The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-10-05
TIE EDrcATIoN or THE NEGRO.

THE ED CATION OF THE NEGHO.
There IS much in what State School
Superintendent Glenn says about The edu-
cation of the negro that Is entitled 20 The
most thoughtful consideration IL is evi-
dent that the education The negro is now
receiving is not doing him great deal OF
good He is taught TO read and write and
a little about arithmetic. but this educa-
ton. instead OF fitting him TO become "A
useful citizen. prepares MIN apparently 90
become an idler. The little schooling he
gets leads him to think he is fitted for
something better than a common laborer,
and not knowing how to do any kind Of
work for which some preparation is need
ed he contents himself with odd jobs Of
any kind of Light work. and oftener than
otherwise he becomes shiftless, and is sat
ished to pick up a living in any way that
offers.
Superintendent GIenns plan is this: In
stead of the kind of education negroes are
now getting they should be given instruc-
tiou in manuel training. The money appro-
priated for their schools should be used in
preparing them for some useful trade or
were taught something about agriculture
the chances are that quite a percentage
of them would become successful farmers.
The negroes make very good mechanics
wnen properly taught, and they might
even be given a training that would make
them much more valuable servants than
they are.
one of the great needs of the race is
training schools for the girls There is
very great and a growing need for COM
petent servant girls. The negro girls now
a-days who get a little learning al the
public schools are not fitted for any kind
of employment They don't know how to
cook or sew or to do general house work.
Their inclination Is to do no work at all.
The money they get goes for clothes and
their delight is 10 spend their time in
the streets. il there were training schools
in which they could he taught 10 be cooks,
dressmakers nurses and to do general
homework they would in a little time, be
a hundred times better off than they are
now.
If the negroes were properly trained they
would be able to command steady employ
ment and better wages than now. There
would be a demand for their services in
all parts of the country. Only a day or
two ago we called attention to the great
dearth Of GOOD servant girls in the West.
The same dearth exists all over the North,
and even in the South. The negro women
could supply the demand for house Eerv-
ants If they were properly trained.
One thing that Superintendent Glenn
says ought to arrest attention. Ii is that
the property that is held by negroes has
been accumulated mainly by the older ne
groes those who received their training
in the days of slavery. The inference to
be drawn from this statement is that the
negroes that have come to manhood and
womanhood since the war of secession are
inferior as citizens to those who received
their training in ante-bellum times. As
Stunning that this is the case, the conclu-
sion Is that the negro is retrograding. 4
generation hence he will be worse off than
he is at present. and will be a burden on
the community instead of a worker. The
suggestion which Superintendent Glenn
makes ought to be taken up by the Legis-
lature and carefully considered. Ii will be
noticed that he says that it viii not require
any additional appropriation by the state
for school purposes 10 put his suggestion
into practice.