Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1895-06-27
EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS IN
THE SOUTH.
AsHEvILLE, n. G. June q

read with much interest the art
icle entitled "Advice from New
England" and agree heartily
with the sentiments there ex-
pressed concerning schools IN
the South, except that the tone
indicates that the intellectual
awakening is not keeping pace
with the material development.
This, I am convinced, is an error
and it can easily be proven so by
the records, which + familiar
to all educational leaders Who
hay kept pace with our history
since the war. No one asserts
that we are where we should be,
but it cannot be successfully con-
tradicted that the intellectual
awakening at the South in the
last ten years have been simply
marvellous. and especially in the
public schools. Where the pub
lie schools were once regarded
as a charity, they are now re
garded almost universally as
simply a right and a necessity,
and the man who clings to the
old caste idea which for SO long
married our progress is now look
ed upon almost universally as
either a fool or a knave, or a
combination of the two. What
has been the result OF this
change? A tremendous step
forward for our schools and
State universities. This pro,
gress is not confined to one State
by any means. Texas. Georgia,
South Carolina, Tennessee, ano
notably Florida and North Caro-
lima, have rapidly come to the
front. Normal and industrla
schools for girls have been est
ablished and the State univer
sites have grown rapidly, ane
this has caused a quickening o:
interest everywhere in educa'
tional circles. Much Of this ad-
vance, too, has been in indus
trial lines. To cite an individual
instance of this growth, L have
but to call attention to NORTH
Carolina. Only a few years age
there were no graded schools II
the State, and it would have beer
almost worth to a superintendent
his position to have activel.
urged the establishment of
high school. To-day there il
not a city or town of prominenc'
in the State that hasn't a goo'
system of graded schools, am
Wilmington, Charlotte, Winston
Durham, Asheville, Wilson
Greensboro, Goldsboro and othe
towns have high schools. Tn
Normal aud Industrial School a
Greensboro, established tire
years ago for girls, has 400 stud
ents. and is under able manage
ment.
The same may be said of tn
Winthrop Normal, in SoutI
Carolina, and the Georgia Stat
Normal. Nothing could bette
illustrate the growth of interes
than the mention Of the fact tina
in 1891 there were less than ~
students at the University c
North Carolina, which now ha
a normal department, and durln
the last session there were oOC
It is a matter of only a few year
when both these institutions WI
be much nearer the 1000 mar
than they are now neal half thu
number. AT Asheville industris
drawing was begun some year
back, and only the lack {
means has thus far prevente
the establishment of manu-;
training, which is strongly d'
manded by public sentimen
Durham has taken the lead
this matter, and is doing lin
work in this line. The lengt
of the school term in the coun
ties is increasing, and the law I
Gently enacted by the Legisls
ture, permitting the school oil
tricts in a few counties to vol
extra taxes for themselves
simply entering wedge, Whlc
will soon give this privilege
every county and district in tt
State. The signal and crushlu
defeat of the assault made r
Gently on the State Universal
and State Normal shows tt
great awakening of the people {
the subject of education. 9th
States might be sighted.
Florida there has been a positi'
revolution, and when it is r
membered that only a few yea
back the Indifference to the pu
lie school system was Grimm
and when it is also remember
that an awakeninue of this natu
grows in geometrical progre
gion, it may be safely stat
that the people of the South a
no longer asleep in this matte
One advantage that the Sou
has is that she can build on t
experience of her Northern S
tiers for example, there is a "a
idly growing sentiment that pc