The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1872-07-04
Education in Tennessee.

years OlQ ana over, (ChIneSe anC
. Indians excluded) is 364, ,668, oi
: whom 139, ,955 are between the ages
Of ten and tWenty-one years old and
over. Of adults, there are of white
: | males, 37,7l3; cOlord, 55,927; ag-
gregating 93,640 male adults who
, are unable to read and write, and
yet whose votes are as potential for
good or evil as those of the wisest
men in the State. The total vote
: cast at the last GubernatoriaI cleo
tion was I2O,479, and yet ignorance
had the power of casting 93,640 of
these. The bare statement of these
facts is alarming. 1t shows upon
what a precarious and unstable
foundation the highest interests of
our State rests.
There are 68,S25 white women in
the State who can neither read nor
write, and 63,249 cOlord, making in
all Of iiliterate women, 132,O73.
But it is for the children that we
feel the deepest solicitude. There
are 72,I89 white children between
the ages Of ten and twenty who can
neither read nor write, and 66,766
colored. 1t may be safely assumed
that large proportion of the white
children have been made orphans
by the results of the war Their
natural protectors have laid down
their lives in the defence, as they
honestly believed and felt, of the
rights of property. Shall property
now hesitate To educate these chill
dren and make them useful mem
bers of that society which the vaIor
of their fathers illustrated and de
Tended? Whatever may be said Of
others, these orphans, at least,
should be literally educated by the
property of the State.
There is another lamentable fact
deducible from the census of 1870.
| 1t is that while the white popula-
tiOn has increased but 13 per cent,
! the increase in the number of white
| illiterates has been so per cent. The
white population has increased
from 826, ,722 to 935,119. The num-
Der of illiterates among the adults
have increased from Il ia to 106,-
538. And this illiteracy is to-day
increasing in a greater ratio. Ten
years without schools, and the ne
cessity which has. compelled many
Of the white people to perform man
ual labor, have not served to itensi-
fv their desire for education. There
have been fewer good schools in the
rural districts during the last de
cade than was ever known in the
State in proportion to the popula-
tion.
The discouragements to every
branch of industry which the war |
Occasioned fell heaviest upon the
teachers vocation. And the policy |
pursued by the State has been, in !
the main, detrimental to the cause
of education. Public schools are
unpopular because they have been, |
with few exceptions, totally ineffi- |
cient. The constant changes which |
have been wrought in our school |
system by nearly every legislative |
body that has met, have created in |
the public mind a sense Of their in |
constancy, instability and inefficien-
cy. They have not only failed to |
supply a much felt necessity in ey-
cry community, but the parsimOni-
Gus appropriations have just been |
sufficient to interfere with, and, in a |
measure, break down all private en-
terprises. The amount distributed /
TO each county has been totally in
adequate to accomplish any good. /
The commissioners, in many cases, |
70 ,,oIiayro tI,ov,,salvvas oF opv- raoy,ov,
sibility, would employ q few peripa
tetic teachers wholly unfit, often
times, for the duties devOlving upon /
them, and suffer them to teach un-
til the funds were exhausted, when
the announcement would be made
that the schools would be suspend
ed until the following year. when
they would be resumed for one or
two months more.
And these have been the facilities
offered by the great State of Ten
nessee for the education of children.
The question arises whether these
facilities are to be improved, or
Whbther Tennessee is to remain sta
tionary while the sea of thought and
intelligence is whirling around her.
To do so will be TO attract within
her borders all the slime, and draf,
and offal that tester and float upon
the surface of society. Our work
ing men have less interest in the
matter than our men Of property.
They are not anchored to the soil.
Ii is an easy matter for them to fly
to other States that promise educa-
tional advantages. And there they
will go with their muscle and ener-
gy, seeking a home of fresher activ-
tiles and brighter prospects, unless
equal inducements are offered here.
The report of the Commissioner of
Education for the year 1871 will
show that all the States surround
ing Tennessee, with the exception
of North Carolina, are making ener-
getic and well-directed efforts to
build up good systems Of public in
structiOn. All those States have
able, energetic and thoroughly com
petent State SupeTintendents, who
are working with a will to infuse
new vitality in their educational
systems. The fact is clearly recog-
nized ''that education must under
line every permanent Improvement
in the State, whether material, So
cial or civil"
It may be well in this connection
to mention the Educational Bill
that has just passed the House of
of the Congress of
the United States. Whatever opin-
ions may be entertained as to the
abstract merits of the bill, should it
become a law, as it is almost certain
to do, Tennessee must take steps to
secure her share Of the distribution,
or to be taxed for the benefit of
others. If, as had been argued, the
Bill is only an artfuIly devised
scheme for imposing a new tax up
on the country in the name of edu-
cation, We certainly must accept the
situation, and provide for securing
our pro rata. This bill provides {
that the net proceeds Of the public !