The Big Stone post. (Big Stone Gap, Va.) 1890-1892, 1890-12-19
Friday, December 10, 1890.
The Peabody Educational Fund.

The Peabody Educational Fund.
The increasing power and attention
that have been given to educational inter-
to the great industrial awakening and cx-
pansion now in progress. in something
more than coincidence of time. Whatever
the share advancing knowledge has had
in this material development, there GER
tainly must follow from it large and ben
efcial effects upon the methods and ex-
tent of experimentation.
Asa significant sign of our times and
situation, tho recent transactions OF the
trustees of the Peabody educational fund,
and especially the report of the general
agent, Hon. j. L. NJ Curry, command the
thoughtful! consideration of all interested
not only in the present, but also in the
future of the new South. The Peabody
educational fund, amounting now to about
$2,O75, 0G0, was established over quarter
century ago by the philanthropist, George
Peabody, for advancing throughout the
South, the great work, which he preem-
inently loved. It's income is disbursed
among the Southern states from Virginia
to Texas, chiefly for the development of
more efficient teachers, through the
support of normal schools in the various
states and the maintenance OF scholarships
therein. A part of the fund is also given
directly to the public schools in contribu-
lions toward the support Of free schools
in needy districts.
The report Of DR.. Curry for the past
year presents most suggestive and broad
survey of the whole field, supplemented
by reports from the state superintendent
of instruction in Louisiana. South Caro-
lima, North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia,
West Virginia, Texas, Virginia and Ar
kansas.
DR. Curry calls attention othc increased
enthusiasm for education, especially in
those sections where financial progress
has been marked The revala ton OF nn-
told mineral! wealth has directed thouhgt
to the even richer treasures OF the
mind, 400 - -
AS an evidence Of this increased inter-
est, it may be cited that after DR.. Curry's
address to the last Legislature of Alabama,
that BODY increased its annual approprl-.
alton for public instruction by $loo,O0o.
His address also before the legislature OF
Louisiana is powerful appeal, combining
The rare qualities of scientific accuracy,
wide-scholarshlp and reflection, with elo-.
auent enthusiasm. 1t is hard to conceive
of the case for the imperative necessity
of universal education being more broadly
and conyincingly put.
From the study of this report it is evil
dent that the influences of this great
fund reach out far beyond the bounds of
it's immediate benefactons. In elcvating
not only the methods but also the acquire
ments and character of the public school
teachers, it confers benefit OF untold
Importance, for the first all-embracinS
influence in educational work must al
ways be the personal one. As a great
university is in the truest sense consti-
ted by its body of great teachers, so down
to the lowest grade of the primary school
it is the personality Of the instructor that
chiefly determines the character of the
work. Noteworthy among the influences
that are raising the tone and personnel OF
the teachers profession in the South, are
the Peabody Normal College, at Nashville,
Tenn, and the Peabody Teachers Insti-
tutes in most Southern States. Another
strong feature of the Peabody work is
that it touches our educational life at its
foundaton-the free public school sys-
tenn and the primary schools. While here
and there by individual. conscientiousness
q high idealan standard may he MAIN
tanned in the private schools, where the
free schools are very faulty, yet no reli-
ance can be placed onrthc thoroughness Of
q system not intimately responsible to the
people, when remote from competition. In
New England, where the free system has
reached it's highest development in this
country the private schools must be kept at
o high pitch ora saison d etre in them is
soon found to be wanting. 1t can hardly be
doubted that the same high standard OF
public schouls is necessary for the general
educational life Of the South, and the
necessity interests the rich as we'll as the
moor. Likewise the character of the pri-
mary schools, dealing with the elements,
and largely shaping the susceptibility and
tone of the pupils mind, touches vitality
the effectiveness OF the whole educational
system. The Importance of the secondary
schools can hardly be overstated, but in
the South comparatively few ever reach
them. Even then if the primary sys-
ten, ia defective, its errors will he per-
petuated, and habits Of inaccurate thinking
and observations with general superfciality,
confirmed. When the process of unlearn-
ing is seriously attempted. the best results
can never atone for the loss of time and
native force, So in directing its main
energies to the fountainhead the man
asemcnt of the Peabody fund is display
ing its thorough knowledge of the field
and its needs. These brief indications of
some lines along which this great work is