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< The Unit Basis For Educational Degree M
"No degree should be offered by
state educational institutions upon
less than a 14-unit basis of entrance.”
says Professor Joseph S. Stewart, in
his report to the chancellor and faculty
of the University of Georgia, just com
pleted. Mr. Stdwart, professor of sec
ondary education at the university. Is
also chairman of the commission on
accredited schools, a part of the as
sociation of colleges and preparatory
schools of the Southern states, and Is
considered an authority on his sub
ject.
Mr. Stewart, in his report, discusses
the growing tendency toward more rig
id enforcement of the rules governing
entrance to colleges and universities.
He says that entering the sophomore
class from the high schools is almost
a thing of the past, and the claims of
schools offering to prepare for the
sophomore class at the university
should be carefully examined.
Agricultural Schoo! for Negroes.
An agricultural school for negroes is
urged in the report. Professors Smith
saying:
"It seems te me that these schools
have demonstrated their usefulness to
the white youth of the state who seek
vocational training. The time has come
when in fairness to the negroes •of the
state the genera! assembly should at
the coming session offer on similar
terms as was made to the white citi
zens, at least one such school, to state
to maintain it, when the most suitable
location and bid has been accepted by
the board.
“W e are giving SIIO,OOO a year to the
training of white youth in agriculture
and domestic science. We claim that
these are pre-eminently the vocation of
the negro. Why then, in all fairness,
should not the state offer the negroes
Th? Nations Progress Ih Half a Century
By ROBERT J. LOWRY, President Lowry National Bank, Atlanta, Ga.
It must be acknowledged by the just
everywhere that the United States has
made giant strides in prosecution of
every class of ingenious industry, and
that the progress of this nation in the
past half century finds no equal among
the other nations of the world.
This is unquestionably due to the
schools, the press, the platform, the pul
pit and other forms of public educa
tion, which have served to enlighten
our people, and awaken them to their
possibilities and opportunities. Prob
ably the greatest of these agencies, and
certainly the one leaving the most last
ing impression, is the school, because
the mind of a child and an adolescent
is impressionable, and is eager in its
pursuit of knowledge.
Trained minds are the motive power
behind the growth of any common
wealth. The old saying that “There's
more in the man than there is in the
land” is strictly true, provided that man
has been trained' from his youth up
and made to appreciate all the , oppor
tunities which environ him. During
the last half century this nation has
become aroused upon the subject of
education of the masses.
Educational Agencies Alive.
The appalling percentage of illiter
acy, and the incubus that this condi
tion would continue to be upon our
national civilization, dawned upon the
thinking people of our country, and the
result has been that every educational
agency has bent itself to the effort to
eradicate illiteracy and build a nation
of enlightened men and women.
The education of the young men and
young women has been so fostered and
encouraged as that it is well nigh a
disgrace to a parent to allow his chil
dren to grow up in ignorance, and not
take advantage of the splendid school
facilities of the day. In some states
even this sentiment has so engrossed
the citizens that compulsory education
laws have been passed, and a parent
becomes an outlaw who allows these
opportunities to pass by unnoticed, and
he is forced by law to educate his chil
dren.
To one who a half century or more
ago attended school in a clap-boarded
THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN, SATURDAY. JULY 6, 1912.
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:|KEgSHEI'
DR. J. S. STEWART,
Professor of Secondary Education of
University of Georgia, Athens, Ga.
of the state an opportunity to found
one such school located near the center
shanty with rough-hewn boards for
desks, the present splendid equipment
of our modern graded schools, high
schools and colleges seems little short
of a wonder. About, one-fifth to one
fourth of the population, of our coun
try are now engaged directly or indi
rectly in business relating to the educa -
tion of our people.
Fortunes Invested in Schools.
The books alone used by the masses
in the pursuit of education cost many
millions of dollars annually, to say
nothing of’all the apparatus and sup
plies used in our schools, which amount
possible to»many millions more. For
tunes are invested in school property,
colleges school houses, lands, endow
ments and the like, and if the business
investment of the United States in edu
cational equipment could be summed
up it would reach proportions absolute
ly gigantic. Thousands and tens o’
thousand of earnest, enthusiastic, con
secrated teachers are training the
minds of young Americans to appre
ciate their golden opportunities and
their tremerdous responsibilties.
We recognize in the young men of
today the hope of a future splendid
progress. They will represent the lead
ing part of the great and glorious fu
ture of our great country. Therefore
not only from personal interest, but
from the interest of their fellows, they
must be prepared to faithfully perform
the work of the future with ability and
proficiency.
The time has come in this country,
when the simple literary education,
while very necessary, is not sufficient
to equip a man for the discharge of the
duties of life. It is a day of specializ
ing, it is a day of demand for expert
service in all lines of endeavor; it is
a day of activity, industrially and com
mercially; it is a day of demand for
brains and ability. The schools are
meeting this demand in that pupils are
urged to equip themselves with the
groundwork of a good literary educa
tion. and then specialize in schoolastic
work along lines, which will equip
them for special work in after life.
It is in this way that we can in fu
ture expect the best of service In
all lines, and develop the best there Is
in our people, making the most of their
talents and their opportunities.
Education Is a Necessity.
Education has long since ceased to
of the state? I hope the trustees will
consider this matter.
Amendment to Constitution.
“The amendment to the constitution
in 1910 permitting high school support
in local tax counties and districts is
already showing its effect in the or
ganization and increasing number of
high schools. These need to be brought
into some system by a prescribed
course of study, with election in a few
studies each year; some standards ip
qualification of teachers and regulations
as to number of teachers in a school
having high school grades. We still
have too many teachers in one and two
teacher school-who are forced to teach
all the common school grades, and pos
sibly a half dozen scholars in high
school subjects.”
The amendment to the constitution,
article 8, section 1, striking out the
phrase, "elements of English educa
tion only" in defining .what shall be
taught in public schools, which passed
the last general assembly and will be
submitted in October, will not obviate
tile most serious difficulty to the in
crease of high school facilities in rural
communities as article 7. section 1, of
the constitution still remains in force.
This last section states that the state
school funds can be used for instruc
tion “In the elements of an English
education only."
Therefore, if the amendment now to
be submitted is to be of any force, if
passed, the restriction in article 7 lim
iting the use of state funds should
be amended at the coming session of
the general assembly, so that it may
be submitted to the people at the same
time as the amendment of article 8.
The amendment to article 7, section 1,
was defeated in the house in 1910 by
only fourteen votes, and I believe this
was due to a misunderstanding as to
BMP *
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SB
COLONEL ROBERT J. LOWRY,
President Lowry National Bank, At
lanta. Ga.
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be an accomplishment; it is not a lux
ury, within the reach only of a chosen
few. It is a common every day neces
sity. and the young man or woman,
who does not equip himself or herself
with an education commensurate with
the demands of the times, not only falls
short of the mental development, of
which he or she is capable, but is
greatly handicapped in after life, and
the struggle is uphill and unequal.
Neglect along this line is therefore not
only short-sighted, but works a great
hardship, which is uncalled-for and un
necessary.
Technical and manual training in
connection with literary training I
what was meant.
By the adoption of the three amend
ments removing the same restriction
wherever it occurs in the constitution,
the state will be in a position to de
velop a system of public schools on a
parity with that of all the other states.
For It must be remembered that Geor
gia is the only state tha has such a
resriction against high schools. All
the other’states can develop common
and high schools as needed and aid
them from the state funds.
Last November the Association of
Colleges and Preparatory Schools of
the Southern States created a commis
sion on accredited schools, consisting
of the professor of secondary educa
tion in each Southern state and one
other member from each state. This
commission organized in Nashville last
April by electing your professor of sec
ondary education chairman of the
commission. Dr. B, E. Young, of Van
derbilt, was elected secretary. This
commission will prepare during the
coming year a list composed of the
best four-year high schools in each
Southern state.
It will also prepare uniform blanks
for reports from the schools and cer
tificates for admission to college. Each
college in the South will report in
February the standing of ’students
coming from institutions in each state.
In this way we hope to unify the high
School and college entrance standards
throughout the South, making it easy
for pupils to pass from lower to high
institutions.
Arrangements are now under way
for the Southern commission to ex
change accredited lists with the North
Central Association and with the East
ern Association, and the result will be
that in another year a high school
finding a place on the Southern list
will have a national rating.
think is an ideal form of pedagogy. To
teach the hand to be skillful under the
direction of a trained mind" seems to
me the acme of educational accom
plishment. We have been backward in
the South in a proper appreciation of
manual training and technical educa
tion. but fortunately the establishment
of mills, plants, and factories all over
the Southern states has been the
means of an awakening along this line.
To teach our young men the ad-
of skilled workmanship; to
teach them mechanics, engineering,
and physics; to teach the young women
domestic science, nursing, and clerical
office work; in addition to the usual
literary branches, is the work of the
schools, and the fact that they are
proceeding on this line makes one feel
that this effective- practical work will
tell in future proficiency, when they
leave the school house and take up
their vocations.
Aid Given Government.
Gratitude is due to the United States
government for the many ways in
which it seeks to educate its people.
Its experts are out among the people
carrying on demonstrations along lines
of endeavor, farming, dairying, fighting
of pests, propagation of live stock, hos
pital work, military encampments, fish
eries, dispensing free seed to farmers,
and by its rural free delivery carrying
the mail and news to the very door of
the most obscure backwoods home. Al!
this is a hopeful sigh of the times; it
shows the demand for -education and
enlightenment.
The great motive power of any people
is their intelligence. If you educate a
people, who naturally have an invent
ive turn of mind, it only takes them a
short time to apply their education to
the advancement of industry and the
liberal arts. The government, know
ing this, pursues its policy of demon
stration and education, and it has had
a telling effect in the records of the
patent office, and the appearance of our
farms and homes has so changed that
one would scarcely recall conditions of
a half century ago.
It is the sincere trust of every pa
triot that preceptors tn our schools may
guide aright the minds and tendencies
of the young so as to make strong
minded men and noble women of our
coming generations.
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