The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-12-27
PROF. JOHN GRAHAM s
ADDRESS
To- the Association of Acade-
mics in Session in Raj
eigh Last Night Live
Topics Discussed

l
said:
Mr.. President, Fellow Teachers. Ladies
| and Gentlemen:
We meet at this our sixth annual ses-
sion under most favorable auspices
Never before in North Carolina has such
! general interest been taken in the cause
| of education. All classes are enthused
| from the Governor in his mansion to the
POOR negro in his cabin.
! What responsibility rests upon you
teachers here assembled to direct Alright
i the efforts of our people to remove the
/ blight of ignorance from the borders Of
! North Carolina.
You are training the great majority
! OF the public school teachers of North
| Carolina. You furnish in great degree
material for our colleges 1t rests with
you whether the university and the col
/ leges can do efficiently the work they
] have in hand. 1t is your business to pre-
pare thoroughly for entrance to college
/ the youth entrusted to your care. With
! the assistance of the colleges we must
! close the gap between the number of
college matriculates and college gradu-
| ates.
Between the graded schools of the
city and the sub Freshman class, or its
| equivalent at the college the Academy
/ mas thorny road to travel But from
| the time Socrates taught Xenophon and
| Plato the absolute necessity of believing
| in wise and beneficent creator the old
/ academy at Athens with it's long line of
successors has wrought good work for
/ the children of men. Our Revolutionary
| forefatners whether Puritan or Cavalier.
| Huguenot or Covenanter, favored the es-
adjustment of good schools. North Caro-
lima in the past has had her fair proper
tion of good private academies.
| In these days of combinations. consoli-
dations, of trusts and mergers, when phil
anthropists give their millions for the
! establishment of colleges and universe
/ ties: when the State through its taxing
! power raises thousands of dollars annu-
! ally for the support of its public schools,
and our towns and cities vieing with
/ each other raise other thousands for the
maintenance of their graded schools, the
old fashioned academy has become sec
ondary in reality as we'll as in name
But signs of better days for good acad-
| cmies are visible. The head and the feet
| can not get along without the stomach.
as Aesop told us many years ago. No
public school, no graded school can take
| the place of the academy with it's prin-
| cipal the guide and intimate friend of his
| pupils studying their individual tempera-
ments and dispositions, aiding them in
| their efforts to master the difficulties
| that constantly beset them, encouraging
| them TO make the most of the talents
| that the great Master has given them,
| and stimulating by word and examples
drawn from history and from life the la
| tent powers of the boy. Who can estimate
the influence of the teacher upon the
pupil intimately associated with him for
| years?
1t is our duty as far as possible to
remedy the neglect of parents and guard
ians by precept and example to train
our pupils to love and reverence the Holy
| Bible; to accept it's teachings as inspired
ana to take it as their infallible guide
| through life. We can and should i'm
press upon them that much of the lang
uage Of the Bible is fgurative, and that
mans attempts to explain mysteries too
/ deep for human comprehension are re-
/ sponsible for much of the infidelity prev
alent in the world. Change is not always
| progress.
/ The study OF Latin and Greek forms
| the basis of a solid English education.
English is composite language, and who
can master its intricacies or appreciate
its beauties without studying the MASTER
pieces of the Roman and the Greek? The
utility of the sciences is not derived, nor
the great benefit to be derived from the
study of modern languages, but with an
| experience of thirty years in the school
room | am persuaded that Latin, Greek
and mathematics are the best n-de-
velopers. Boys and girls, studying Latin
and Greek, excel in mathematics and
English those pupils taking mathematics
and English without Latin and Greek.
If the academy is so important and its
influence so great how can the number of
good academies be increased and their
efficiency made greater? The proper So
luton of this question is of vital i'm
portance to the edcational interests of
North Carolina. 1t is conceded that
a large majority of our public school
teachers receive what education they have
in the academy, and that these academy
taught teachers are the teachers of three
fourths of the children of North Caro-
lima. 1t is equally true that large num-
Der of our physicians from circumstances
beyond their control are deprived of the
great advantage of collegiate training,
and go directly from the academy to the
medical college. Owing to the fact that
the medical colleges have extended their
courses now to four years, the number of
collegiate graduates entering the medi-
cal profession will, l fear. be greatly
diminished. Some of our .Sstitutions
have two years collegiate course pre-
paratory for the study of medicine. Would
it not be we'll for our colleges to suggest
proper academic course for such stu
dents? Uniformity of preparation would
be an advantage to all parties concerned.
1t is a source of great qualification to the
people of the State thai the relations sub
sisting between the State institutions and
the colleges are SO cordial
l would suggest to our college authori-
ties that they confer with the medical
associations of the State and found one
central medical college, where students
from the university and the colleges can
complete thoroughly their course in medi-
cine
Pardon this depression. How can the
number of good academies be increased