Southwest-sentinel. [volume] (Silver City, N.M.) 1883-189?, 1895-01-22

disnce 10 an unurItien but Infex
ible laF must follow two Distinct
planes Of Development q higher
and n lower. and that o. on obvi
Gus corol|ary ihe negro. 70 derive
the greatest practical benefit from
bis enlorled tuteloge. must not.
suddenly be thrust upon tho high-
Ter plane. but Be properly instruct
ed upon The line Of his own deyel.
opment Within the confines Of his
own mental moral and industrial
capacities, OF, ih simpler phfose,
that the educating means employ
ed must DO adapted to bis racial
development aud character and TO
the end 10 be attained. It is not
my purpose to deal with excep-
tions. but wish the unadultgrated,
uneducated negro. who forms the
great majority Of his class ~ our
southern communities, where the
white populations are frequently
in the minority.
We have given him a religion
that he cannot fully comprehend.
and without proper consideration
of his capacity, heredity or envir-
onmenl, offered him an education
that he cannot assimilate or adapt
to bis conditions. In our haste TO
improve his social rank we have
failed to apply the wisdom Of Sol
on, who said Of his code Of laws
that they we're not the best he
could devise, but the best his peo-
pie could receive and assimilate.
Our system Of public instruction
as applied to the negro has result
ed in giving him false ideas Of life
and labor. "The southern COM
mon school" says Rev. A. d. Mayo
especially for the negro, has been
a failure, at best sending forth its
graduates unfit for the life they
must lead, and with no fitness foi
that to which they blindly aspire
1t has been said that "the only ra-
tional mode Of judging of any ed
ucational course Is to remark in
what degree itg functions Of pre-.
pairing us for complete living are
discharged" If We have failed II
imparting useful practical knowl.
edge of life aud its industries K
tie children of our own race, which
we fear to be the case, the mistake
is sufficiently serious TO the ne.
gro it is disastrous. We have
thoughtlessly tried to make q white
man of him, and the result is a
much Of an anomaly in education
as the mulatto is in race. w
have made a liberal, if an insult.
Gent and unfortunately mislirec
ted effort to educate him. w,
have, in fact, when he has beer
able and willing to take what VI
have offered him, educated him su
perfcially and ont Of touch Will
his environment. It has beer
well said by one of the most intel.
ligent and cultivated Of his race
in reference to this education
that "the effort is worthless which
fits a man for conditions which
may never fall to his lot and IN
fits him for conditions in which h'
is compelled to earn his livlihooG
and unfold his possibilities
A few years since, the accom-
plished editor Of a well known
northern journal, after a tour il
the south, wrote ~ think tin
education Of the negro along thI
lines now pursued an impossible
ity. They should BE taught il
manual training and industrial
schools, and should be made t
, understand that no man can liv.
, without work" The truth ant
wisdom of this remark has now be
come painfully apparent in I'd.
strong light of wasted opportuni
ty. The negro must be taught t
help himself and his self respec
created or aroused; that his econ
omic condition, (Which, in compaI
ison with his fellow laborer Of Oh.
, north is not as bad as he think
and is e~ncouraged to believe b.
those who know little Of IT'D is du
rather to his extravaganza au.
heedlessness in individual exper
diture than to a low wage rate. II
must be taught and be given th
opportunity to learn chat the bes
help for him is self help. aud ths
misdirected charity in its ultimat
result is not only humiliating br
~ ID orr