The true Democrat. [volume] (Bayou Sara [La.]) 1892-1928, 1913-11-08
CALL TO THE YOUTHS OF TODAY.
The Country Review:


ral-minded is far in excess Of the sup.
ply. For generations we have been re.
garding our schools merely as train
ing grounds for young men who were
to fit themselves for the learned pro-
LESSONS, considering that a fair de-
gree of familiarity with the "three
RS" was all that would be necessary
for the girls and the boys condemned
to servitude on the farm.
That was the way we looked at 1t
In the old days, and we continued to
regard 1t in that light until practical
results obtained in rural school here
and there awoke us with a start to a
realization of the fact that we had
been persistently overlooking real ed
ucation in the rural districts and in
the city schools as we'll For instance,
In the cities we complain of corrupt
government and the malefic power of
the crooked political boss, and yet we
do nothing through the schools to dis
arm the crooked boss by fortifying the
rising generations with a conscious
ness of its power, by developing per-
sonal independence and self-respect.
All of the boys and girls in our cities
can't become the owners of elegant
mansions on the fashionable avenues,
with millions of dollars at their COM
mand; but practical training in the
public schools can enable every one of
them to become efficient in some line
OF profitable industry, 1t can develop
their self-respect to an extent that
they will scorn to become mere bench
men and servitors, eating the crumbs
that fall from the tables of the profes.
sional spokesman.
The only practical and permanent
way to root out evil is by supplying
something better to take its place;
hence education Of the practical sort
furnishes the only means of destroy
ing the power of the political spoils-
man. When we succeed in teaching
the child a trade or calling whereby
he may, by diligence, become indie
pendent and able to earn better liv-
ing for himself and those dependent
upon him than he could hope to gain
by depending upon the tickle favor of
any man; when we inspire within his
bosom self-respect, the true meaning
OF home, the thrill that comes of con.
scious independence and self-reliance,
the pride Of potentiality, the certain
prospect of proprietorship-then we
shall begin to produce race of indie.
pendent citizens and the reign of the
political broker, of the professional
spokesman will be forever at an end.
That is what education along prae-
tical lines will do fors the dwellers in
the slums and congested districts in
the cities. 1t constitutes challenge
to the modern teacher to grid up his
loins and perform a service to society
Infinitely more valuable and more en-
during than all the reform political
parties, working from now until the
crack Of doom, can ever accomplish.
And in the country, what Of the
prospect? Already a grand work is
under full Roadway, gaining momen-
tum every hour. A few brave pioneers
here and there have gone forth in the
spirit of John the Baptist, to make
the crooked path straight and to pre-
pare the way for the new gospel of ed
ucational efficiency. The seeds sown
have taken root and in many a rural
neighborhood throughout the South
the scales have fallen from the peo-
pies eyes and the community school
means something to them it never
meant before. No longer is the bright
boy of the family pampered for assim-
ilation in the voracious nav of the
city; no longer is the work Of the
farm being relegated to the dullard
and the dissolute. Nor is the girl con.
demned forever to sit among the pots,
and to bear children to pass through
the fire to the ruthless and solid Mo.
loch of Ignorance, and to intellectual
and spiritual stagnation.
A Door of Hope has been opened;
the rural school is being made the cen.
ter of the social, intellectual and In
dustrial life of rural communities and
new order of things has been estab-
lished. The brightest boys and girls
now find avenues for the play of their
trained faculties more inviting than
offered by the city, and the
fine talent and character that once
drifted from the country and lost it
self in the cities now remain, and are
being devoted to making in the coun-
try ideal conditions for strengthening