The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-07-07
Education in south Carolina.

Education I'm South Carolina.
Sources of knowledge as to the condition
of South Carolina are multiplying, and it
will not be long before the people of the
North will be thoroughly awake to the con-
dition of affairs in the Palmetto State, and
throw their Influence through every legal
channel to its assistance.
The evils brought upon South Carolina
under the creatures of the present admins
tration are numerous, and their effects are
so extensive that it will be necessary to take
up for consideration ole abuse at a time.
The ignorance of the ruling class affecting
the schools of the state is matter worthy Of
the most serious consideration.
There is no maxim better established than
this, that the stability of a government based
upon universal Suffrage depends on the edu.
cation of the people. A certain amount of
intelligence is absolutely necessary to the
safe uss of the franchise. The standard of
information need not be very high, nor is it
essential that every citizen should come up
to it. But society. as whole, can not fall
below certain average. To make good citl-
essary; yet both may prove of no avail if
intelligence be wanting. In South Carolina,
granting TO the great mass of voters, white
aud black, the best intentions, and there re-
mains this fatal defect of ignorance among
them. The state, as whole, is far below
the sea level of education which universal
suffrage requires. The result has been that
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officers, hoodwinked in regard to the
transaction of public business, and de-
barred from any possible enlightenment
by means of newspaper exposures.
The remedy against such a state of
things suggests itself at once. Let vigor-
Gus system of free schools be put into opera
ton to countsract and dispel the general ig
norance. Ifsuch system could be estab-
lished and properly carried on in such a
state of society, there is no doubt but that all
anxiety in regard to the future of South
Carolina might be dismissed, and the people
of the country could settle down quietly to
wait for the coming of a new generation.
The horizon of dishonesty and imbecility
would not be indefinitely extended. The
difficulty is that under a government con-
stituted of hopelessly ignorant voters
and administered by dangerously edu-
Gated rsscals, there is no chance
for the development of any system which
shall tend to the public good. The nature
of evil is to beget evil and where railroads
are paid for and never built, where state
lands are located in swamps, where levees
are left PROSTATE while the funds that should
have been applied to the general good are di-
vided among scoundrels in office-where all
these interests of the commonwealth suffer,
it is idle to hope that the school system will
be administered with scrupulous fidelity
deed, in such cases, the men in
power soon recognize education as their
natural enemy and aim at its destruction.
This has been so in South Carolina. II is
the boast of Governor Moses that none of
his constituents can read, and that conse-
quently, he is sure of reelection, and there is
a mournful probability, that should his rule
continue, education will decay side by side
with the other less sacred interests Of the
commonwealth.
The disposition of the negroes in the Pal
metro State is described as one characterized
by sort of avidity for learning-an
actual greediness for knowledge. This
eagerness for improvement extends
to young and old alike and
is accompanied by remarkable aptitude
for requirement. At the same time the ed
ueated white people of the state are disposed
to encourage and aid the negroes in their
education. So much has been said OF New
England school teachers in the South that 1t
istsker for granted that the whole education
al work of this section is in their hands. The
fact of the matter is that out of 1855 white
teachers in South Carolina only 50 are from
the North and the most effective work is
said to be done by Southerners. Indeed,
: t would be natural to expect as much, since
no strangers could easily acquire that mast
cry of unusual circumstances and customs
which would be necessary to success. This
disposition on all hands towards education
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