The Washington times., 1917-06-20

sive report just issued by the United
states Bureau of Education, Depart
ment OF the Interior.
The report was compiled by DR.
Ihomas Jesse Jones. assisted by {
corps OF workers representative o.
education in the North and South, anC
Is the result OF three years OF inten
sive study OF the AZ private and high
er schools foP colored people. DIR
Jones survey was made possible by
| cooperation between the commission
er OF education and the Phelps-StokeS
Fund OF New York. Not only Is the
report a history OF the past half cen
fury OF endeavor in behalf OF negro
! education and a detailed stocktaking
OF the present condition. but II is also
a handbook for the further develop,
ment of public and private schools for
the S,bOO,OOO colored people OF the
South.
Although all OF his report was in
the hands of the printer long before
a single clod of virgin backyard soil
had been turned i'm the present cam
paign for more food production, one
OF the most emhpatic conclusions
which DR.. Jones has reached as q re.
SUIT or his investigation is that co.,
ored boys and girls in school should be
wei drilled in the theory and practice
OF gardening. Along with gardening
should go training in the few simple
trades that are OF use about the aver
age home, he says. Just as II is I'M
constructive policy to teach large
scale farming to those who never
VIII work more than a few acres Of
land, so is 1t considered an unneces-
sary waste OF the pupils time and the
public or private investment in the
school to teach skilled trades ex-
haustively when what Is wanted is
development of common sense. "gump-
tion.' and ingenuity in improving the
mouse and farm, says DR.. Jones.
Provision for Higher Education.
In urging a policy OF simplicity in
training for a population more than
three-fourths rural. DR.. Jones states
clearly that 1t applies only to the
elementary education of all the chill
dren. Upon this as a base he would
build up a complete system OF educa-
tion, making due provision for those
children, who, as they grow older.
show inclination and aptitude for
large-scale farming, the teaching Of
agriculture, school teaching. and the
various academic, scientific, and bust
ness professions for which real col
leges and universities alone can offer
preparation At the present time, he
hnds, much of this secondary and
higher education Is ineffective; first,
because OF the general failure of the
elementary schools to provide the
necessary ground work, and, second,
because these higher institutions at
tempt to do more than they have the
money, equipment, and faculty to han
die.
Taking up the question OF teachers
for the colored people, DR.. Jones esti- ]
mates that there are some 10000, or
approximately one teacher to every :
sixty-five children OF school age. This
force OF teachers, small as 1t is. needs. |
he says, about 5000 recruits annually |
to keep its ranks filled. All of the |
schools providing any sort OF teacher |
graduate not more than $500 |
pupils a year. More than half OF the |
men and women teaching colored |
children have not themselves had an
equivalent to the first six
grades.
Have Reduced IIIIteracy.
Despite all shortcomings. however.
the public scnool systems OF the |
south have been largely responsible
Tor reducing the colored illiteracy
-ate from nearly 100 per cent at the
line OF emancipation to the present
ate OF less than 30 per cent. In that
lime. too, negroes in the rural dis
riots have progressed until now, as
owners and tenants, they farm A.
100000 acres OF land, 5000. 900 colOrad
men and women now being engaged
n agricultural pursuits. II is these
asst figures which make DIR. Jones say
10 emphatically that IL is in the rural
districts that the negro has made his
most remarkable progress. and still
PRESENTS his most pressing needs, and
hat. therefore, any comprehensive
cheme OF negro education must have
Is LASTS in the welfare and develop
nent OF the countrywide.
with the proper expansion OF the
,ublIc school system as the aim al
Ways to be kept in view, DIR. Jones
axes up the past. the present status,
nd the future OF the 625 private COL
red schools in the South. Into these
chooIs Northern churches and phil
are annually pouring
1ore than 81 500. 900. and the colored
eople themselves are adding enough |
rom their sCanty incomes To bring |
h, total figure over $4,000, 900 each ,
ear As group these private
rhools include institutions. such as
hampton and Tuskegee. which have
ION international fame and have {
TALLY changed the whole attitude to- {
ard education, and actual frauds {
hitch are operated by dishonest ne
roes for their own ends. Between
ne two extremes are many schools T
-hich are doing their work well in {
n inconspicuous, local way. and
theirs which are above suspicion in I
iotive, but inefficient in practice. a
WANTS Gardening Taught. {
Even among the schools which he ]
nds TO be well managed. DIR. Jones !
Dnsiders that the essential needs of !
people so largely rural have not |
cen fully Erasped. Time and again y
discussing groups or Individual j
,hooIs. he recommends that pro- I
sion he made for instruction in the {
leory and practice Of gardening. The l
orst offenders in this respect are the [
.hools maintained by the colored {
lurches. The report declares that I
le leading educational leaders Of the a
zee are missing a great opportunity
hen they pass over the pressing c
EDUCATIONAL needs Of a rural popuIa- a
on and place their whole emphasis +
BON book learning In general and "
olern languages and the classics in a
lrticular. d
other schools 20 too IA the other
ay and take the position that to {,
.ach agriculture and its suppie !
entail industries requires a huge c,