The Savannah morning news., 1903-11-20
is OPPOSED TO IT.
HITCHs ADDRESS IN SCHOOLS Or
POSED BY COL. MERCER.
ADVANCES TWO MAIN REASONS
WHY 1T SHOULD NOT BE INCoRPO-
RATED IN CURRICULUM.

Confirms Details and Statistics
Which Minds of Grammar Grade
Children Could Not Grasp and
HOld-WOuId Mean Displacement
of Some study in the Present
Course-Address and Reasons for
Secession Should BE studied by
Older Persons and Not by Children
who Would Not Understand Their
ACCOMPLISHMENTS ASH
more Would Express no Opinion.
The announcement in the Morning
News that the Francis S. Barlow
Camp, Sons of Confederate Veterans,
had decided to ask that Hon. Robert
NJ. Hitch's address on the reasons for
Georgia's secession be used in the public
schools in connection with the study
of history, has occasioned considerable
talk among the teachers and the men,
bers of the Board of Education. Opin-
ion evidently differs as to the advisa-
biity of introducing the address as a
subject of study. though few have as
yet cared to express any opinion on
| the matter.
The committee which was appointed
to present the request to Supt. Ash
more and ask him to present it to
the Board of Education has not yet
called upon the superintendent. Sew
eral of those who were asked for an
opinion of the matter yesterday stated
that the did not care to express any
until the request of the camp had been
made. Among these was Supt. Ash
more. When asked for an opinion re-
garding the matter, he said:
THE committee from the Sons of
Veterans has not yet waited upon me,
so that 1 have no official notice of the
request. Until the request is made
there is nothing which 1 can say con-
corning its ACCESSIBILITY or non-advisa-
| bility. When the request is made l
shall probably have something to say
on the matter"
Others who stand close to the educa-
tional matters of the city were asked
for an opinion, and nearly all took the
same ground as Mr.. Ashmore. The MEM
berS of the Board of Education who
were consulted would say nothing with
the exception of Col. George A. Mer-
Ger, president of the board. Col. Mer-
Ger is opposed to placing the address
in the school curriculum. In speaking
of the matter, he said:
Two Reasons for Opposing 1t.
THE request is like many others
which come to the board every year,
asking for changes in the text books,
or for the introduction of some new
branches. 1 am opposed to it on two
grounds, the first of which is that it
would displace some of our routine
work.
There are just so many hours at
the command of each teacher and
these have been proportional among
the different branches according to
their Importance. All that we now
have in the curriculum, we regard as
necessary. If Mr.. Hitchs address
were to be embodied in the course of
study it could mean only the displace-
ment of some of our regular routine
studies to make room for it. This 1
do not believe advisable.
I'm the second place the address is
too statistical. l am confident that
the immature minds of our grammar
grade children could not thoroughly
grasp the subject matter of the adj
/, dress. The details are too numerous
for children of that age to grasp and
hold. For these two reasons 1 am
opposed to introducing the ad-
dress into the public schools. What
/ the other members of the Board OF
Education will do I, of course, cannot
say, but 1 have no hesitation in saying
, that if it is presented to us that l, in
dividually shall oppose it's introduce
ton"
The reason given by the Sons of Vet
Grams in passing the resolution asking
that the text books in history be sup
plemented by Mr.. Hitch's address was
that the present histories used were
inadequate. In the majority of them
: all that is said of Georgia's secession
is that the state seeded on a GER
tain date and cast it's lot in with the
Confederacy. The Sons of Veterans
declared in their resolution that all
+ Georgians should know fully the rea-
sons why their state seeded.
should Know Reasons for Secession.
In speaking of these reasons Col.
Mercer said:
: ut is true that in most of the his
t tories, probably in all now used in the
, grammar grades that little more than
a reference is made to Georgia's seces-
sion. But 1t must be remembered that
, the mind of the child can not grasp
the multitude of facts which would
be thrust upon it if all the details of
the history of the United States and
t its wars were given. We are compell-
ed to use only the outlines of our his
tory, giving the details of only the
) most important events, and even omit
| ting many of these.
. 1.-The latest history OF the United
t States is the one published by Har-
per's. This is in four volumns and the
; absurdity of attempting to teach the
grammar school children this mass of
; facts is apparent. We must use only
the outlines of history.
IT do believe that every Georgian and
= every one who claims to know the his
) tory of our state should know fully
| the reasons why it seeded. However,
| i 1 see no reason why we should at
/ tempt to teach it until the minds are
sufficiently mature to grasp the facts
and their Importance"