The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-08-31
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have said in effect 1--WE dread the
Greeks, even when they bring gifts"
Others have seemed ready to take every
thing offered. Without waiting to hear
all that may be sa.>.. it seems not map
propriate to refer to some matters of ex-
perience in Southern education
To begin win. the South has spent
more than SI0,000,00O raised by taxation.
on our pu,ic schools since the Civil War
Nearly . this money came out of the
pocke men who in 1865 began life
over a. Nth nothing but their ruined
homes their unstained honor. a
very large share of it has been spent in
trying to work out she suggestions of
other people in REGARD! to educating ne
sroes We have also paid into the peck
cts of those who had no such burden as
negro education anu who were as able as
we We're TO earn a living many more mil
lions in pensions. Still other millions we
have put into higher schools and col
leSes for our own children. at the same
time we have restored our churches, built
monuments TO our heroes, fought for An
slo-Saxon civilization and in the eyes of
the whole world have indicated our
right to live. We have often CROPPED in
the darkness. but we have never ceased
to pray for divine guidance. nor in the
blacklist hour lost our faith in the SUI
IRENE Arbiter of human events
LEARN BY EXPERIENCE.
II these New York gentlemen who
seem to be moved only by the Hottest mo-
tives. are willing to profit by thirty7five
years of earnest experimentation in the
South, they Will listen to no man who
talks about IAN education for every
child. white and black" and proposes to
continue the folly of trying TO give both
races the same kind Of education Some
things have been settled by our long and
expensive experiment. One is that tha
negro does not profit by the effort to
give him an Anglo-Saxon education Edu-
cation he surely needs He needs it
more now than he did forty years ago.
By which is meant that he is not as well
educated in the direction of his own use.
fulness now as he was then Some OF
the negroes themselves are at last be-
ginning to see this. and in few places
some efforts are starting In the right di-
rect!on. but in the puolic school he has
more frequently been spoiled for every
useful purpose than helped TO an indus
trious and honest life Evidence of this
is seen in the throngs of young negroes
in the towns and cities who go to the
public schools and who cannot be induc-
ed to work. We are confronted by a
condition, not a theory. The siruation
demands thorough-going honesty of
treatment. 1t presents bewildering OPP
portunity. but methods that have been
tried and found wanting should be dis
carded.
There are signs of a general awaken
ing on this subject 1t viii probably be
disputed by no one that the chief strength
of the opposition to increase of the
school tax nthe Sot.,.l has been the
feeling that very large proportion of
the schol fund was wasted on negro
school tax in the South has been the
unwillngness to educate the negro along
the lines of his own usefulness But the
potent fact has forced itself upon
thoughtful and observant men that he
does not profit by the white mans educa-
ton.
TRAINING FOR USEFULNESS.
a plea seems to be taking shape for
an education that shall be real train
ing for usefulness. Properly trained and
we'll managed, the negro fills a useful
place, which no other race can fill Let
him learn what he is good for He is
practically out OF politics and out to STAY
That madness is passing rapidly away
to return no more forever Let him
now by all means have the educa tinn
that will make him useful Increase his
self-respect and enable to work out his
destiny.
In the plea now coming to be urged for
white schools for special training in the
South, there is a subtle danger. IT
would be little short of criminal blunder
to teach our peopl. that the broadset
and most liberal culture is inaccessible
to any, or not to be earnestly sough. bv
those who have aptitudes for It. Tech
biological training is good. but 1t cannot
take the place Of the humanities. IT
lacks breadth and fitness To illustrate
used to know a man in Florida who
was practical bee-keeper. He knew
more about bees than any other man
ever saw He made his living selling
honey. and his product had wide resu.
tation He knew nothing else. conse-
quently his life was limited and narrow:
there We're no indications of cal.ip..'at
taste abour his rude and unkempt prem
ises, and what he might have contributed
to the sum OF intelligence in regard TO
bees was lost for the lack OF broader
culture Some three years ago in one
OF the largest book-printins establish
ments in the South. an examination in
Greek from nearby university was