The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1908-06-28

people. has raised $4,000 by private
subscription and will erect $4,000
building and give ten acres OF land.
II thereby she may secure>-the Suite
appropriation. Upon the bloody fields
OF Fredericksburg State Normal and
Industrial School Is to be erected in
the near future; upon the battle-ground
OF Manassas SPLENDID industrial
school for boys and girls is already
planned. as I have Indicated. And
within a stones throw OF where the
matchIess Leo surrendered his sword
Ito the rnagnanimous Grant temple
of childhood Will be built that will be
| sa a light of hope to the children. OF
that community and county. Truly
peace hath her Victories no less re-
lnowned than war.
ncnson for It All.
The recital OF these dry details wilt
cause many OF those in this audience
| to ask why SO much time has been
given to this review. To an outsider.
not knowing our conditions and not
| familiar with tho educational history
OF our recent past, this recital may
prove altogether embarrassing and
may seem altogether unnecessary; but
Ito those who look back on the past
+
the high school conditions In the South
at that time and the conditions at the
present time. the facts and figures
given to you in this crude way will be
eloquent indeed.
Even the dullestEo Of us must note the
trend toward Industrial education, and
especially toward that form OF in
dustrial education which takes cog
| nizance of the agricultural environment
| in which from rs to So per cent. OF our
boys and girls are reared. No period
OF our educational history has been
moro critical than is the present period.
In the evident attempt which the South
viii make to provide practical agri-
cultural and home training for her
boys and girls. we are confronted with
the most difficult situation in our edu-
cational history. We must not permit
the agricultural training schools to get
away from the people, as the agri-
cultural and mechanical colleges have
been prone to do.
Are Insepnrnblc.
We must SO interweaYe the school
and it's activities with the economic
and social activities of the community
! that nothing can pull them apart we
must reorganize and preorganize
| the school to fit the community life.
We must so a step further and in
many instances prepare to reorganize
community life through the school.
Some of this is already being done.
know OF communities In Virginia
now that arc. being reorganized through
the schools. The process Is so patent
that it is being observed and COM
mented upon by the average man. n.
do not regard it as best that we
should separate the agricultural and
Idomestio science schools from our aca-
demlc schools The two. 1T seems to
me, should go together. ana neither
should dominate the other. The purely
academic school is too apt to dominate
the industrial school. The. cultural
school, SO called. Is too apt to doni-i
nate the agricultural school; mores
the pity. Our schools are dominated
bySand enmeshed in a boollishness that
Is actually uniting the boys and girls
Of the community for tho environment
in which they have been reared, and to.
which most Of them should return.
THERE'S something radically wrong
With the school which makes the child
dissatisfied with his environment, and
does not at tho same time give him
!, both the desire and the ability to Inn
prove that environment.
Strive to Noble End.
It has been said by some who he.
llieved It, and by many WHO did not,
that the destinies of the nation were
in the hands OF the teachers. we can
make that SO If we WILL It Is In tile
Hands Of the school men to shape and
|revolutionize the South If they are
wise In the handling of the school
problem. IT we are satisfied with tho
IDVcvaflin q tvna4 4 Of even tho hest Of
our. present book schools, there is
apathy and despair from which we will
not sreeoversin ahalf century. This IS
the Kings business lot us make haste
withsit. 5
~ "a have Aforementioned Texas or Okla.
homa or Kentucky. We feel that,
Texas Is ahead ofus all In tho matter
of high schools, and that Oklahoma
soon will be. I have been unable to
find any, one here to tell me of the
high school situation in Kentucky. as
Some Deductions. @
a few deductions and am done. III
| is evident: q
First-ThatG our high school systems
are at present in a state Of infancy,
and show all the symptoms thereof,
many OF them exhibiting those co lcliy
|isigns Incident to this early state Of
lgroWth Ii, n 81 IN .3
secon That, like fond parents, we;
are too prone to interpret into these.
Infant a state OF perfection that does
ou, hearts, but rs % sre lleo tioni
on olr n ] nd gtne1lt, and bodies no good
fog the NY tgain W tns =
Il sss