In the development of Negro education the various types or kinds of
education have received much discussion and the conflicting claims of
certain type of education have been ably presented by their advocates.
Space does not admit of a full discussion of the conflict which has
raged between the so-called “higher education” and the so called
“industrial education.” The most notable colored men who have taken
sides on this question during the past 25 years have been Dean Kelly
Miller and Dr. W. E. Dubois as advocate of the higher education and Dr.
Booker T. Washington, and Dr. R. R. Moton, as advocate of industrial
education. The result of the various discussions has been that the whole
nation has been convinced that there is, and can be no real conflict
between higher education for the Negro and industrial education. The
conviction is now very general that the Negro needs and should have
every type of instruction. The type of education most needed for the
full development are college education, professional education and
industrial education.
_College Education._—No type of education has meant more to the colored
people than college education. There are however very few institutions
of college grade among colored schools. Many institutions are called
colleges, but they have not been able to do real college work. According
to the recent report of the Bureau of Education, only 33 of the private
and State schools for colored people are doing work of college grade.
These institutions are classified into three groups. The following table
presents the facts for these institutions:
──────────────────────────┬──────────────┬───────┬─────────────┬───────
Characterization and Name │ │College│ │ Other
of College. │ Support. │Pupils.│Professional.│Pupils.
──────────────────────────┼──────────────┼───────┼─────────────┼───────
_All Colleges_ │ │ 1,952│ 1,093│ 10,089
“_Colleges_” │ │ 722│ 972│ 717
Fisk University │Independent │ 188│ │ 317
Howard University │Federal │ 534│ 467│ 400
Meharry Medical School │Independent │ │ 505│
“_Secondary and College_” │ │ 675│ 22│ 4,789
Atlanta University │Independent │ 44│ │ 542
Benedict College │Baptist │ 45│ │ 462
Bishop College │ „ │ 42│ │ 329
Claflin College │Methodist │ 26│ │ 788
│United │ │ │
Knoxville College │ Presbyterian│ 30│ │ 207
Lincoln University │Presbyterian │ 130│ │ 86
Morehouse College │Baptist │ 49│ │ 246
Morgan College │Methodist │ 26│ │ 55
Shaw University │Baptist │ 24│ 22│ 175
Talladega College │Congregational│ 45│ │ 516
Tougaloo University │ „ │ 20│ │ 424
Wilberforce University │A. M. E. │ 65│ │ 128
Wilberforce C. N. & I. │ │ │ │
Department │State │ 40│ │ 191
Wiley College │Methodist │ 38│ │ 346
Virginia Union University │Baptist │ 51│ │ 204
“_College Subjects_” │ │ 246│ │ 4,583
Arkansas Baptist College │Baptist │ 13│ │ 300
Biddle University │Presbyterian │ 22│ │ 185
Clark University │Methodist │ 32│ │ 272
Florida A. & M. College │Land-grant │ 12│ │ 333
Lane College │C. M. E. │ 10│ │ 208
Livingston College │A. M. E. Z. │ 17│ │ 174
Morris Brown University │A. M. E. │ 10│ │ 498
New Orleans College │Methodist │ 9│ │ 423
Paine College │M. E. South │ 14│ │ 188
Paul Quinn College │A. M. E. │ 13│ │ 273
Philander Smith College │Methodist │ 39│ │ 400
Rust College │ „ │ 16│ │ 320
Sam Houston College │ „ │ 18│ │ 359
Straight University │Congregational│ 11│ │ 567
Tillotson College │ „ │ 18│ │ 215
──────────────────────────┴──────────────┴───────┴─────────────┴───────
Of the 12762 pupils in total attendance on these institutions, only
1,643 are studying college subjects, and 995 are in professional
classes. The remaining 10,125 pupils are in elementary and secondary
grades.
In reply to a questionnaire sent to all the Northern colleges, 66
reported a total of 430 Negro students of college grade. Of these 309
were in college proper, 86 were in medical courses, including dental and
pharmaceutical; 10 were in theological schools; 18 in law; and 7 in
veterinary medicine. It is probable that the total number of students in
northern institutions is at least 500.
Only three institutions, Howard University, Fisk University, and Meharry
Medical College, have a student body, a teaching force and equipment and
an income sufficient to warrant the characterization of “college.”
Nearly half of the college students and practically all of the
professional students are in these institutions.
_Professional Education._—The standards of professional training are so
involved with the development of colleges that for some time to come the
professional training of colored people must be carried on largely in
connection with college and secondary work. The scarcity of good
teachers, the great need for increased library and laboratory
facilities, and the small enrollments in all institutions of higher
learning for colored people, render the chances of the development of
strong professional schools better where they are affiliated with
schools of collegiate or university grade.
At present, less than ten institutions for colored people offer
professional courses with teaching force and equipment separate from
their academic departments. The majority of these are affiliated with
colleges. Howard University has a medical, a law, and a theological
department, with considerable equipment and a full quota of students in
each department. Meharry Medical College has a large student body and a
valuable plant. The theological department of Lincoln University,
Lincoln, Pa., is fairly well equipped; but the number of pupils is
small. Gammon Theological Seminary, Atlanta, Ga., is a well endowed
institution owned by the Methodist Episcopal denomination. The teaching
force and equipment are adequate, but the number of students is not
large. Bishop Payne Divinity School of the Protestant Episcopal
denomination, Petersburg, Va., has a scholarly faculty, but a small
number of students. Tuskegee Institute maintains a department for the
instruction of rural ministers. The instruction is effective and
practical. Talladega College provides a separate building for the
Theological Seminary, and its teaching force is separate; but the number
of students is small. Payne Theological Seminary, of Wilberforce
University, is incorporated independently and its work is done by its
own teachers and its own building.
Virginia Union University, Richmond, Va., and Morehouse College,
Atlanta, Ga., do not have a separate plant for their theological
departments; but the instruction is effective and the number of students
is fair. Shaw University, Raleigh, N. C., maintains a preparatory
medical course, and offers instruction to ministerial students. Other
institutions maintaining theological departments are Livingstone
College, Salisbury, N. C.; Biddle University, Charlotte, N. C.; Paine
College, Augusta, Ga.; and Stillman Institute, Tuscaloosa, Ala. The
following table gives the names, together with the number of teachers
and pupils in the theological schools:
───────────────────────────────────┬─────────────────┬─────────────────
THEOLOGICAL SCHOOLS. │ Teachers. │ Students.
───────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────┼─────────────────
Gammon Theological Seminary │ 6│ 78
Tuskegee Institute │ 3│ 77
Howard University │ 4│ 73
Lincoln University │ 6│ 54
Wilberforce University │ 4│ 30
Virginia Union University │ 6│ 24
Stillman Institute │ 2│ 21
Morehouse College │ 2│ 18
Bishop Payne Divinity School │ 4│ 15
Livingstone College │ 3│ 14
Talladega College │ 2│ 10
Shaw University │ 2│ 10
Paine College │ 2│ 9
Biddle University │ 2│ 8
───────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────┼─────────────────
Total │ 40│ 441
───────────────────────────────────┴─────────────────┴─────────────────
The one law school of note is at Howard University. It has a separate
building, a three-story structure, located near the District Courthouse.
Applicants for admission must be graduates of a recognized high school
or college. The regular course for the degree of LL. B. covers a period
of three years.
The attendance was 106, of whom 104 were male, and 2 female. There were
8 teachers, 5 white and 3 colored; all are men.
The medical profession offers the largest opportunity for the ambitious
young colored man. The number of colored physicians, according to the
United States Census of 1910, was 3,077; colored dentists were 478 in
number. Each group is increasing rapidly. The following table gives the
number of medical students in the different colleges.
────────────────────────┬─────────┬─────────┬─────────┬────────────────
│ Total. │Medical. │ Dental. │Pharmaceutical.
────────────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┼─────────┼────────────────
All Schools │ 878│ 431│ 287│ 160
Howard University │ 288│ 100│ 116│ 72
Meharry Medical College │ 482│ 291│ 137│ 54
Shaw University │ 22│ 9│ │ 13
Northern Colleges │ 86│ 31│ 34│ 21
────────────────────────┴─────────┴─────────┴─────────┴────────────────
_Industrial Education._—The phrase “industrial education” as applied to
colored schools is very misleading. While the effective industrial
schools are making a genuine effort to develop industrial skill, this
fundamental purpose is much broader than vocational efficiency or the
resulting comfort and culture. The underlying principle of these schools
is the adaptation of educational activities, whether industrial or
literary, to the needs of the pupil and the community. Leaders in these
schools believe that education should include not only the head but the
hand and the heart. These broad purposes were strikingly expressed by
Gen. Armstrong, the founder of Hampton Institute, in his school reports
as early as 1870. The following quotations from these reports illustrate
the principles which guided him in the organization of his work:
The past of our colored population has been such that an institution
devoted especially to them must provide a training more than usually
comprehensive, must include both sexes and a variety of occupation, must
produce moral as well as mental strength, and while making its students
first-rate mechanical laborers, must also make them first-rate men and
women.
Through Dr. H. B. Frissell, his successor as principal of Hampton
Institute, and through the late Dr. Booker T. Washington, his pupil,
Gen. Armstrong’s idea of education for life has been worthily advocated
and extended, until now his thoughts are the common property of all
progressive leaders of education.
In discussing industrial education, Dr. Thomas Jesse Jones of the Bureau
of Education, has eloquently said:
“Industrial education in the comprehensive sense is the very essence of
democracy in education. Civilized society has long been democratic in
the advocacy of education for all the people, regardless of race, color,
and previous condition. In curriculum and method, however, the schools
of the land have continued to be both aristocratic and arbitrary.
Subjects introduced in the middle ages to meet the needs of the
aristocracy of that time have been retained for their cultural value.
Democracy in the content of education demands that the curriculum shall
impart culture through knowledge and practice related to the farm, the
shop, the office, and, above all, the home.”
According to figures recently published by the Bureau of Education there
are 61 public and private institutions which offer some industrial
training to their pupils, and 174 with manual training and household
arts courses. Of the former group, 29 are maintained by State and
Federal funds. The 16 agricultural and mechanical schools largely
supported by appropriations from the National Government are fairly well
equipped to teach the more important trades and to train girls in
household arts. Only a few of them, however, teach the trades
effectively, and practically all subordinate the industrial training to
the literary instruction. The 13 State institutions are schools of
elementary and secondary grade, with some teacher-training courses and
some facilities for manual training. Six of them are located in Northern
States. In addition to these State institutions, well-managed manual
training schools are maintained by the cities of Washington, D. C.;
Charleston, S. C., and Columbus, Ga.
The private institutions are divided into two groups: Hampton Institute
and Tuskegee Institute, with their large plants, constitute the first
group. They occupy a unique position, not only for their influence among
the schools for colored people, but also for the part they play in
determining the educational policies of the country.
A number of effective movements for the extension of industrial
education have been organized within the past ten years. These movements
are the result of the cooperation of the Jeanes Fund, the Slater Fund,
and the General Education Board with the State and county departments of
education. Through this cooperation, State supervisors of colored
schools have been appointed in ten Southern States and county industrial
teachers are maintained in 131 counties of these and other States. These
agencies have organized home-makers’ clubs, encouraged the introduction
of industrial courses into the schools, and assisted in arousing public
opinion favorable to industrial education.
No discussion of industrial education is complete without reference to
the late Dr. Booker T. Washington, who in this field attained world-wide
fame and brought more to the cause of all education, than any other
individual of this generation. His life history and the wonderful story
of Tuskegee, which he founded, are too well known to be given in detail.
But his influence was not limited to Tuskegee. He did more than any
other individual in teaching the world “that democracy’s plan for the
solution of the race problem in the Southland is not primarily in the
philanthropies and wisdom of Northern people; nor is it in the desires
and struggles of the colored people; nor yet in the first hand knowledge
and daily contacts of the Southern white people. Democracy’s plan is in
the combination of the best thought and the deepest sympathy and the
most abiding faith of these three groups working with mutual faith in
one another.”
No more appropriate ending can be found to this section on industrial
education or the entire chapter on Negro education, than the beautiful
poem of Paul Lawrence Dunbar, written as a tribute to Dr. Washington:
The word is writ that he who runs may read,
What is the passing breath of earthly fame?
But to snatch glory from the hands of blame—
That is to be, to live, to strive indeed.
A poor Virginia Cabin gave the seed.
And from its dark and lowly door there came
A peer of princes in the world’s acclaim,
A master spirit for the Nation’s need.
Strong, silent, purposeful beyond his kind,
The mark of rugged force on brow and lip,
Straight on he goes, nor turns to look behind
Where hot the hounds come baying at his hip,
With one idea foremost in his mind,
Like the keen prow of some on-forging ship.
[Illustration:
Y. M. C. A. BUILDING, KANSAS CITY, MO.
]
THE TRAINING OF CHILDREN
The Child an Imitator
Imitation is the basis of all education; it is instruction through
action. Especially so is this in the case of young children. The tiny
infant lying so snugly within his mother’s arms, knows nothing of the
“why and wherefore” of this world. It is content, and as long as its
physical wants are looked after, it matters not. Toward the ending of
the first year it begins to take notice, and we see the fond mother
teaching her darling to shake bye-bye, play pat-a-cake, and to throw a
kiss from his tiny fingers. All these gestures are mere imitations of
what he sees. He hasn’t the slightest idea of the meaning of it all.
Later the infant will imitate the noise of the “bow-wow,” the “moo-cow”
and he will do his best to “mew” like a cat. These, too, are imitations
of what he hears and are of importance in its development.
An interesting story is told of a young mother who took great pains to
teach her first little one to lisp “Da-Da” at the approach of its
father. The mother succeeded admirably and the fond father never got
tired of hearing his little one utter this new name of his. What was
their utter dismay when one day a despicable looking tramp came to the
door and the little one insisted in holding out its arms to him and
fondly calling him “Da-Da.” We can easily see that the early knowledge
of a child is an imitation of what he sees and hears and you, watchful
mother, must always keep the watchwords, “what he sees” and “what he
hears” ever before you, and let it be the keynote of all early training.
It is always interesting to watch children at play; more so when they
are playing “house” or some other amusement relative to home life. Have
you not noticed how the little girl will assume the manner and actions
of her own mother? Supposedly, the “dolly” has been taken suddenly ill
and the doctor has been sent for. It is a most critical case and the
little boy who is playing doctor will knit and pucker up his brow and
will imitate the solemnity and dignity of the professional man most
vividly. He even tries to make his voice lower and gruffer in tone, so
as to make the “doctor” more real. Yes, children in their play are prime
representatives of realities and are often good teachers in some
respects, for they are not only good imitators but good observers.