The Big Stone post. (Big Stone Gap, Va.) 1890-1892, 1891-03-13
Friday, March 10, 1884,.
Secondary Schools In the soutt

thought; namely, that true education is no
cut and dried product, but series Of
stages or gradations in mental develop
ment. We refer to the fact that in the
earliest New England coast towns, as
Plymouth, Salem and Boston, at the very
beginning, from 1920 to 1880, provisions
we're made in each, not only for Cram
mar, but also for Latin school; and in
1888, eight years after the founding Of
Boston, came the founding Of Harvard Col
lege. This is division Of educational
work, of which subsequent progress has
shown the wisdom; and if it was true then,
how much more so is it true now, that no
town has laid broad enough the founda-
tions Of its educational training, which
has not provided for the secondary or
classical training, as we'll as for the
primary or English. Not every large GEN.
ter of population and commerce can ex-
pect to become also University center,
but certainly that city will always remain
needlessly narrow in one of the most i'm
portant lines, which has not made full pro-
vision for the second as well as the first
Of the three great divisions Of educational
work. Other things being equal, it is safe
to say, that in the race for the supremacy
among the new manufacturing centcrs of
the South, those will obtain the highest
and best all-round development, which
can offer to the incoming population the
finest facilities in the two grades ofschools
we have mentioned; the secondary or aca-
demic, as we'll as the primary.
The second university founded in this
country was William and Mary's, i'll the
State of Virginia, 1880. With the Uni
versity Of Virginia and some other colleges
of high grade, the South has kept pace
with educational progress in this, the
highest department; but if We examine
the status of secondary schools, the grade
next below the University and preparing
for it, We find very few that even approx
mate to the standard Of Philips Exeter,
Andover, st. -Paul's, Lawrenceville, and
others Of this grade, which might be
named. One explanation, probably, of the
deficiency in this department, is that in
many families in the South, up to recent
times, preparation for the University was
usually made by private tutoring, the
secondary education being confined to
comparatively small number. To meet
the demands Of new and progressive con-
ditions, there can be no doubt that there
must and will grow up at various ccnte rs
in the South, academies and preparatory
schools of the same grade and standard
with those we have mentioned, though it
must necessarily take years to arrive at
their celebrity.
The only and true test of u secondary
school or academy is that it fits pupils for
the successful continuance of their studies
in the higher departments Of the Univer-
sity or College. Institutions and
schools, attempting to finish Oh oduca-
tional training within three or four years
after the completion Of the primary
studies, and to produce perfectly accom-
plished graduates, are an anomaly and Il
dcluson; their results, where not entirely
futile, are often most pernicious, SO far
as the intellect is concerned. Wepropose
this test to those cognizant of the facts,
could the graduates of many so-called
colleges pass ithe entrance examinations
of the first universities of the country
The primary schools of the South have
undoubtedly made marked advance within
decade, the next point of development
must be in this secondary department, and
this must necessarily precede the best
results in the third or highest stage, for
the mind and mental things, as the ply
sical, are built up from below.
To make a local application Of these
general principles, we suggest the follow
ing question to those interested in the
best life and progress Of our town; why
should not secondary school this class,
with its standard as high as that Of the
oldest in the country, be established and
developed right here and now? The ad-
vantages Of the situation, no doubt, are
appreciated, The Importance ofthe present
time may be less obvious. With the con-
current development Of the mineral
wealth Of the section, and the rich
localities adjacent, with tho center
ing Of railroad lines at the Gap,
With the healthful mountain climate, the
picturesque scenery, and Che finest of
water, it would seem as though nature had
furnished sill things, useful and beautiful
for the building up of great school.
Bat this, after all, is but fraction of what
10 needed; there must be the application Of
human energy and capital, and most i'm
portant Of ell, perhaps, the sight opporta-
nifty must be seized. There is always
ROOM at the top, indeed, but it is not al.
ways equally easy or possible to reach the
summit.
In the rapid development of things
educational as we'll as commercial in the
South, the next few years are going to be
Of vast Importance, as setting the tide of
progress aud influencing it's direction
toward certain centers. Every year will