Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1924-07-12
(ByI. u. K. Wells, President A. F.
of N. S.-Negro Youth Movement

Tennesseeans and many others for
that matter regard Nashville as Delns
the Athenian city of the south. were
II mt TO a test against Atlanta there
ia little doubt but that it would be as
deadlocked as the recent Democratic
Convention. Meharry, Fisk, Walaen'
Roger Williams and the Tennessee
state Normal present an aggregation
of school houses which gives the sons
and daughters of Ham quite every
form of training they receive III Amerl
ca. ..h
To compare such institutions wltu
mammouth Universities like ILLINOIS
and Michigan is quite profitable. From
the angle of material advancement es'
necially contrasting them is nlgn
atrocious. Yet every year thousands
Of our group do this in conslder1ng
colleges for the training OF our youth.
Materially the contrast between uhl
yersity like Michigan and those llke
Fisk is astounding What do l mean!
II Sc this: the University Of Michigan
at Ann Arbor is city in itself. Az
the present time it is erecting meat
cal hall. a law building said to cost ~
600 600. This sum would build and BUY
for MS. Howard, Lincoln Wilberforce'
Flax and Morehouse combined. THIS
does not include the scores of other
buildings at Michigan almost as valu'
able. 1t is then small wonder that our
leaders like DR.. Du Bois ciamor So
vociferously for our states to increase
the niggardly allotment of from 5O TO
100 usually left handed to our land
grant schools like State Normal al
Nashville.
At Michigan there are 10000 stu
dents, while the largest group or our
colleges do not average 500, which
makes Michigan roughly twenty times
as large. One used to Fisk aid Me-
harry thrown into Michigan feels like
a Lilliputian visiting in Brobdlnag.
Neither Michigan nor Illinois both OF
which are located in small cities nave
100 students Of color. In mathematical
terms not quite a whole Negro to one
hundred whites. And yet these vast
hordes Of whites would allow prejudice
or fear to enter sufficiently for such
universities to want to deny and to
limit a mere moIsel of Colored hu-
manity to study that human society
might be bettered. 1t is easy to appre-
ciate how ignorant white South caro-
lima, in which we are about equally as
numerous, to fear us; but how the sup
posedly highly trained group of Uni
versity whites fortified with the treas
ure of the worlds wealthiest nation IN
addition to having the advantageous
ratio of one hundred to one is hard 20
see. 1t is getting to be common knowl-
edge that our youth. applying to such
colleges for Medical training especially
are rebuffed with the harsh unfriend-
" and undemocratic advice, Go 70
Howard" or go to "Meharry."
The latter schools however are
great institutions. No sensible person
tan afford to criticise them. When the
material resources back of each OF
them are contrasted and considered 1t
does not require a mind acute enough
to clarity the problems of the fourth
dimension to grasp the relative pro1l-
cheney of these colleges. Although ma
terial resources are required in order
to permit us to be we'll trained there
are other factors which make rich con
tributions to the education Of our boys
and girls.
WHAT TESTS PROVE THE WORTH
OF OUR SCHOOLS?
We regard the school house as the
smithy which FORCES growing humans
into the best shape for life. Most of
the institutions of higher learning m
our country were started by the church
Yale, Princeton, Lincoln, Fisk, are
Just few of them. Religion being the
cornerstone of these universities
it is not strange thai, in the beginning
at least. our institutions lay stress up
on moral development. Perhaps the
real value of educational institutions
is measured in accordance as they turn
out individuals who are wen fitteo to
survive in the battle of life as individ-
uals and to give to the race and to the
nation survival powers.
The founders of our colleges evident
ly felt that a young people as we are
and a young nation as America is will
survive, if they rest upon a solid NOR
al foundation as advocated by cur col
leges. Inasmuch as neither business
nor politics nor society itself would
thrive unless there prevail confidence
and common virtues like honesty and
truthfulness the purposes Of our Chris
tian colleges are not as heavenly"
and impractical for this old earth as
they seem. At institutions like Michi-
gan, thoroughness and efficiency, are
the goals stressed; while high tone
ethics is the only semblance of the
Christian doctrines chiefly found in
purely church schools.
DO COLLEGES HAVE
PERSONALITY?
There is another phase in which the
paosypw Ohcervar NAV contrast Our col