Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1922-08-22
E D IT o RI A
COMPULSORY EnuCATlnn

COMPULSORY EDUCATION.
IN a few weeks the schools will he
filled with children and at this
time it is appropriate to look at our
system of education in Georgia aud
the system in other sections of the
country, with a view to stimulating
whatlntcrest we can in further i'm
provemefit in our public school sys-
tems.
In this particular section the edu-
cational advantages are much great
er than in some other parts of the
state, yet there is great room for
Improvement here as elsewhere.
The Progressive Farmer, in dis
cussing the educational advantages
and disadvantages, particularly in tht
states where there is not compulsory
education, says that
"While in all the rest of the Unit
ed States-and in nearly all the rest
of the civilized world, for that mat
FER all the people are compelled to
send their children to school and give
them decent education, here in
the South we have gone on saying:
We can't spare the children from the
cotton fields and it. has been as
if q curse of God were on US in CON,
Sequence. 4
For what has been the result of
our sending the South's children to
toll in the fields while all the rest
Of Americas children We're sent to
school. The result has been that
our children have worked for moth
ing. As result of the constant
more -of-less overproduction, due to
ehild labor, the price of cotton has
u3ua " been forced down-and we.
have received no more for our large
cotton productioit than we should
have received for the smaller crops
we should have made if we had sent
our children to school.
''We may shut our eyes to the
facts for another hundred years if
we wish to do so-and pay the pen
atty in poverty and ignorance and
backwardness, but sooner or later we
have got to face the truth. Cheap
labor means cheap cotton-and ig
norant labor means cheap labor. We
have got to have strict, absolute,
thorough-going compulsory attend
ance laws effectively enforced"
It is wise to dwell upon such
thoughts as these at this time for
there cannot be too much education
and every dollar that is put into the
upbuilding ofFyouth, through the
mental processes of our schools and
colleges returns us interest at HIN
dredfold
Only through the schools of the
South, can the competition of the
other sections of the world be met.
With great schools and colleges, there
IS emancipation of thought and a
great, upbuilding of the trade marts
and the commercial centers Of the
South follow close in the path OF
increased educational possibilities.
Without these educational advan-
tages, il we fail to meet competition
in The school reom, by providing ade-
quate schools, as good. if not better
than those provided for the children
of other sections of the South and
the country, We are sending our chill
dren into world of the keencst
competition, with handicap that
can not be, overcome ana instead
Of being in the van Of civilizations
march theyenust content themselves
as followers.
This they must do unless money
Is poured forth by the citizens of
Georgia without stint and its educa-
tionai Institutions placed on plane
Of service and efficiency that will
compare equally n favor with any
IF the institutions of the East, North
and West.
We saw girl without rouge. She
didn't look SO bad.
Secret oftlong life is work." says