The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-06-20

many instances, propagated and taught
by the best talent in the State at the
time, were of short duration. 1t is gen
orally admitted, l believe, that the col
lege encountered with a long prepare
tory department cannot attain the high
est degree of excellency for its own
legitimate college classes. Hence, as the
higher Institutions have increased their
facilities and brOadened their scope, the
tendency has been to decrease the
amount Of preparatory work done, thus,
leaving more and more to the academies,
the work of prepare ton, where it proper
~ belongs.
| believe the day is not far distant.
when the work of preparing for college
at colleges will be numbered with the
things of the past in North Carolina,
But, considering the comparatively in
significant per cent. of the youth of our
State that. are permitted to enter the
higher institutions, the mission of train
ing for college is of least Importance.
We honor the names of these gentle
men, Scarborough, Finger, Alderman,
McIver and others who, a few years ago,
so earnestly, so nObly, began the great
work of aIousing a more healthful edu
cational sentiment throughout the bor
ders of the Old North State. IT'S need
less to add that their labor las rot been
without its reward. Am | correct when
| say that during the past decade we
have been undergoing silent revolu-
ton, almost imperceptible in its develop
ment, and yet mighty in it's effect? All
over this old State from the mountains
to the sea, the lethargy that has held our
people is being shaken off, and as the
oil aoa n1u ions l
sentiment is taking hold upon them. The
people are awakening to a realization of
their needs, and with it comes the de-
mand for greater and better school IA
cilities. Hence, l believe the true mission
of the academy today Is to meet this
demand created by more healthful edu-
catiOnal sentiment.
The children are taken through an ele-
mentary course in the English branches
as the primary schools, public and pri-
yate, to the age of twelve or thirteen,
and in former years the great masses
were satisfied to stop with this, but not
so at present. / do not believe | am pic
turing an ideal state of affairs when |
say that vast majority of the people
within the borders of North Carolina
aspire to loftier and nobler attainment
for their children than they themselves
have had. Imagine, if You can, the
thousands of boys and girls to whom the
college doors will never open and yet
who are ambitious to take their stand
among
"The throng of mem
Men, my brothers, men the workers.
ever reaping something Bewsi
That which they have done, but the
earnest of the things that they
shall do"
And it is largely into the hands of
these boys and girls that we must com
nit the future of the State for veal or
for woe. A great many of them are
CHEEKY, generous, bright, ambitious, and
inspired by the influence and example of
the educated few who have succeeded in
the more honorable walks of life would
gladly make any reasonable sacrifice to
acquire the advanced training offered by
the colleges; but to the academy must be
left the important mission of developing
and fitting for noble manhood and wo-
manhood the thousands of boys and girls
who cannot have the privileges of col
lege training granted only to the favored
few. And yet upon the moral and in
tellectual development of these boys and
girls depends in no small degree the flu
ture of the home, the church, and the
State.
This, then, it occurs to me, is the true
mission, the great mission, of the acad-
envy in North Carolina today.
The question naturally arises, is the
academy fulfilling this mission? Is it
making use of the best possible means
within its reach for accomplishing this
end? Is it adequate to the demand? 1t
was stated in the outset that one mission
of the academy seems to be to furnish
honorable employment to that class of
individuals, who, from lack of ability,
energy or some other cause have been
crowded out of the other vocations of
life. 1t would not be understood as of
fering any complaint against the arrange
ment of society, but too frequently has
it been the case, that young men, fresh
from college, without any professional
skill and with no intention of ever even
attempting to learn the art of teaching,
set themselves up to teach in the acad-
envy for year or two as a means of Sc
curing funds necessary to enable them
to enter upon some other profession.
| do not believe l am putting it too
strong when / say that it is an imposi-
tl's 5saa,o the youth of the country to put
their training into the hands of individ-
uals who have made signal failures at
everything else they have attempted, and
who assume the important responsible
ties of teaching, not from choice and a
just conception of the magnitude of the
work, but who enter the school room as
a last means of gaining a support. Neither
is it right or just to the pupil that the
worthy profession of teaching should be
degraded by being made a stepping
stone" for the college graduate to enter
some other less difficult profession, who
looks down upon the poor pedagogue,
from the high eminence which he hopes
to attain, with plying contempt.
How long these evils are to exist we
cannot say. A process of development
is going on. Then, striving earnestly
and honestly to make the most out of
the possibilities within our reach, let us
hope that brighter day is dawning; for,
into your hands, academy men, is COM
mitted the important mission of mould
ing and SHAPING the future destiny of a