The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1912-06-26
The Educational Convention.

gain OF i per cent. IN the llteracy
of Kentucky's population since the
census of 1900. The illiteracy of
Kentucky, however, isstill greater
than that of any of the other States
save two.
Through the agency of the CEN
sus figures this state of facts has
been made known to the rest of
the country and TO the world at
large. Through the courage of a
few Kentuckians and a handful of
Kentucky newspapers, it has at
last been brought home to the peo-
pie of the State, to their Governor
and their representatives.
The absence of dissatisfaction
is not a distinguished characteristic
of Kentucky's people. The facts
as they stand and as they must be
faced, if Kentucky is to move up
on equal terms with the average of
the other States in the vital essen
tial of an educated and equipped
citizenship-the beginning and end
of good government-are not fiat
tering. At the outset, the mere
statement of them by public speak
ers and by the press aroused in the
average Kentucklan an amazed re-
sentiment, which apparently but
increased with their reiteration.
But dissatisfaction is not the
sole Characteristic of the average
Kentuckian. There is a DISPOSE
ton when the truth is known to
take reckoning of it.
Internationally, Kentucky touch
ed bottom in 1900. The rise in the
next ten years was slow, almost
imperceptible. The progress of
the past two years, i'll an awakened
public opinion, in a stirred public
conscience, in the shaping of a
definite public purpose that Ken
tucky's illiteracy shall no longer be
a byword for others, a shame to
herself. has been little short of
revolution.
Kentucky's educational needs
were set forth in the political plat
forms of both parties in the guber-
Material campaign of 1911. The
General Assembly of 1912, with
no division of party, made laws of
practically every measure proposed
for the betterment of Kentucky's
schools and the education of Ken
tucky's children. The tide had
turned.
On the 25th. Goth and 9th days
of June, there will be held in Lou
isville the annual meeting of the
Kentucky Educational Association.
Five years, three years, even two
years ago. the meeting, outside of
the delegates who attended it and
the press of the city in which it
was held and by which its pro-
ceedings were recorded, would
have been set down as of passing
moment. Yet the coming meeting
in Louisville is to be the largest
convention devoted to the question
of public school instruction ever
held in Southern State.
The Commercial Club, the Board
of Trade and every other business
association in Louisville have
adopted resolutions declaring their
sympathy with the purpose of the
meeting and pledged to it their
support. Two hundred of the
business men of Louisville have
enrolled themselves as members of
the Kentucky Educational Accoci-
alton. The press of Kentucky is
giving to the convention some of
the space once reserved for polit-
icaI conventions only. The meet
ing is to be a meeting of Ken
tuckians to serve Kentucky and
Kentucky so recognizes it.
For quite SPELL" ever since
the war between the sections, in
fact, Kentucky has been so busted
with the absorbing question of
which politician should hold office
and which not, as to overlook the