The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1919-12-26

The demand of these progressive days is for men
who can do things which others have not done, or
at least do things of their own initiative, which
they have not seen done before Unless one has
become "a regular human machine, performing au-
tomatically certain things, he will in the natural
course of events come in contact with new crcum
stances and new problems in the routine of the
most ordinary work and it is the man who can solve
these problems intelgently that comes to the top
while the ignorant workman is left to form the
mudsills Of society. A man can be genius with
out being an Edison. A thinking man will see how
to overcome obstacles that come in his way, even
though he has never seen the like before, while a
man who has not been trained to think may abso-
lutely fail. It is the man who does his work just
little better than his fellows who becomes the fore
man while the really capable man becomes superin-
tendent or manager or president Of the concern.
A few years ago great political economist of
England said that the English industries suffered
more from lack Of educated workmen than from
any other cause and added that the large number
of unemployed in that country was due to the
fact that there was not a sufficient number
of intelligent to act as foremen to operate the
industries The hope of any nation is in its inte-
gent masses and not in the cultured few. Great
leaders necessary to blaze the way, but if the
nation is to be truly great the masses must be able
to follow and utilize the leaders ideas for the in
terest of the people.
1t is the function of our schools to build up the
minds of our boys and girls to make them keen of
intellect and resourceful in thought A little ad-
vantage in all things will aggregate far in the
of prosperity than few great inventions
though these little things never appear in writ
ten history But those little advantages plus great
inventions still better. All of this comes, and
cones only, with the building of the mind.
The ends of the various grades form landmarks
which the children endeavor to reach and they fire.
quently look forward to the end of the seventh
grade as tae end Of their education. Unfortunately
some parents right in our midst and whose keepers
We are look forward to the fourteenth birthday as
the end Of their childs education. Those who stop
before finishing the high school stop too soon The
mind is not sufficiently drilled. The body is not
yet fully developed and if the body is allowed to
develop while the mind stands still, the child gets
into an intellectual rut out Of which it will prob
ably never get out. Statistics show that one child
out of each hundred first grade children finishes
college. We have in the first grade of the city
schools (white) one hundred and twenty-seven
children, which means that less than two of our
first grade pupils will finish college,.
Then take the present eleventh grade. Ten years
ago this grade had more than so pupils. Where
are they? We know that the death rate has never
been so high as to take away eighty percent Of the
children Yet the present eleventh grade has lost
eighty percent of its strength in ten years.
The high SCHOOL forms the most important part
of chld's development for after these four years
of careful training, the mind has reached
stage where it will continue to grow even if no
higher course is ever taken. If one stops at the
end of the grades his education is frequently for
ever finished but if he goes thru high school he
will continue to augment his education all the way
thru life. ..''
1t Is no argument to say that we are better edu-
Gated than fathers and that they were success
full for we are not only competing with our fathers
but with generation that is much wiser and keener
than those we are to succeed. The indications are
that educational improvement will continue and it
behooves u.s. if possible, to place our children in
such position that in their declining days they will
not be cast into the scrap heap when they have to
compete with the generation that is to follow Any
fool may be descendant but it takes real man to
be ancestor.