The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1957-06-04
Graduates Hear Dardcn Ask
End OF Sentiment, Rise In Standards
Warns of Perils
Of Mediocrity
In Public Schools


we mist plan for a period of
tension Colgate w. Da.den, Uni
eTsity Of virginia president.
warned Longwood College graduates
Sunday.
Darden recently returned from a
trip abroad with the Fairless com
mittee studying economic aid. A
former Virginia COVE nor, U. S.
Congressman and United Nations
delegate, he said that it was a mis-
take to talk Of peaceful co-existence.
There can be no such a situation
as long as maximum freedom is
opposed BY the omnipotent state"
he emphasized. "An uneasy time
is the best that you graduates can
hope for today"
Darden noted that the United
States must be strongly armed, in
expressing the opinion that mutual
inspection would be acceptable, only
if it is bilateral and nothing is left
to chance
only a change in the political
composition of Russia would make
disarmament possible" he said.
Teachers Challenge
Suggesting that times Of turbu-
lence may be responsible for more
progress than times Of serenity and
peace. Darden told the l18 gradu-
ates that he hoped that they would
live to q the day when Virginia
high schools will do justice to the
large number Of bright and am
bilious students who are today held
back because Virginia's public
school system is geared to lower
standards.
''Virginia's public school system
must resort to far greater selectivity
than 1t has III the past if it is to
meet the needs of the future" Oar
den said. He confessed that his
views have not been received with
any enthusiasm by high S h oil
people.
Darden told the capacity audi
ence in Jarman auditorium that
the most pressing problem con-
fronting our state. its school system,
lies within the profession Of most
Of the graduates. The difficulty
arises out Of a rapid and prolonged
rise in the birth rate and the re-
sulting increase in public school en-
rollment.
He mentioned the plans of state
supported universities and colleges
in noting the recommendations Of
the advisory legislative committee
for establishment Of two-year COM
munity colleges lii or near popula-
ton centers.
The new Clinch Valley College
IN Wise county and the proposed
college for the Northern Virginia
area, and others to be established
later. viii do much TO take care Of
the added number Of young men
and women who want to go to col
lege, and will also permit the older
institutions to meet the added bur
den thrown on to them without too
much expansion and growth
Darden warned Of the perils Of
mediocrity in education at all levels,
saying that the people Of the United
States have experimental success
fully with mass education without
receiving the full benefits because
largely due to sentiment. we have
failed to drop from school those
obviously not intellectually equipped
to deal with high school work or
those not disposed to deal with it."
II am fully aware that children
mature at different rates, and it
IS not always easy to make the dis
tinctions which | have in mind. But
no one. fully acquainted with our
schools, al deny that what pres
emily obtains Is an injustice to a
large number Of bright and am
bilious students"
The University president asserted
that ''the result Of this system is
a failure on the part of our state
and our society to benefit anything
like we should from an experiment
which has almost unlimited posi-
bilities.
The mass tends to mediocrity
and conformity. Unless this can be
realized and dealt with. the public
school system car never be as good
as it can and ought to be.
+ hope that during your tenure
as teachers, OF &c. tainly during
your lifetime, you Will see us in
Virginia taking some effective steps
to this end" he concluded.