The Adair County news. [volume] (Columbia, Ky.) 1897-1987, 1907-09-18
Kentucky's Future Oepenos Upon
Education.


our sons and daughters. In this adj
vanced age when competition is so
sharp and wit meets wit in the keen
encounter, education plays most i'm
portant part in the contest and lends
most powerful aid in the battle that
Is waged Z There is no subject in
which I am more deeply interested
than that Of the education Of our
young; for as the elders fall into the
scar and yellow leaf" and pass away,
their places must be filled by those
who are boys and girls today, but who
will be the men and women Of to-
morrow. To the state this IS Ques-
ton of vital importance and one which
should be most carefully considered
am earnestly in favor Of the improve
ment Of our common school system
and of increasing the educational facil-
tiles. so that a good common school
education may be within the reach Of
even the poorest OF the children Of
this commonwealth. 1t is with pleas
ure I review the action of the general
assembly in establishing and provid-
Ing for two additional normal schools
for the state, which action was dis
inct advance toward higher education
Ind for the better equipment OF our
teachers. We need more and better
common schools and the Improvement
of our whole common school system.
To insure the betterment OF our com
mon schools, it is important and es-
sential that in some way better pay
be provided for the teachers Of those
schools, thus making the profession
more attractive and insuring higher
standard. The profession Of teaching
should be more fully recognized and
It's dignity and responsibility more fully
appreciated With the qualification
shat is essential to become pracep-
tor to the young. the profession of
teaching should appeal to us AS one
full of dignity and honor. There is no
more heroic or important figure than
that Of the country school teacher.
who. in the little old school house on
The hill, trains up the young in the
-udiments of education and starts
hem on their destiny Of independent
thought No less consecrated and no
ess important are the teachers of orr
:ity schools There is no one single
Jet of men and women united In
single purpose who can or do render
to the state better or greater service
than do these self-sacrificing teachers
of Our common schools
Further Extension Of School Term
Urged.
The term Of the common school
should be heightened, so that the
pupils may have a better and fairer
opportunity to become thoroughly
grounded in each study. We should
raise the standard of our common
schools to point commensurate with
the needs of this advanced age, so
that when the youth of our state shall
have completed the course prescribed
and goes forth with buoyant yet quick
ly pulsating heart to engage in the
great battle of life, he may feel that
he is equipped to meet every issue
and to win in the struggle in which
he is to engage. 1t is not every boy
who can have the advantage of a col
legiate training and to these the state
owes the duty of providing the best
public school facilities possible.
The future of the state depends
upon the boys, and greatly upon the
boys who can gain no further educa-
ton than that afforded by our COM
mon schools.
The history of our country shows it
is not those greatly favored in world
ly way and who have had the advan-
tages of college education that have
attained the largest measure Of Sic
cess. Some if not most. of our great
statesmen and generals have come
from the ranks of the obscure. An
drew Jackson. born In a log hut in
the piney woods OF North Carolina,
with but little education and no means.
passed from AFFECT poverty into the
exalted station OF president of the
United States Daniel Webster left
the pillow on his fathers farm in New
Hampshire and Numbered his way
into the United States senate. Our
own beloved Clay. THE mill boy of
the slashes," left his humble home in
the valleys Of Virginia to become in
the national congress figure and a
power as great as the greatest of the
great men of his age. Ulysses S
Grant turning from his fathers tan
merry in Illinois. led the embattled
hosts of the North TO victory over the
brave and gallant sons of the South,
and made for himself a record that
twice elevated him to the chief magis-