The Twin City star. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1910-19??, 1912-06-22
STUDENT RULE
At TUSKEGEE
Dignity Of Labor and Military
Discipline Prevail
THE GREAT AIM OF THE SCHOOL

| otuooHS oooy OF IN tuStitutiou III
Which Work 10 Never Prescribed 40
Punishment For Disobsdisnes.
How the System Works.
The series Of articles by Arthur M.
Evans on the work Of the Tuskegee
(Ala., institute which appeared in the
Chicago Record Herald last spring
were highly instructive. To persons
who are interested in helping the
school In financial way the success
Of the institution is indeed gratifying.
Industry, as every one knows. is the
spirit Of Tuskegee, and military disci-
pline Is its system Of government.
From the moment the rising whistle
blows at 8 o'clock until the flights 60
out" at night every moment Of the
time Is occupied. Work Is In the at,
mosphere; industry is made a habit
the great aim Of the school.
At Tuskegee refractory students are
punished, not by setting them at ex-
ira tasks, but by giving them no work
to do. The great idea of the institute
is to drill into the students the princi-
pie that labor Is privilege; hence
work is never prescribed as a punish.
ment, for that would be an inconsist-
ency.
Enforced idleness proves penalty
enough, and after less than q day Of
lounging, a misfit In busy communi-
ty, drone among the workers, the
disobedient student generally goes to
the commandant and begs to be put to
work like the rest Of his comrades.
The discipline Is admirable. Ever
since the opening Of the school the
students have been on q military sys-
tenn Of some sort. The first day the
student body assembled thirty years
ago It marched to chapel. and II has
been doing 80 ever since.
It Is a sight never to be forgotten to
see LOO students march into the
great dining hall at noon, said to be
the largest dining room in the country,
and stand at attention until grace IL
sung.
Then the silence is broken, chairs
are pulled out, and conversation starts
up with such roar that the band 10
kept playing in the balcony to drown
the noise. There Is nothing boisterous,
but LOO voices engaged in simultane-
Gus talk make rather q cataract Of
sound.
Visitors rarely fail to comment upon
the table manners Of tho students. At
Tuskegee table manners are as much
a part Of the curriculum as is work in
the shops or recitations in the class
rooms. The man ut the head OF the ia
bile does the serving, assisted by a
student on each side. The students
are served. and the rule Of the school
Is that each shall eat everything that
is placed upon his plate without pass
ing remarks upon the cooking, If. in
deed, such remarks could be made.
The food comes fresh from the insti-
tute farm. raised by the students, cook
ed by the students, served by the stu
dents and eaten by the students. and
the variety Of edibles placed on the ta.
BILE serves as another object lesson Of
the benefits derived from skillful labor
on the soil
The student who goes out from Tus-
kegee Is SO accustomed to an excellent
table that, II farmer. he at once pre-
pares to raise all the vegetables in
their season, his farm becomes an oh.
5ect lesson for the surrounding com.
munity and gradually leads to higher
standard Of living.