The news & observer., 1905-12-31
Annual Address of Pres.
ident Holt.
SECONDARY SCHOOLS
Holding Annual Meeting in The Senate
Chamber. Three Notable Addresses
Last Night. Election OF Officers
and Adjournment To.


State, convened in the Senate Cham
ber last night, and there were three
strong addresses, touching on the
more vital problems that confront the
secondary schools
There were present at the session
last night the leading representatives
of these schools in this State, and
there was evident i'm the discussions
a unity Of purpose, the uplift OF the
youth of the State, and establishment
of higher moral and intellectual
standards.
The annual address of President M.
II. Holt, of Oak Ridge Institute in
dicated some of the important fields
in educational work which must be
conquered and he received the mark
ed attention Of all present.
The addresses on discipline and reg
ulations, the former by Prof. John
Graham, of Warrenton High School,
and the latter a paper by Prof. w. H.
Rhodes, of Kinston Military School,
were interesting and profitable. Prof.
Rhodes being absent, his paper was
read by Prof. +. l.. Middleton of
Cary High School.
The election of officers will occur at
the session which commences at 3
o'clock this morning. and the adjourn
nent will then take place. The pro-
gram for this mornings session is as
follows:
Prof. ]. A. Bivins, Trinity Park
School.
General Discussion
Paper--"Why More High School
Men Do Not Attend College. Prof.
e. L. Middleton. Cary High School
General Discussion
Papcr-"Night and Saturday
School, Prof. NJ. H. Holt Oak
Ridge Institute.
General Discussion
Election of Officers
Adjournment.
The Annual Address.
In his annual address President
Holt said i'm part:
Again we meet in annual session to
determine whether We are living, or
dead, or ought to die. Too long
competition between us, active Or pas
sive, or imaginary has made all those
who are in private secondary school
work in North Carolina actually afraid
of each other. Each one has been
content with keeping his own school,
in his own way. content with his own
orbit. following his own ideals, aften
his own dogmatism. Brethren, we
must get out of this selfish, unrea-
sonably selfish groove, or must die
of dry rot. Meetings like this are
necessary if we are to accomplish one
great mission of organization, to-wit,
a better understanding among each
other as to the Importance of the
work we are doing, and an approxi-
mate correlation of our work with
hot Nf l..s, Il oil
ever much else we may accomplish by
cooperation. and we have accom-
plished much we can bring the col
leges to a recognition of the sanity
of allowing us to do the work of
preparation, leaving to them undis-
puted sway in realms that are logf-
cally theirs
Everybody who reads and observes
and thinks recognizes the fact that our
State has made great educational
strides IN the last few years. and the
end is not yet. 1t has not been a
revolution, as some enthusiasts would
term it. nor has il been brought about
by any Moses or half a dozen of the
same family, opening the matters of
an opposing sea- or blazing a highway
through a trackless wilderness. The
present educational awakening is the
gradual development of ideas plant
ed nearly a century ago by Archibald
ID. Murphy and men like him, preach
ed from mountain to sea by Calvin III.
Wiley and men like him, until null.
titude that no man can number. Sc
lected leaders rather than leaders Sc
lected multitudes, to formulate their
wills into saner laws for the educa-
tion of the masses. Back of all this
movement, before Archibald ID. Muir
ply was born. men like the elder
Bingham, and DR.. David Caldwell and
others scarcely less famous were train
ing governors and Legislators and
statesmen in their academies through
out the Piedmont plains, while the
parochial schools of the Protestant
Episcopal church were doing the same
thing for the embryo commonwealth
in the last. The present Is onl., the
frultage or the past and the agencies
that brought it about were a thousand
logical forces, working slowly to be
sine but none the less surely and
definitely. 1t is the victory of the
people over the politician. of the
masses over the classes of duty over
dogmatism, of right over might.
Entrance Requirements to Low.
''The college cannot afford to reach
down. 1t must reach up. It's en-
trance requirements are already too
low. To its hurt it has already been
STOPPING too low. 1t has recognized
this blunder and is trying to remedy
it, The college must follow certain
lines of work and courses of study,
mapped out by the experience of CEN
turtles of thought, supposed to be nee
essary to give that elemental sub
stratum on which to build the best
life work. Four years has been de-
termined upon as necessary to give
this preparation for life. Self-preser-
vation then would prevent the college
from spending part of the four years
in elementary work. 1t must prefer
quality of work to quantity of stu
dents The best of a college is not
the number who bear away diplomas,
Ut the contribution these men make
le sa orld's thought the worlds in
le md moral life. The certifi-
e&te ~ those public schools which
ksssss. la to prepare for college and do