Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-16
GREY-HAIRED "STUDENTS'
ARE BUSY "SEENG" CAPITAL
Reproduction of Glass Scene Will Be Given
at Interior Department Tomorrow
Night by North Carolinians.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

A real life drama, with 100 actors,
will be presented at the Interior De-
partment auditorium tomorrow night.
1t will be a reproduction of a school
ROBIN scene-reading, writing, spelling,
singing and arithmetic-from the noun
tain schools of Buncombe County, N. G.
The school boys and school girls, IN
common with thousands OF others from
all parts of the country, have come to
Washington on an Easter vacation trip
to shake hands with the President and
see the cherry blossoms. But some Of
the boys" have white hair and some
of the girls" are grandmothers. the
average age is 80 years, and 1t Is the
first time many of them ever have been
out of the mountains.
Best Scholars Won Trip.
The best scholars" were awarded this
free trip to the National Capital. Com
petition was keen between children and
adults. for in Buncombe County every
body is a schoolboy or schoolgirl. They
represent, according to DR.. L. r. Alder
man of the Bureau Of Education. prob
ably the worlds most successful ex-
pertinent in the education Of nliterate
adults.
They are coming in their school
clothes, ready to say their lessons just
as they say them in the school PACK
home. Coming over the road by truck,
they will stay at the tourist camp in
Potomac Park and plan to put in busy
few DAYS seeing Washington" With
typical mountaineer independence, they
are not at all embarrassed at the pros
pect of meeting the President and tell
ing him how they turned to reading
and writing, many OF them in the
afternoon of life. Their experience fits
ideally into Mr.. Hoover's plans for WHIP
ing out the disgrace Of adult tllteracy
in the United States. .
Exhibit A for Educators.
The scholars are accompanied to
washington by Mrs. Elizabeth MorrlSS,
chairman of the State Commission on
Adult Illiteracy, whose J0-year effort is
largely responsible for their progress
Today Buncombe County Is exhibit A
for all educators who insist that adults
can be taught to read and write With
out great expense and without interior"
ing with their livelihood.
Buncombe County lies in the noun
tains above Asheville. 1t never had
lost touch with civilization. as had
some of the mountain communities
farther back, but the schools were few
and far between, the majority OF the
people were illiterate, and they had no
great respect for book learning" Mrs.
Morriss faced what seemed to be ais
couraging situation. She succeeded,
says Or. Alderman, largely because she
adopted a definite program and stuck
to it over a period of years, whereas so
many adult education projects expect
to accomplish miracles overnight and
are spaSmodic, with frequent changes
of plan and leaders.
Adults Followed Children.
The first step was TO go among the
isolated clusters of log cabins on the
mountainsides and bring In the chill
dren, who under the State law must
attend school. They had TO be kept in
school regularly until they began to
accomplish something. Then, following
them into the homes, gradually the
adults became interested. A few at a
time, they drifted to the schools. Spe-
cial classes were established for them,
with reading. writing and arithmetic
lessons based on adult experience.
Adult men and women were not asked
to think in terms Of dolls, but of pigs
and potatoes. They had to be followed
up day after day and kept at it.
The result is that almost complete
illiteracy has been replaced by almost
complete nteracy. There were more
than 1000 adults, mostly white, who
could not read and write when the ex-
pertinent started. It was almost the
entire population of the rural sections
of the county. Today all but per
cent have been educated The attitude
toward book learning has been changed
from one of contempt to pride. They
still dwell in the little log cabins, but
these have been enlarged and the home
surroundings greatly improved.
100 Lessons in First Course.
The preliminary course for adults
consists of 100 lessons. At the end of
the first grade the pupil can read and
write all the letters, with name, adj
dress and short sentences. He also can
change print to script, spell so words,
write and read the numbers up to 1000
and do simple addition involving car
rying.
AT the end of the second grade course
the pupil can write both a short per-
sonal and business letter. ordering
something from store; read the sec
ond reader. spell $50 words, read and
write numbers to 10000 and subtract
numbers of five or six figures involving
the arithmetical principle of borrow
ing" At the end of the third grade
he can read passages from the Bible
and from newspaper, recognize and
write figures up to 100000 and do
long division of three-figure numbers
into those with six or seven figures.
May Continue Work.
At this point the adult Is considered
"literate." Provisions are made, how
ever, for continuing the education If
the student cares to go on. Most Of the
students display keen intelligence, de-
spite the long lack of opportunity.
The Buncombe County mountaineers,
says DR.. Alderman, are affected much
more profoundly by their experience
than merely becoming able to read and
write Folks age rapidly under the hard
living conditions of the mountains, but
the schools have made them children
at heart again. competing for and look
ing forward to the Washington trip
with all the eagerness of girls and boys
in their teens.
The trip to Washington Is a part of
their education. A special text book,
with reading, writing and arithmetic
lessons, has been made up, based on
what they will see here.