Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-02-03
An EXAGGERATED Statement
.1eHE House committee on EDUCATION, in

q
recommending the enactment of the
a. Smith-Towner bill for the establish
4ieat of a federal department OF education
and providing federal aid for increasing ed
ucationaI facilities, declares that the United
States ranks ninth among the nations OF the
world in the general educational level Oh us
people.
1.-THE country is trailing far behind most
of the civilized world, from the standpoint
of it's educational advantage, according 10
an Associated Press dispatch, summarizing
the report of the committee Oh education.
The statement is one Of the most astonlsh-
ing that has come out OF washington IN d
long time We do not question the accuracy
of the quotation from the committee re-
port, but We are loath to accept the state
ment of the committee as representing the
real facts 1t is a matter of regret that the
committee failed to mention the eight nations
of the world that are better educated than
the United States or that boast OF higher
educational level. We should like to see
such list, and, frankly, until we have seen
t We are inclined to question the accuracy
or the committees statement.
It has been the popular impression that IN
matters of education Germany stood flrst.
We have rested under the belief that the
United States came second, and our creduhty
nS things official that emanate from WASH
tngton is over-taxed by the committees rat
ing that relegates the country to ninth posi-
ion
It Is conceivable that the United States
night stand sixth in tn. general educational
ievel of it's people, this rating being arrived
at by concedinA to Switzerland, Denmark,
Sweden and Norway a higher relative stand
ing than our country. Certainly, the British,
the French, the Italians and Russians are not
I'D with us in the matter of education, ana
Jlpan. we feel sure, is far behind, notW1th-
sanding the rapid strides that she had made
in recent years.
The repor+ of the committee cannot be
attributed to ignorance, and we prefer to be-
Iieye that the members Of the committee
we're inf1u 9nced by commendable desire TO
sire ngthen and win support for the cause OF
education among the members of Congress
bv picturing the United States as tagging
sar behind other nations of the world IN the
matter of general education.
The Jacksonville Times-Union, discussing
h, committee's astonishing report, remarks
hat more and bigger falsehoods are told by
oen who propose to do good by telling them
IAN by any other class of men,
Our contemporary continues:
"a book published few years ago
under he auspices of the bureau OF
education and with the intent of secur-
ing better educational facilities tor the
negroes of the South outrageously mis-
represented the facilities they already
enjoy 1t was illustrated and one { the
pictures showed what it called typical
negro cabin. The writer, who has spent
all his life in the South, never saw any
inhabited cabin as dilapidated as the
one that was called typical. This same
publication valued negro school bulld-
ing in Jacksonville at five thousand dol
lars, though 1t was three stories high
and covered more than half acre OF
ground The object was laudable one
to improve the opportunities for the
education of the negroes but it made
absolutely false showing of what was
already being done for their education"
The zeal of the House conn ittee on edu-
aation in the proposed legislation for the es-
enlistment of department o. education is
as we have remarked commendable, but we
doubt whether the legislation will be help
ed by the circulation of SUCH exaggerated
tees report