The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-08-28
COLLEGES MUST
NOT FALL TO REAR
Insufficient Cooperation Is De-
feet in Educational Equip
Inent Of South.
by DIR. HENRY c. BROCK,
of Hnmpdeu.Sidney College.

In the BRIEF but pointed article which
began the present series on education
in the South. ]. D. EgEleston, Jr.. State
Superintendent OF Public Instruction.
declared that the high school and the
college must get nearer to the needs
of the people," Since the industrial
conditions which give society Its form
and fix Its needs at any period must, In
the nature OF things. change more rap
idly than educational machinery can
adapt itself to the change. 1t Is, OF
course, true that there Is now, az
there must be always. a gulf between
the education which the schools and
colleges furnish and that which the
people actually. need at the moment.
This is perhaps particularly true OF
the South. where conservatism. often
criticized with more than show OF
justice as prejudice. has naturally OBJ
tanned in the matter of education. as
In other vital things.
To this conservatism is due what Is,
1t seems likely. an even more serious
practical defect In the educational
equipment OF the South than that
which supplies Mr.. Egg1eston with his
text. This defect is the insufficient
cooperation, to put 1t mildly, between
the various organizations. public and
private, by which the business of edu-
cation is carried on, each OF these orr
CARNATIONS tending to follow lines of
its own, based on tradition or preju-
dice. rather than to work together upon
reasoned view OF the needs which
all seek to serve.
The presumed aim OF the public
school syst am Is to set wide open the door
OF opportunity to the greatest possible
number Of young people in the Cons
monwealth In other words, the pub
lie school should supply the approach.
as 1t were. to as many as possible OF
the avenues OF useful and remnneratfve
activity which the community provides.
The public school should certainly lead
up to the very doors Of the so-called
vocational schools" which are to
equip the young person for making q
living and serving society. 1t has al
ready gone farther in some lines and
aims In the advanced or high school
stage to supply at least the prellmina-
:ries OF the vocational training Itself.
The tendency is to go still farther In
this directlon-to multiply the number
of vocatons for which the State pro-
vides the training, Mr.. Eggleston
pleads for more Of 1t in Virginia In
the lines which local conditions seem
to select as Offering the best chances
and filling the greatest need. He Is
upon the way, for instance. toward
making the farm laboratory for the
scientific training in agriculture for
which his schools are to lay the foun-
dalton.
How far the state should teach It's
citizens trades and professions Is q
question upon which the doctors dis
agree, and this Is no place to argue It,
What seems obvious and indisputable
is a disjointed state OF affairs which
the West has largely overcome by
making tho State university the cap
stone of the public school system and
the public schools the feeders OF the
State. university, In the Southland In
the East as well--the public school
courses connect efficiently with almost
none OF the vocations which the boy,
and the girl, must rely upon to earn a
living Yet making a living becomes
more and more matter of struggle
as the population OF the country ap-
proaches what the anthropologists call
the saturation point,
In the cities 1t has been observed
by the employers OF labor that for the
boy who wants to learn or Is forced
to learn a trade, the ordinary public
school course stops short of the age
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