The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-03-21

| make good citizens. Such are necessary
| to the welfare and preservation on the
| State. and this is the rational basis or
| education at the public cost. The child
| rem sent cut from the public schools
| should become men and women that Will
make socic;y better by their having hved
| in it.
| Therefore children at school should
learn how 10 live and how to make Il nv
| ing. A community propers as ITS drohes
and idlers decrease. The obligation OF
| the public schools to fit children for the
active busi ,.ss of life whether that busl-
ness he of the head or of the hand is now
generally recognized and acted upon by
the communities that are leading in civil
ization and progress both in Europe and
in America.
PRESENT COMMON SCHOOL
COURSE INSUFFICIENT.
Examine the branches taught in the
schools of North Carolina, and we shall
see that the schools do not profess to
prepare for any but literary or purely in
tellectual pursuits It is monument
to the power of conservatism that now
when a large majority of the pupils are
poor. half of them being the children
of a generation of slaves, whose only in
heritance will be their education, the
public schools have the curriculum that
was established years ago in the most
exclusive private schools, where only the
sons of wealthy men were educated.
Unless we change our course of half
educating our children, we cannot keep
pace with those communities that put
the whole child to school. and the train
ing of all his faculties.
OUR PUPILS WILL HAVE TO
WORK.
A very large ma ority of the pupils in
our schools will have to earn their living
If they do earn it-by manual labor
We must eradicate the notion that edu-
alton is to enable a man, or woman
to live without work. Whatever these
children of ignorant parents may think
one thing is certain; they will have to
work, or beg, or steal or starve. 1t is
the duty of the school to prepare them
for the most efficient work, so that their
labor may yield them the fullest return;
and to teach them to economlze their
small means.
IMPORTANCE OF PRACTICAL
EDUCATION FOR GIRLS.
Over half our pupils are girls. Are the
schools doing what they should to render
these efficient wives, mothers, and house
keepers? Are the schools doing much to
enable these girls to earn livelihood!
The opportunities for women to make an
honest living are fewer than for men.
But the daughters OF the poor, as well as
their sons, will have to earn their daily
bread.
WHY SEWING AND COOKING
SHOULD BE TAUGHT.
Every girl, no matter what her condi-
ton in life, should be taught to sew and
cook We cannot afford to leave these
out of the school course, trusting that
they may be picked up at home. By far
too many girls do not ''pick them up"
as is evidenced by the number of ragged
children that come to our schools, and
by the difficulty house-keepers have in
securing competent cooks. The mothers
Of the poorest children-and not all OF
them have mothers-are not all them
selves good cooks and seamstresses, and
the most of those who can sew and cook
after fashion, must work every day, and
have no time to teach their daughters.
We need in the schools teacher who
has had special training for this work,
who understands enough of the chemis
try Of cooking, domestic economy and by
giene. Cooking should be taught scienti
fically A good cook understands why
she does certain thing, and good
teacher of cooking teaches the why as
well as the how. Ignorance is always
wasteful, and the poor especially need
60 A 1o,,r yrv,p oh
be taught domestic economy, the necessi-
ty Of cleanliness to health, the functions
of the digestive organs, causes Of in
digestion and the cure, and preparation
OF dishes for the sick.
THE PRESENT CURRICULUM IR-
RATIONAL.
1t is time we We're applying common
sense to school curriculums. Now that
the schools are open to all, to the day
laborer's daughter, the freedman's son,
as we'll as to the children Of the wealthy
and cultured, we must change the course
Of instruction to harmonic with chang
ed conditions. If one curriculum were
not best for all, we must remember that
the children in our schools who will
have to work to gain living far out
number those whose parents can start
them in business. Moreover, the children
of the poor and ignorant require more at
our hands than those from homes of ease
and refinement, and yet there are girls
in our schools, parsing sentences, that
cannot sew seam, or in "bank dis
count" that will never see the inside OF
bank. And we are teaching "stocks
and bonds" to children that do not know
where they will get their next meal.
WHAT MANUAL TRAINING MEANS
Every boy and girl in our schools
should be taught to work with his hands,
to make something The eye and the
hand must be, educated, as well as the
intellect. l. do not contemplate the es-
adjustment of trade school any more
than our schools at present are business
colleges, although we do teach business
forms and the elements of bookkeeping,
and insurance But just as the present
training in penmanship, English ccmpo-
sition, and arithmetic prepares pupils
for any kind Of business, so this manual