The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-03-29

In the above deductions l am sure we are all agreed l am equally assured that ! we must all concur in the statement that adverse conditions beyond our shaping have been almost wholly responsible for this wasteful and entirely unsatisfactory | process. i The teacher in the elementary school, remote from High school or college, has | been under the states mandate to admit 1 the youth just this side of 21, and to de- vote herself to his preparation for col- | lege, if his scholastic attainments have reached this stage. His presence dwarfs her effort and the innocent boy is-from an educational standpoint-lille a wither l ing sirocco to this little garden dedi- cated to the growth of knowledge.
 The High schools have offended less, l because, perhaps, they have been fewer in number.
 With some of our state colleges, how ever, the practice of doing sub-college work has been quite general. They have received appropriations intended for the i advancement of superior education, but a | large part of these appropriations has | been diverted from it's avowed purpose for work wholly, or in part, of a secondary nature. These colleges have merely met conditions. They did not desire to do work other than that for which they were created. It has, indeed, been an offense in their nostrils. They have been l driven to it by conditions, not least deter 1 ninate of which has been the customary l legislative attitude. To cut out the sec ondaiy work would mean to reduce the | enrolment. The enrolment must be man- tained or the appropriation would tum- ] ble. The legislative axe was uplifted, the | legislative question-there was but one m l such cases-was asked and to confess>to | a lesser enrolment would be but to invite the threatened blow. Thanks to this sec ondary worli-this college kindergarten so to speak-larger numbers could be report ed, and the legislature has looked with favor on the growing child, and has graciousy increased, instead of lowered, l the yearly stipend.
 To Define Schools.
 Our lawmakers, under the guidance of Superintendent Gunnels, and al his re- quest have in an act to define elemen- tary and secondary schools, undertaken to remedy some of the ills experienced zy the failure of such classification. It is to be presumed that it is intended that ! the college shall include all outside of this classification; if so, let us hope that this presumption will be made so clear as to become mandatory.
 All schools in our commonwealth whether acting under a general statute as public or under a charter as private should have their essential currcula pre- scrbed by the state, and the curricula so fixed should be rigidly maintained.
 If a private institution wishes to un- dertake al lthat Is included in the entire gamut from kindergarten through college, let 1t do so, but see that it does what it attempts or assume position in the class comprehended in it's work.
 In public education the line should be ] clear between the elementary, the High and the superior school-though all these might be operated in one community and under one board.
 To Restrict Work.
 Restrict the elementary schools to ee- mentary work, the High schools to High school work, and the colleges to college work. and education will gather strength and become symmetrical, and our reve- nues will cease to fail of result. The practice of taking into college pupils who should yet spend two three years in the High school has even less to commend 1t than would have an absurd effort Of direct conversion of iron into steel from the crude ore. The college that takes un- prepared material has one of two alter natives-it must cause it's dignihed doc tors to stoop to the despsed level or the subject or the boy must be forced to eat his fodder from a rack that he cannot reach. The one course stutifies the insti- tution the other wrecks man.
 But you may say, there is still another way in which to meet this contingency; the under-colegians are coached by un- der-graduates specially selected by the faculty for such work. A most excellent training, no doubt for those undergrad uates, but for the victim of such ex- perimentaton not comparable to the training he would receive at the hand of experienced High school teachers
 enter upon the next phase of this sub | feet of school economics in Alabama with no little misgiving and with abundant temerity. You have, no doubt, acqulesced in the general principles sought to be enunciated above, or if not, I know that the reason of your dissent lies, not in inc principles themselves, but in the wholly imperfect and inadequate manner of their presentation. l now come to the parting of the ways You will, l know listen with patience. but will shake your heads and whisper, "1conoclastic, De | structive" or some such sentiment will struople for utterance Or, perhaps, you may decide that what I shall now say hest deserves contemptuous silence. It may be so.
 Soundness of Argument.
 If the soundness of the argument which follows were put to a vote today or 1 tomorrow the voice of the people of Alabama wuld be a great protestant because maybe, the theory is faulty, hut because of personal sentiment: not hecause perhaps, it's sanction would be 1 otherwise than benefcent to the state, but because patronage would be removed from localities. The state is an abstract term when we must choose as between if and our immediate bailiwick. The nrinciple which stimulates this local de- votion is a general characteristic of man. and is worthy of great commendation but very often it's application is unjus- ; tiled. The recommendation which fol- lows Is a case in point inasmuch as it will to any very great extent, d. rectly affect adversely only, a. the ut mo~t seven separate communities in this great state.
 The proposition is. briefly, that our supericr education is being maintained i, in a way which is expensive out of : proportion to the results obtained, or to be obtained under conditions which now exist
 For tie purposes of this discussion, the institutions included under the above clas- ! sificatlon are the State University, the Polytechnic Institute, and the four white normal schools already established, and the one whose founding and maintenance ha4 been recently authorized and pro- vid d for by the legislature.
 System of Duplication. 7 Any protestations of my high esteem for the executive heads of these insti- , tutions or nv great respect for and un- } bounded confidence in these distinguished gentlemen. were wholly superfiuous. You would hiss me from your presence, were . to sa, aught in dsparagement of their splendid ability or exalted virtues The truth is that we are filled with admring