The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-02-14
WIN, kind of education :. Now Needed

What Kind OF Education ts NOW Neeueo
Not the least important OF the many momentous
questions arising out Of the new state OF things IN
which we now find ourselves placed, is that OF the
kind of instruction necessary for the rapid and
effective development Of our material resources:
In nothing will there have to be more marked
and radical change than in our system OF educa-
tion. The day Of Intelligent capital and ignorant
tLe common lot Of nll, and educated labor is the
necessity Of our condition. Our colleges and uni
versities can no longer be filed with the sons OF
wealthy landhoders, pursuing course OF classical
ury or as training for the contests and victories
of political ambition. But on the contrary the
education OF our youth must now be the capital
with Which they shall go forth in the fields Of agr
culture, mechanics and commerce, TO earn their
daily bread and regain their wasted estates.
We say that the youth of our State must be edu-
Gated to this work. for we wbs are now actively en-
gagged in clearing away the wreck OF the past can
expect. to do little else than prepare the way and
mark out the foundations for our future prosperity.
It will remain for those who succeed us on the tit
full stage Of life, to rear the superstucture and
herald the day, when our noble Old Common
wealth, having swept away every trace OF her pre-
sent desolations, shall arise with more than her
cial destinies OF continent. To accomplish this
end our youth must have practical education
The dead languages, metaphysics law, and pott-
cal economy, while desirable and In their proper
sphere beneficial, must no longer be the g, sole OF
raj Sciences together with their practical appcs-
tion to the great interests Of agriculture and me-
chanics, the principles OF commercial economy,
and the rules that govern trnde, must constitute
for the most part, the trimming OF the mind, while
is requisite to successful preparation FOR the great
work living before those who are soon to take our
places in the struggle for independence and infiu.
ence. Tho maxim that labor is honorable, must
1osl ,l1 hot~ ont
truth Which has no practical bearing, but our
children must be taught that not to labor is dis
honorable, and that how to labor can only be
learned by experience at the plow, the anvil and
the workbench. Whilst it is necessary that the
classes which are to direct and control the work OF
reconstruction the propretors Of the soil and the
owners of capital Ilst in future be educated ply
sically; it is equally as important that the class
which heretofore have only had physical training,
should now be mentally and morally instructed.
It matters not whether to the negro IS slave this
kind of knowledge was advantageous or otherwlsei
to him as freedman 1t ia absolutely essential If
we would develop in him useful and profitable
laborer.
labor will, We think hardly be denied, and that an
educated peasantry ia more desirable both socially
and politically, than an uneducated one, as equally
true. The questions then are, how and to Wnat
extent shall this class be taught To the latter
we answer to the highest extent practicable. We
confess that the light which experience throws up.
on the intellectual capacity OF the negro Is not
favorable to q high state OF cultivation. Ihls ls
especially true of him when freed from coercive
government He is by nature physically indolent
and slothful and seems to be pacitated for any
considerable amount of mental exertion: That DIS
tingushed traveller and discoverer, Albert Baker
(who, let it be borne in mind, belong, to the Exc,
ter Hall school Of emancipationists) speaking OF
Nthe negro, says that the negro grows physlcaHy
but dwarfs intellectually, so that his best days
Mentally are those OF his childhood, and that as
Ills physical development increases his moral and
! intellectual powers decrease. These observations
bf one who devoted several years to the study OF
Ptho African character in its native country, and
with mind predisposed TO judge favorably, nave
been amply confirmed by our own experience; still
the negro is capable of some intellectual training
and in just the proportion that these powers are
developed in just the same ratio viii hls
be increased. He may be taught to read and write
to enumerate-and he possesses the property o.
imitativeness, so that lie can acquire many OF the
skilled arts Teach him these, and you hnve made
the first and main step towards arouslng MN IRON
realize the moral, social and physical advantages
of cons tant, energetic effort, instead OF being
driven to unwilling labor by the pressure OF want
and hunger, and will then become 9 conservative
rather than destructive clement OF society,". Bul
how is this education to be given and by whom
| Not by those vagabond adyenturers, both male anc
female, who, incapable and indisposed to attempt
gaining sn honest livelihood at homo, flock as Dlrdf
! OF prey seeking carron, to OBTAIN q precaflous
subsistence, by pandericg to the worst appetites
and passions OF q degraded and seni-barbarouf
race, and who, having no motive other than per
sonal aggrandiZelnent or notorety, care nothIhe
for The interest or wefare of those for whom they
profess such deep devotion. That among those &c
called missionaries from the Northern States, who
arc sent under the auspices Of the Freedman's Bn
reau or come voluntarily, to devote their very val
liable time and intellect to the amelioration enc
Improvement of their beloved protege, the negro
there may be some honest, useful and harmless
ones We will not undertake to deny; unfortunately
however, We have not seen or heard OF any such
The only fruits that we have been able to discove
from tha. instruction of these puritanical hypo
critics, is increased dissatisfaction impudcnce ant
worthlessness on tho part Of those they came tx
improve, without even the poor compensation OF
knowledge of the alphabet or conception OF th
r11liments of Webster's Universal Yankee Spelhn!
Book. That this is not true in every instance, W
fain would hope, but there Gan be NO question q
to its being tho general rula, with, we fear, hard
the necessary exceptions to prove tho rule.
The influence then OF these would-be martyrs b
the caupe CT philanthropy being 30 deleterious
how shall we best sol about counteracting it II
this we reply, first, by teaching the freedmen il
our employment ourselves; and secondly, by ee
tablishing, whenever aud wherever practicable
schools for them under the supervision Of our ow
people.
Let every employer encourage the freedmen i
his service to learn and let him devote portio
Of his time to teaching them. We hayo still in
great measure the confde of our former slaves