The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1908-08-27
Mississippi's Educational Needs

o the people OF MlSSlSSlppl:
The best blood in the world
courses through the veins Of the
white people Of Mississippi. 1t is
1.-THE blood of both pilgrim and cava-
| lier and has been handed down
through the centuries without faint
or corruption. No people or
nation has more right to
be proud of ancestry than has this
people, nor can any boast of
brighter record in deeds of valor
both on the field of battle and in the
halls of craftsmanship. Page on
page might be written recounting
the deeds of our great men, our
Lamars, our Georges, and even of
those who are still on the stage of
Ipublic activity. But our purpose
is not to point to the pages of the
past, but to train your vision on
the future by arousing your inter-
est in present conditions and future
possibilities.
Since the organization of the pub
| lie school system of Mississippi
there has been wonderful develop
ment of our intellectual and ma
terial resources. AS our school
system has developed, our people
have grown in power and wealth.
This is no coincidence, but is an il
lustration of a general law that the
wealth-earning power of people
is in direct proportion to the
character and the amount of ed
ucation they receive. "Our schools
have not been poor because we are
poor, but we have been poor and
are now poor because our schools
have been poor" With all the
improvement in our educational
facilities we find our school system
in many respects crude and un-
satisfactory, failing to give our
boys and girls fair ohrace in the
race of life with those of other
sections. Our towns and cities
are doing we'll, but even their
schools are weak in some points,
especially in that no training is
given to dignity labor. Manual
training and domestic science, are
absolutely necessary to make the
hand def and skilled, are no part
of the course of study. In this
particular, even our city schools
are behind those of every other
state in the Union.
But the great problem for OR
state to solve, and solve quickly,
is the problem of the rural school.
We believe that the boys ard girls
OF our rural sections should have
equal educational advantages with
those of our towns and cities, and
that all of our youth should have as
good opportunity as the youth of
any section of the country.
In comparing educational con-
ditions in Mississippi with those of
other states we find, f(D that 81
states Iand territories have longer
school terms than Mississippi; (2)|
that 4e of them spend more on the
education of each child than does
Mississippi; (3) that the average
rural term in the United states is
% per cent greater than it is in
Mississippi; (4) that the amount
spent for public education in the
Union is more than s13 for each
adult male, while in this state it is
only SIS for each adult male. We
find that Mississippi spends less ac-
cording to per capita wealth than
does even Massachusetts,, where
the average wealth is very high.
In Massachusetts, thereis spent for
public education s.45 mills on each
dollar of property value. The
average wealth of each inhabitantl
is $144s, which makes it cost each
person s4.sl1 year for education.
This is just about one-third of one
per cen. on his property. In Mis-.
sissippi each person is estimated to
be worth S4s5, on which he pays a
rate Of ass mills, makidg yearly
tax of 81 1876 which is less than $40
of one per cent on his property.
These figures are based on the last
census and are here given because
prominent persons have been heard
to remark that Mississippi has gone
"educationally mad and is doing
more for education, according to
per capita wealth, than any other
state in the Union. Statistics show
that this is not true.
In this comparison we also find
that (6) thirty six states and ter
tritories have higher rate of lit
eracy )i.e., less literacy) among
the adult male white citizens than
has Mississippi. 1t is fact worth
nothing that in 1900 there were 49,
293 white men over 81 years of age
in Mississippi who could not read
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