Henderson daily dispatch., 1934-08-07

/; ed in the press of Sunday, is also re-
garded as decidedly lame defense of
its action. In this explanation" the
board maintained the reason Shields
was not reelected as one of the Ss4ifI-
cipals for the city school system was
because it had learned that he was
seeking a job elsewhere and thought
he. was going to leave Winston-Salem
i anyway. The statement went on to
| say that the book written 10y Shields
had never been discussed nor even
mentioned so far as the members of
the board can recall at any meeting
of the school board"
! It is pointed out here, however, that
! the last phrase of this statement. "at
any meeting of the school board" is
| very significant and that it says only
that the book was notd iscussed at any
formal meeting of the BOARD. This
| does not mean that Shields and the
book he had written may not have
been discussed by school board men,
bers and others outside of board
meetings. In fact it is known here
that this book created a regular SEN
sation in instonSalem when it was
,stores refused to sell it at all because
the proprietor htough it reflected
upon Winston-Salem and some of the
people there. The book is regarded as
being only a ~thinly yelled expose of
the domination of tn schools, teach
ers, principals and superintendent in
tobacco manufacturing city "some-
where in the United tSates' and which
few people had difficulty in Identify
ing as being Winston-Salem.
But this sensation caused. by the
appearance of this book in Winston
Salem did not exist over the State
generally, and Mr. Slields and his
book would probably not have been
heard of again if the school board
had not decided to rid the city schools
of the young principal who had had
the nerve and audacity to tell what is
considered here as being very near to
the unvarnished truth about the
schools in Winston-Salem. "Just
Plain Larnin'" did not reveal any,
thing to the informed people of North |
Carolina, or to school people general
ly politicians, VIII have knwn for
long time that the school system in
inston-Salem, like the city government
and almost everything else there, was
dominated by the leading manufac-
turing and financial interests. They
may have been somewhat surprised at |
Shields daring, but not surprised at
what he revealed.
But now the. school board has called |
the attention of the entire nation to
Mr.. Shields and his book and his
revelations of conditions in Winston
Salem by it's voluntary or involuntary
dismissal of its author, it is agreed
here. It has not only done that. but
has enthroned Shields among the
school folk of the nation as a martvr
to free speech. 1t has also,- of course.
given inston-Salem black eve. in
educational circles throughout the ma
ton, as well as with all lovers of good
craftsmanship. For if Shields was
dismissed by the school board because.
OF the book he wrote, - people will
continue to believe, it makes the
school board appear guilty o. exactiny
cheap and tawdry brand of revenge.
Ihat the action of the school board
mas benefited Shields is readily ad-I
mltted here. He undoubtedly will get
many offers of jobs much better than
the one he had in inston-Salem. In
addition, the royalties he will receive
from his book, resulting from increas-
ed sales due to. the publicity it has re-
celVed, should almost make him inde-
pendent Tor some years to come.