St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1889-08-10
EDUCATION.
! TEE USE OF THE PRESS - EDUCATIONAL
| EVANGELIST, ETC.

! TEE USE OF THE PRESS - EDUCATIONAL
EVANGELIST, ETC.
Prof. R. N. Roark, in his inaugural ad
| dress as president of the State Teachers
Association of Kentucky, said the use of
the press has never been, and is not yet,
as frequent or widespread as it should be.
There is no other means of keeping our
work constantly before the people or so
effective as the use of the press, and es-
! pecially the country press.
Cur district meetings, while powerful
In their influence upon teachers, Yet have
very little direct influence upon the non
| teaching population, because very few
| who are not teachers attend them But
the village or county paper is read by the
| very citizens whose interest we must Sc
| cure, whose influence should be won to
| our side.
eve cannot too highly commend those
county superintendent who have faith
fully used their home papers to spread be
fore their people an account of the work
| of the schools among them.
''Let superintendents do this every
where, perostentlv, carefully, week after
week, and people will soon begin to think
And you, teachers, you write write what
you feel about your work, what your work
is accomplishing, and send it to your dis
trict editor, or to your home paper. Let
US press this line of operation vlgor ousIy
this coming year"
Prof. Roark advocates strongly more
local effort to enlighten the people as to
the value and necessity of better public
school system. In fact, he suggests, we
think with great wisdom, that as this
problem of public education in the South
is peculiar, sort of an evangelist is
needed, who is to the ''manor born, "to
hold few genuine old fashioned Method
ist educational revivals" We led to be
converted. as teachers and people Con
verified from the idea that the "comm on
schools are for the poor, and that they
are charitable institutions ;" that the
money spent on them is nearly so much
wasted that only the hard up" and the
incompetent will teach them in short.
that they are not respectable. We need
to be converted to the knowledge of what
the American public school means to
faith in its work and possibilities to the
doctrine of "local taxation for it's better
ment; to the consciousness that it is false
pride and false patriotism which would
reject help for these schools, from either
State or Nation.
at Nashville, not with view. as Prof
Roark says, to supercede or antagonize at
all, the grand work of the National Edu-
cational Association-but as there are
peculiar difficulties at the South, social
and political, and several other factors in
our Educational problems, which, in the |
nature of things, the National Association
cannot deal with, he proposes Southern |
Educational Association, which shall, in all |
respects, be supplementary to the work |
done by the National Association, and Sc |
curing results entirely out of reach of the |
latter Such an organization has, at vari- |
GUS times, been proposed by various South |
ern educators, and in every case has receiv-
ed commentator and generally very strong
endorsement. Lack of opportunity, alone
seems to have prevented the execution of |
the idea
An Educational Evangelist.
If such q man can be secured-and he
certainly can be-and properly compen-
stated for his work, an incalculable good
would be wrought. A man who has had
experience in all grades and conditions of
schools: who knows and feels the South's
peculiar difficulties and needs; who can
arouse enthusiasm and break down preiu-
dice by sympathetic argument who is, in
short, type in himself of the New South,
and visit not only the larger towns, but
the smaller places and even the country
districts from the Ohio to the Cuff, and
with vim and purpose spread the gospel of
education, for both sexes and
colors Let his work be to:
~ Arouse the people to the value of
common schools; and ~ whole commun-
tiles to the necessity of local taxation to
supplement State aid and National aid
There is Dot only call for action, but an
immediate pressing need for this service.