Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1912-11-27
EDUCATION IN ARKANSAS.

mat industrial training often sup
posed TO De recent innovation In
'mcrican education, was introduced
into Indian schools In Arkansas eighty
or ninety years ago, is shown by
stephen B. Weeks in a bulletin, His
tory Of Public School Education in
Arkansas just issued by the Bureau
Of Education. The boys I'm these
early schools-.Wcrc taught the olc-
ments of agriculture, The girls nee Jle.
work and domestic science, and an
were instructed in habits of indusTy
ncancss. ana order At least one
school was almost sclf-supportng A..
early as lS40, Governor Yen sent
message to the assembly containing
recommendations for agricultural and
mechanical training that mark him az
a pioneer in this significant phase Of
modern education
Dr. Weeks traces in an uterestne
and scholarly way. education in Ar
kansas from the earliest days Of pri
yate academies and denominational
undertakings, on through the blight
ing period of the Civn War ana recon-
struction down into the active pres
ant with its remarkable record Of cd
ucational progress i'm The face Of great
difficulties
Schools Of the anto-bclum days i'm
Arkansas were not free in our
sense since the poor were to be edu-
Gated, not for the protection Of the
state, but as charity The ideal at
first was Of a school rendered free by
endowment rather than supported 10y
public taxation Education, like re
lieion was left to personal inclination.
The population was small, indifferent
to culture, bent on the conquest of
Nature, and very widely scattered 1T
was not surprising, then" says Dr.
Weeks chat no general system of ed
ucation was developed during this per-
iod."
What progress did take place was
soon halted by the civil War. Dur
ing the war education received scant
ettenton. The reconstruction period,
likewise, was necessarily a period Of
adjustment rather than of achieve
mont but during this epoch certain
important principles wero definitely
adopted: Public taxation for the sup
port of the schools establishment of
the position Of superintendent Of pub
lie instruction as separate state Of
flee; the education Of the whole peo-
pie, both white and black, and the ul-
innate ideal of compulsory education.
With the restoration Of the home
rule in 1874 and the incorporation of
the public school system une>uivooal-
ly into the constitution of that year
the permanency Of public education
was assured. Since that time it may
fairly be said that the school system
has been administered in the interests
Of all the people under a policy more
or less uniform.
The slow but steady improvement
in educational conditions in Ar
kansas reached a climax in 1909,
when the assembly passed two COM
pulsory attendance laws, and two acts
on agricultural education. one requir-
ing the teaching of elementary agri-
culture and horticulture in the schools
the other. appropriating 100000 for
special schools to teach agriculture
horticulture and textile manufactur-
ing. The legislature of 1911 passed
no less than 13 educational acts
covering consolidation of rural
schools. compulsory attendance, tho
creation of high schools, and tho es-
tablishment of state board Of edu
cation.
In summarizing the purposes and
aspirations Of Arkansas in education,
DR.. Weeks says; The people of Ar.
kansas have been thoroughly honest
with themselves; they are not in the
habit of claiming that their system IS
better than it Is or better than that
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