In the discussion concerning Negro education we should not forget the
talented tenth man. An ordinary education may answer for the nine men of
mediocrity; but if this is all we offer the talented tenth man, we make a
prodigious mistake. The tenth man, with superior natural endowments,
symmetrically trained and highly developed, may become a mightier
influence, a greater inspiration to others than all the other nine, or
nine times nine like them. Without disparagement of faithful men of
moderate abilities, it may be said that in all ages the mighty impulses
that have propelled a people onward in their progressive career, have
proceeded from a few gifted souls. Sometimes these have been "self-made"
men, so-called, whose best powers were evoked by rare opportunities.
Oftener, they have been men of thoroughly disciplined minds, of sharpened
perceptive faculties, trained to analyze and to generalize; men of
well-balanced judgments and power of clear and forceful statement.
It is this talented tenth man of our colleges that in after years reflects
more honor on his _alma mater_ than the other nine; it is this tenth man
that is the recognized leader in his profession and the leader of public
opinion. To him, rather than to the other nine, the many look for
suggestion and advice in important matters. He is an uncrowned king in his
sphere.
This being true, I repeat that not to make proper provision for the high
education of the talented tenth man of the colored people is a prodigious
mistake. It is to dwarf the tree that has in it the potency of a grand
oak. Industrial education is good for the nine; the common English
branches are good for the nine; but that tenth man ought to have the best
opportunities for making the most of himself for humanity and God.
The powers of this talented tenth man are often latent; unsuspected by
others and even by their possessor, and are evoked only under favorable
conditions, sometimes comparatively late in the youthful period of life.
In a symmetrical course of study calculated to bring into exercise every
mental faculty, somewhere, as by a touchstone, the particular aptitude of
the pupil may be discovered, the secret springs of power be opened; and
the man, having discovered himself, leaps forward to pre-eminence among
his fellows. Scores of such men and women are among the students in the
schools for the colored people of the South. A mere common education will
not disclose their uncommon powers; they need the test of the best. And
somewhere, at several central points at least, provision should be made
for the higher education of the talented tenth as well as ordinary
education for the other nine.
The great need of the colored people of the South is wise leadership along
all lines of development; men of large and comprehensive views acquired by
contact and communion with the world’s great thinkers; such men are needed
to-day even more than nine times as many with a little more practical
knowledge concerning the use of the saw, the jack-plane and the
blacksmith’s forge. In our educational work for the colored people,
therefore, proper provision should be made for the talented tenth.--DR.
MOREHOUSE in _The Independent_.