The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-09-07
Errors as to Relative Education,

| Errors as 10 Relative EducaJloh-
Newspapers and politicians in the eastern
| states have long been accustomed TO super
cillonsly sheer at the alleged ignorance
which they claimed has prevailed in those
! American states which are popularly IN
cIuded in one group that has always been
commonly denominatei "the south" for
purposes of partisan politics before and
since the late civil war, while they con-
stantly Wanted the complacently arrogated
superiority Of their own educational insti-
buttons aad intellectual development.
But a cursory glance at the facts which
careful recourse to the actual figures
bring forth from the educational statistics
of the country shows that the prevailing
impression that has been so ssdulously dis
semiuated was egregiously fallacious. In
fact q recent report from Trustee J. l. NJ.
Curry, of the Peabody auxiliary educa-
tionsI fund, clearly proves the real intel
lectual condition Of the country. both prior
and subsequent TO the conflict of arms, to be
almost the reverse Of the commonly accepted
theory.
Few men are more thoroughly conversant
with all phases of educational topics than
DIR. Curry, who is generally recognized as
man of unusually high intellectual attain
meuts and whose thoughtful life study Of
the subject entities him to be considered an
authority.
In the course of his latest report the
doctor states that much misrepresentation
and ignorance exists among cultivated
people in reference to the status of educa-
tion in the south before the war. Acade.
mics and colleges abounded. By the census
of 1860 the population of the north was
about 1900, 900, and Of the south about
| S,00o,0O0 one-third of whom were
slaves. At this time the north
had POS colleges, 1407 professors
and 90, 044 students, while the south had 260
colleges, l Ass professors and 27,055 stu
dents. Dr. Ruffner, in his report as state
SUPERINTENDENT Of education in 1872, said
that Virginia, considering the white popu-
lation only, had larger proportion of her
sons in superior Institutions of learning
probably than any state pr country in the
world. and including the negro population,
she was first on this continent, and second
only to Scotland among all nations"
Continuing, he says that 1.-The University
| of Virginia, in ante-bellum days, had
higher standard for the degree of master of
arts than any other institution in the
United States"
And lie adds that "all the states north
and south should hang their heads in shame
for their criminal neglect of the higher edu
cation of women-for the grossest injustice
in discriminating against the weaker sex.
But to Georgia, I believe. in her charter
of the Georgia Female College, in 1886, is
due the holor-no small one-of being the
first civilized state in the world to incor-
porate an institution with power to confer
baccalaureate degrees on women"
Beside these tangible evidences Of a fair
degree of intelligence it is weh-known
fact that many of the most learned pre-
ceptors who contribute their quota to estab
lish the putative intellectual pre~eminence
of Massachusetts and Connecticut are ma
tives of Virginia and Of Georgia. Pretty
much the same may be said of the more
distinguished of the literary celebrities who
have for various prudential reasons taken
up their abode in the large moneyed martS OF
commerce.