The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-07-10
THE EDUCATIONAL NEEDS
 OF THE SOUTHERN PEOPLE

The following speech was delivered by pr. J. II. Phillips of Birmingham at the recent educational convention at St. Louis and was declared masterly effort
 The educational needs of any section of our country must be considered in their relation to those larger elements of na- fionality to which they must vitally con tribute. Nationality is the unit of meas urement with which our diverse local con- ditions and sectional needs must be com pared. The American ideal of democracy embraces historical political economic and ethical elements, which largely de- termine our sectional requirements. How ever widely the educational needs of the south may differ from those of other sec tions, they are still national needs and must be considered in the light of na- tional ideals, and in the spirit of that broad patriotism which regards sectional problems as vital elements in the life of the nation.
 It is not my province today to offer any preconceived theories, nor to attempt the final solution of any of those perplexing problems which the south of today has inherited from tue past. Perhaps the one immediate educational need of the south today Is exemption from the domination of certain near-sighted and dogmatic problem-soivers at home as well as relief from the well-meaning, but none the less irritating efforts of long distance problem soivers abroad. The one class stands in such close proximity to it's perplexing en- vironment that it lacks perspective; the other class may have the perspective, but is wanting in accurate and intimate knowledge of facts and conditions. 1t will be a fortunate era, indeed, not only for the south, but for the nation at large, when those who are entrusted with lead ership in public affairs shall possess this happy combination.
 Perspective Needed.
 To understand the educational needs of the present south requires historical perspective. We must consider her polit- ical development, her economic progress, and her perplexing problems of popua- ton. The needs of today depend upon the conditions of yesterday. The educational requirements of the present are deeply rooted in the social. political and indus trial conditions that obtained before the civil war, when the private tutor. the fe- male goyerness and the classical academy constituted the chief educational agencies of a social order that was essentially aris- tocratic in it's organization The story of the civil war is too familiar to require re- hearsal here; it is the story of destruc-
 
 grafton and social revolution. It is story partly recorded in books, but indel- ibly burned into the heart of every south ern commonwealth. In a soil thus rem dered barren by blood and fire, in an at mosphere thus poisoned by distrust and suspicion. the tender plant of the public school could develop but slowly. Indeed from 1860 to 1880. the church represented largely, though Increasingly, the educa- tion of the people, because in it's organ- zation the genius and traditions of the south were supposed to be Loyalty and securely preserved.
 But the awakening spirit of democracy found it's earliest expression in the pub lie school. The educational needs of the unpriviledged masses gradually developed into conscious wants, and the public school became the most potent instrument tality of a real democracy At first these schools were contemptuously called char ity or pauper schools; later they are known as free schools--a designation scarcely less opprobious; and lastly they are known as public schools, denoting the schools of the people. These three terms as employed in the south, indicate three distinct stages in the development of the state supported school in popular favor three steps in the progress of democracy.
 The public school as factor in southern life is thus comparatively modern insti- tuition. Outside a dozen cities there can be found today few men and fewer wo- men who have received even a part of their training in the public school. The masses who patronize the schools of the south today do so account of their growing faith in the state-supported