead when they lowered the box. . . If they knew all these tales the kids would come home earlier, ’cause they’d be scared to stay out. . . And you can always tell a man who be lieves in the ghosts and the gob lins—he never says “haunt”. . Always han’t. . . and he’s the one who’s heard all the choicest tales from the shadowy realms of the departed spirits. —Rob Rivers in The Watauga Democrat ILOT L6ng-Range School Problems Unsolved Grains of Sand ment of educational levels and units into a workable whole' through which the student can move at his own best rate; and the problem of deciding which respon'sibilities should be accept ed by the school and which should be returned to the home or other social agencies. Musi Prepare The child born today will spend nearly half of his life in the 21st century; this is the era for which our schools must prepare. The educational leader of the .1960’s must look far into the future and plan an educational program con sistent with a vastly expanded technology, an exploding popu lation, and a ' tremendously in creased availability of leisure time which our people have not yet learned to use wisely. Aura Of “Say, If We Don’t Gel Started Pretty Soon Adventure (Weimar Jones in The Franklin Press) coNmi-l fAAr r J^Si£;Sr! In this space some weeks ago, I mentioned that we are not get ting our mail delivered at home, because I like to go to the post office for it. There’s an aura of adventure about watching your mail box as the mail is being put up; at any instant, a letter may be put in the box. And that letter may contain anything. Besides, and this is probably an even more compelling reason, from the time I was a boy in Franklin, the post office lobby has been a social gathering place, a sort of thoroughly democratic club, open to anybody. WeUj it seems I am not alone in that feeling. Since that piece appeared, many persons have re marked that they, too, look for ward to a trip to the post office. It was put most emphatically, though, the other day by Mrs. Frank L. Henry. “When I go to the post office,” she told me, “I never buy more than one or two stamps—so I’ll have an excuse to go again, next time I have a letter to mail.” Don't Mix Comes a release in the mail be ginning with this striking sen tence: “Cotton candy and gospel singing do "not mix.” Could you read that and not want to read further? At any rate, what follows, we thought, is obviously not a publicity handout from the sugar manufacturers. What it turned out to be was an ingenious plug for the State Singing Convention to be held “in the Singing Grove in the heart of Benson” June 27 and 28. The event is known to its partici pants and admirets as “the sing.” Seems that in the past (this is the 39th annual “sing”) cotton candy vendors have added what the directors of the event termed a “carnival atmosphere.” So they turned thumbs down on spun sugar this year. The publicity release also de tails another reason for the ban —a reason we suspect may have been more compelling than the question of atmosphere: “. . They had in previous years received complaints from ladies who sat down on the paper cones used to hold the cotton candy and there by stained their dresses. . Makes sense. Imagine getting a new dress for the sing and then sitting on a discarded cotton can dy cone. 'The Singing Grove would have no fury like a woman stained. . . Lilting Prose What. lilting prose we in this newspaper business receive in the mail unsolicited and mostly from companies who hope to get a free word or two on behalf of their products in the news columns! Here’s another example—and how would you like this to be the first piece of mail you open ed on Monday morning? “The American bride sweeps down the aisle with all the self- ■ satisfaction of a modern Diana returning from the hunt with a stag slung over her shoulder. . .” This treat comes from the pub lishers of an encyclopedia, and the release goes on to detail the history of wedding customs as re lated, of course, in this particular encyclopedia. The press release ends with a paragraph almost as dull and de pressing as the opening para graph was bright and bouncy: “The practice of buying a wife left a girl with fewer bruises. But it didn’t do much for her pride, especially when some African tribes thought she was worth one ox.” Terrible for us to be quoting such stuff in June, the month of brides, isn’t it? As if the brides caredI Here 1 Am Local boy, one of a group that was going on a picnic at 5 o’clock in the afternoon, misunderstood the time and showed up at the house where the ^roup was to rreet, at 5 o’clock in the morning. When he finally roused some one there, his greeting was: “This is a heck of a time to start on a picnic, but here I am.” The reply was not recorded. Three Per Cent Joke we like that’s been going around town: A young man who flunked a college mathematics course left school, apparently destined for business failure because of his complete inability to handle fig- Some years later, getting out of his custom-built Cadillac in an other city, the young man hap pened to meet his old math pro fessor who asked his former pu pil how he was doing. “Fine, professor, fine,” the ex student replied. “I made $250,000 last year. My company 'manufac tures a plastic article that’s need ed in every kitchen in the nation. It costs $1 to make and we sell it for $4—and professor, let me tell you, it’s wonderful how that three per cent mounts up!” The PILOT Published Every Thursday by THE PILOT, Incorporated Southern Pines, North Carolina 1941—JAMES BOYD—1944 Katharine Boyd Editor C. Benedict Associate Editor Vance Derby News Editor Dan S. Ray Gen. Mgr. C. G. Council Advertising Mary Scott Newton Business Bessie Cameron Smith Society Composing Room Dixie B. Ray, Michael Valen, Jas per Swearingen, Thomas Mattocks and James C. Morris. Subscription Rates: One Year $4. 6 mos. $2. 3 mos. $1 Entered at the Postoffice at South ern Pines, N. C., as second class mail matter. Member National Editorial Assn, and N. C. Press Assn.
The Pilot (Southern Pines, N.C.)
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June 18, 1959, edition 1
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