The Colorado statesman., 1912-06-22
STUDENTS AT NjSKEGEE IN
STITUTE MAKE INDUSTRY A
HABIT AND ATTAIN HIGH
STANDARDS OF LIVING.
BY ARTHUR M. EVANS.


at five o'clock until the lights out
bell sounds at night, every moment OF
the time is occupied; work is in the
atmosphere; industry is made a habit
the great aim of the school. At Tus.
kegee refractory students are pun.
ished, not by setting them at extra
tasks but by giving them no work to
do. The great idea of the institute is
to drill into the students the principle
that labor is a privilege, hence work
is never prescribed as a punishment
for that would be an inconsistency
Enforced idleness proves penalty
enough, and after less than a day of
lounging, a misfit in a busy commun-
ity, drone among the workers, the
disobedient student generally goes to
the commandant and begs to be put
to work
The discipline is admirable. Ever
since the opening Of the school the
students have been on a military sys-
TEN of some sort. The first day the
student body assembled thirty years
ago 1t marched to chapel, and 1t has
been doing SO ever since, drilling in
the morning, marching to dinner aft
er a review at noon, marching to
chapel at night, marching back to the
dormitories after review procession
before the faculty on the platform, as
sembling on dress parade every Sun
day morning and on alternate morn
ings during the week, marching and
drilling and becoming impregnated
with the idea Of order, system, obedi-
ence and discipline.
1t 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 coun-
try, and stand at attention until grace
is sung. Then the silence is broken,
chairs are pulled out and conversation
starts up with such a roar that the
band is kept playing in the balcony
to drown the noise. There Is nothing
boisterous, but LOO voices engaged
in simultaneous talk make rather a
cataract of sound.
Visitors rarely fail to comment up
on the table manners of the students
At Tuskegee. table manners are as
much part of the curriculum as is
work in the shops or recitations in the
classrooms. The man at the head of
the table Dies the serving, assisted by
student on each side. There Is none
of the grabbing, none of the meat
spearing and the bread harpooning
that is far from unusual feature of
the life in the boarding clubs of many
northern college. The students are
served, and the rule of the school is
that each shall eat everything that is
placed upon his plate without passing
remarks upon the cooking, If, indeed,
such averse remarks could be made
The food comes fresh from the insti-
tute farm, raised by the students,
cooked by the students, served by the
students and eaten by the students,
and the variety of edibles placed on
the table serves as another object les
son of the benefits derived from skill
full labor on the soil. The student who
goes out from Tuskegee is so accus-
toned to an excellent table, that, if
farmer, he at once prepares to raise
all the vegetables in their season, his
farm becomes an object lesson for the
surrounding community and gradually
leads to higher standard of living,
which is the great object sought, for
Tuskegee's real problem is not so
much to educate a few thousand boys
and girls as to change conditions
among the masses of the negro peo-
pie.
Three or four years ago the Univer-
sity of Cincinnati started to educate
the students in It's technical courses
by providing alternate days for theory
and practice, one day being spent In
the classroom and the next day in
real factory, where the students would
not only learn how to build things, but
would have the inspiration coming
from the building of things actually
to be used. This idea created furore
in the educational world; 1t was ac-
claimed as the newest and most ad-
vanced idea in technical education.
Booker Washington, however, mas
been applying that idea at Tuskegee
for the last thirty years. The stu
dents spend one day in the classroom,
and one day on the farm or in the
shops, where they turn out products
that are to be used.
The grea cry among the great tech
nical colleges has been that In the
practice work the students build
things that are torn down as soon as
they are constructed. The energizing
force that comes from creating some
thing that is to be utilized is lacking.
What inspiration is there in building
a model bridge when the student
knows 1t is going to be torn down as
soon as the last bolt is in place? Edu.
Gators in technical institutions have
lamented this loudly.
AT Tuskegee the boy in the tailor
ing-shop makes uniforms that are
worn by the students. The head of the
department still talks of the suit of
clothes the boys made for Andrew Car
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