The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1890-08-28
school Book Adoption.--A Sug-
gestiOn.

gestiOn.
The merit of the books should be
the first consideration. We should
not be too conservative as to making
changes. That q book has been iu
the schools for several decades is not
q sufficient reason for its retention.
1t is rather a presumption that the
book has been unimprOved and with
out material revision for many years.
Under the liberal terms that publish
crs will grant for introduction or
exchange, the opportunity should bc
embraced for supplanting dull and
anteachable books by the freshest,
best graded, most instructive, and the
most accurate books to be had-bOOks
embodying aud exemplifying the adj
vanced theories and the improved
methods of the "new education"
And we want the best books for tire
least money; remembering that the
cheapest Is not always the lowest or
least in price. As to che political
bearings Biographies and histOries),
they should do even-handed justice
to all sections of our common cOun-
try. Our children and the rising gen.
Grafton of negroes should not he
taught that the Old South was a po-
litical pandemonium, that slave-hOld-
ers were the children of the devil,
that the war between the States was
wicked rebellion, and that the Pres
ident of the Confederacy, and all its
famous generals deserved the hang
mans rope. But the truth as to the
difference between Northern and
Southern statesmen on great Consti-
tutiOnal questions should be inculcat
ed, and the honesty of the masses on
both sides should be freely conced-
ed.
Other things being equal, the indie
pendent publishers should be encOur-
aged, and monopolies that would alb
sorb the entire school book trade,
should receive no favors. A great
trust would destroy competition and
then rob the masses to enrich its
stockholders. If once we permit the
trust to get possession of the trade
in the State, Mississippi, like some
other States, would be driven into the
school book publishing business, in
order to free herself from the clutches
of the trust. Educators and friends
of education should resist the trust in
school books with as much zeal and
vigOr as our Alliances manifest in
their opposition to the Bagging Trust.
To make Il corner on education is q
graver crime than to corner on wheat;
for the latter speculates on food for
the body while the former would spec
ulate on food for the intellect and
soul. AS Il monopoly in control of the
at-markets of the world would feed
the people on tainted and diseased
meat, so monopoly of the school
book trade would feed the youth of
the land on inferior and tainted liter
allure.
We should not discard book in
popular use, if the cost of the change
is too great. To illustrate, ifa geogra-
ply or reader now largely in use,
nearly answers the purpose, it would
be wrong to change such book now;
and indeed it is the opinion of the
writer that the great object aimed at
in adopting school books for the next
five years is more to have q uniform
series (books alike) than an improved
method.
Finally, would it not be wise to
make as few changes as possible
Let our book committee ponder well
this question before we meet again
on Saturday, the 9th day of Septem-
Der next.
J. NJ. G.
Little Bahala. Aug. %, 1890.