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THE MAROON TIGER
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THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ATLANTA UNIVERSITY
IN MODERN EDUCATION
By Hugh Gloster, ’31
The twentieth century, more than any other era
in the history of the United States, is an epoch of
rapid and ceaseless change. The swiftly vacillating na
ture of contemporaneous American progress, both in so
ciety and in philosophy, naturally makes heavy demands
upon agencies of social control. Many of the chief or
ganizations dedicated to social guidance, however, have
not succeeded in keeping pace with the advancement
of current national life and, among these delinquent in
stitutions, the collegiate and professional schools, which
are necessary to the present and future well-being of any
forward-moving national group, are very outstanding.
It is generally agreed that most American agencies of
higher education have failed, firstly, to discover a tech
nique of adjusting and readjusting themselves continu
ally to a rapidly evolving society; and, secondly, to
develop aims, methods and courses of study that produce
individuals prepared both for present and future adult
life. Many schools, however, have been established
wherein marked variations from conventional practices
and purposes have been laid down to meet the new de
mands made upon education and, in this regard, it is
interesting to note that Atlanta University stands out as
an adventurous, and yet a telic endeavor to find means
of evolving educational practices capable of answering
the demands made by the complexity and intricacy of
contemporary society. Atlanta University, it may be well
to mention, is a graduate school with courses leading
to the degrees of Master of Arts and Master of Science;
it is affiliated with Morehouse College for men and Spel-
man College for women; it cooperates directly with Mor
ris Brown College and Clark University, which are
liberal arts colleges like the affiliated institutions, Gam
mon Theological Seminary and the Atlanta School of
Social Work.
The occasion of the affiliative and cooperative attach
ment of the aforementioned Atlanta institutions grew out
of a realization of the fact that such an arrangement
presented a way to escape both the centralization and
specialization tendencies in modern education. The feder
ated plan inaugurated by Atlanta University, therefore,
seeks, firstly, to procure the excellent qualities of the
larger institutions of higher education. In this era of
great business mergers, the federation of these schools
suggests unlimited possibilities. By combining resources,
the affiliated schools are enabled to abolish duplicate
courses, and to cooperate in the utilization of all fa
cilities. The plural educational system augmented by
the University seeks, secondly, to acquire the positive
effects of the small liberal arts college. Consequently,
the undergraduate colleges, although functioning in the
university plan, are able to keep their distinct individ
uality, to perform duties peculiar to themselves, and to
accept those students who are most able to carry the
special courses of study that they have to offer.
Atlanta University, besides being uniquely capable of
receiving the excellencies and avoiding the defects of
Side lights : I
l oth the centralization and specialization tendencies in
twentieth century education, also possesses ot^e" r-’va n
tages of which seven are especially prominent:—(1) it
is centrally located, geographically, in the Southeart-
ern part of the nation, both in regard to population and
college density; (2) it is economically accessible to
most students; (3) it possesses growing material re
sour e 3 and an improving faculty; (4) it can serve as
an agency for the establishment of better race and in
ternational relations; (5) it can be operated in such a
manner as to arrive at the best curricular practices that
may be developed on the basis of experimentation with
new and old educational ideas and procedures; (6) it
can function as an institution unhampered by political
direction and influence; and, (7) it can carry on the
practice which was most significant in the past history
of the affiliated and associated schools: the promotion
of scholarship and the supplying of intelligent leaders
to guide the people in this period of social fluctuation
and change.
ft has been shown, then, that Atlanta University af
fords an example of a very interesting experiment
in education. The schools in the Atlanta University
system today stand affiliated, growing, purposeful and
preparing to meet the exigencies of the nation, especially
of the expanding South. In spite of certain faults that
are characteristic of all organizations that are in a state
of transition, it seems that the excellent location, the
developing physical plants, the improving curricular and
extra-curricular practices, the forward-moving faculty,
and the increasingly better-selected and better-prepared
students will certainly justify the existence of Atlanta
University and its cooperating schools and will finally
result in their becoming most efficient, most effective
and most progressive in their endeavor to meet the de
mands thrust upon the schools of today by the social
and intellectual evolution of modern America.
ATLANTA UNIVERSITY AND AFFILIATES
RATED CLASS “A”
Fully Accredited by Southern Association oj Colleges—
Met All Association’s Standards
Atlanta, Ga., Dec.15—Atlanta University and its affili
ated colleges, Morehouse and Spelman, have just received
from the Southern Association of Colleges and Second
ary Schools a Class “A” rating, which puts them on a
scholastic parity with the best colleges of the land.
This rating was accorded at the recent meeting of the
Southern Association in New Orleans, on the basis of
a careful study of the equipment and work of these
schools made by a special committee of Southern edu
cators created for that purpose. It means that bache
lor degrees conferred by Morehouse and Spelman, and
the master’s degree conferred by Atlanta University will
receive the same credit for post-graduate work in higher
institutions as similar degree from Vanderbilt, Univer
sity of Virginia, or any other of the great institutions
in the Southern Associations.
Commission on Interracial Cooperation.