MAKING EDUCATION PAY ITS WAY
I cannot emphasise too often the fact that my experience in building
up the Tuskegee Institute has taught me year by year the value of
hand work in the building of character. I have frequently found one
concrete, definite example illustrating the difference between right
and wrong worth more than hours of abstract lecturing on morality. I
have told girls many times that a dish is either thoroughly washed and
dried or it is not. If a thing is not well done, it is poorly done.
Furthermore, I have taught our girls from the beginning of this school
that a student who receives pay for properly attending to dishes,
and does her work poorly, is guilty of two wrongs. She is guilty of
falsehood and guilty of receiving money for doing something which she
has not done.
This lesson taught in the kitchen, with the carelessly cleaned utensil
in evidence as an illustration, has a power that is hard to resist.
Just so the implement left in the field over night has many times
been made to teach the same lessons--of warning against untruth and
dishonesty. Leaving it there was untruthful, because the student had
said by his action that he had properly performed the work of the day;
it was dishonest because the school had been robbed of a portion of the
value of the implement by reason of the rain and dew falling on it and
causing it to rust and depreciate in value.
In the beginning our methods of instruction in farming were primitive
and crude, but month by month, and year by year, steady growth
encouraged our efforts. One difficulty to which I have not referred
was that the land on which we began work was not the richest in the
world. When attention was called by the students and others to the poor
quality of the soil, I replied that poor soil was the best in which
to begin the teaching of agriculture, because this would give us an
opportunity to learn to make poor land rich. I told them also that if
we could teach the students how to cultivate poor land profitably they
would have little difficulty in making more than a living upon fairly
good or rich soil.
Apart from the problems found on the school grounds, our methods
were at first misunderstood by school officials in high authority
throughout the country, and our aims were not appreciated by other
schools established in the South for the education of my race. I
remember that after I had spoken for an hour at a meeting of a State
Teachers' Association, trying to explain the meaning and advantages
of industrial education or hand work, a teacher arose and asked the
State superintendent, who was present, a very simple question regarding
the subject. The superintendent replied that he would have to refer
the question to me, as the subject was one that he had never heard
discussed before. It happened occasionally that students on their
way to the Tuskegee Institute were asked if they were going to an
"ox-driving school," the question implying, I suppose, that the main
thing taught at Tuskegee was ox-driving. Our critics, however, did not
know that at the time we were too poor to own oxen, and that on our
little farm we had nothing in the way of draught animals except one
poor blind horse which a white friend in Tuskegee had given us.
During the first year the training in agriculture on the school farm
consisted of about two hours of work daily for each of the young men
students, the remaining time being spent in the class rooms. The
outdoor period, during the first school session, was mostly spent in
grubbing up stumps, felling trees, building fences, making ditches,
and in plowing the ground preparatory to planting a little crop. We
had few implements with which to do this work, and most of these were
borrowed. The reader will realise how hard it must have been under
these conditions to make the student feel that he was acquiring new
knowledge of farm life. As I recall it now, I am sure that the main
thing that we were able to teach the students in those early days was
that book education did not mean a divorce from work with the hands.
Gradually we were able to secure more land for farming purposes and to
cultivate what we did have to better advantage. As the school grew, we
learned more about the proper fertilisation of the soil, and how to
use labor-saving machinery more effectively. It was surprising to note
how many of the students believed that farm labour must from its very
nature be hard, and that it was not quite the proper thing to use too
much labour-saving machinery. Indeed, many of the white planters in
certain sections of the South have until recently refused to encourage
the use of much agricultural machinery, for the reason, as they stated
it, that such assistance would spoil the Negro "farm hands." For
some years the Tuskegee Institute did not escape this charge. As our
department of farming grew from month to month, I was not afraid to let
it be known that I felt certain that one result of any proper system of
hand training _was_ to spoil, or get rid of, the ordinary "farm hand."
If one will study the industrial development of the South, he will be
forced to the conclusion that one of the factors that has most retarded
its progress has been and is the "farm hand." This individual has too
long controlled the agriculture of the South. With few exceptions, he
is ignorant and unskilled, with little conscience. He seldom owns the
land which he pretends or tries to cultivate. Too often he is a person
who has no permanent abiding place, and if he has one it is probably a
miserable one-room cabin. The "farm hand" can be hired for from forty
to sixty cents a day. In fact, I have known of cases where such men
were hired for twenty-five cents a day and their board; and they were
very dear help even at that price.
[Illustration: IN THE AGRICULTURAL LABORATORY]
I believe that most of the worn-out and wasted fields, the poor stock,
the run-down fences, the lost and broken farm tools and machinery, as
well as the poor crops, are chargeable to the "farm hand" whom, I have
been warned so many times, I must be careful not to spoil. Such a man
is too ignorant to know what is going on in the world in progressive
agriculture. He is without skill to such an extent that he knows almost
nothing about setting up and operating labour-saving machinery. His
conscience has not been trained, and hence he has little idea of giving
an honest day's labour for a day's pay, and of doing unto others in
matters of labour as he would have others do unto him.
It will be seen at a glance that such a worker in the soil as this
cannot compete with the farmer of the Northwest, who owns the land
that he cultivates, who is intelligent, and who uses the latest
improved farm machinery. One such man is worth as much to the general
industrial interests of a country as three "farm hands." No country can
be very prosperous unless the people who cultivate the soil own it and
live on it. I repeat, then, that one of my first thoughts in beginning
agricultural training at the Tuskegee Institute was to help to replace
the "farm hand" of the South with something better.
As an illustration of the need of new ideas in farming, and of the
effect that the long-continued cultivation of a single crop has upon
the tiller, I remember that some years ago I invited a farmer into
my office and explained to him in detail how he could make thirty
dollars an acre on his land if he would plant a portion of it in
sweet potatoes, whereas if he planted cotton, as he had been doing
for years, he could make only fifteen dollars per acre in the best
season. As I explained the difference, step by step, he agreed with me
at every point, and when I came near to the end of my argument I began
to congratulate myself that I had converted at least one man from the
one-crop system to better methods. Finally, with what I fear was the
air of one who felt that he had won his case, I asked the farmer what
he was going to cultivate on his land the coming year. The old fellow
scratched his head, and said that as he was getting old, and had been
growing cotton all his life, he reckoned he would grow it to the end
of his few remaining years, although he agreed with me that he could
double the product of his land by planting sweet potatoes on it.
Soon after we had succeeded in clearing the trees and stumps from a
few acres of ground, we planted a small crop. This crop, as I have
stated, was not very different from others which the students had seen
planted or had taken part in planting at their homes, because the
school was poor in implements and stock. The main difference between
our first crop and those which the students had come into contact with
at their homes was that ours was to some extent a diversified crop. The
increasing number of students soon made it necessary to increase the
acreage of land cultivated. In the first few months of the Tuskegee
Institute the students boarded in families. This made it difficult to
get the greatest value out of our farm products. Partly to overcome
this, we arranged to begin boarding the students upon the school
grounds. Here another difficulty presented itself. It was found that a
student would be of little value to the farm and would gain very little
in knowledge and skill if he worked only a few hours each day. We
discovered that, after there had been subtracted the minutes required
for him to reach his work, get his tools, and otherwise prepare
himself, little time would be left for getting actual results out of
the soil. In order to overcome this weakness in our system, we decided
to follow in some measure the plan originated by General Armstrong at
the Hampton Institute. This was to have the students study in the class
rooms during four days of the week, and work on the farm two days. The
students, however, for a long while referred to these two days as "lost
days."
It was often amusing, as well as interesting, to note the intense faith
of the students in their books. The larger the book and the bigger the
words it contained, the more highly it was revered. At this time there
were almost no text-books which dealt with industrial subjects. For
this reason, any one who wanted to give instructions in such branches
had, in a very large measure, to "blaze" his way. The absence of
text-books on these subjects made it all the more difficult at first to
combine industrial and academic teaching. We partly solved the problem
by having the students work two days at some industry and study four
days in the school-room.
We found it advisable to consider not only the best system of teaching
in our practical work, but the economic values also. We felt that it
would be possible to teach the students the latest and best methods of
performing all kinds of hand work, and at the same time show them the
dignity of such service. But in addition to this we wanted the students
to do such work as they could about the school, work which otherwise
would have been done by hired men not connected with the institution.
[Illustration: ROAD-BUILDING BY TUSKEGEE STUDENTS]
We felt, therefore, that the fair thing to do would be to arrange some
scheme by which the student would receive compensation for all the work
of value which he did for the school. This we felt was not only just,
but would emphasise another valuable element in teaching. The lack of
this economic emphasis I have always felt to be one of the weak points
in manual training. To enable us to meet this condition, we decided
to have the students board on the school grounds, to charge them
eight dollars per month for their board, and then to give them credit
on their board-bills for all the work they did which proved to have
productive or money-saving value.
Aside from the economic results of the work, we knew that the mere
effort on the part of the student to help himself through school by
labour would prevent our making "hot-house plants" of our students, and
would prove worth while in character building. In all cases payment
for work depended upon the individual efforts of the students. One of
the dominating purposes kept always in mind was to give the student a
chance to help himself by means of some industry. In this connection,
I beg to say that in my judgment the whole problem of the future of my
race hinges largely upon the question: "To what extent will the Negro,
when given a chance, help himself, and make himself indispensable to
the community in which he lives?"
We soon learned that in the practical application of our scheme the
average student would earn from two to three dollars a month by working
two days in the week, leaving only five or six dollars to be paid in
cash. Some students were so much in earnest that they worked out more
than half of the eight dollars. This opportunity proved a godsend to
most of the students, as very few of them were able to pay the eight
dollars a month in cash during nine months of the year. Aside from
other considerations, we began to find out that we could quickly test
the worth of a student by the degree of earnestness which he evinced in
helping himself through labour with his hands. After a little while,
many of the students began to take great pride in telling their parents
at the end of each month how much they had helped themselves through
their work on the farm or in other industries. This information and
enthusiasm came in time to have its influence in leading the parents to
appreciate the value of hand training.
As the school grew in size and experience, it became apparent that we
ought to find a way to help the large number of young men and women
who were constantly seeking admission, but who had no money with which
to pay any portion of their expenses. We became convinced that some
of the most promising and worthy students were those who came from
the country districts, where they had had very few advantages of
book education. They had little or no money, but they had good strong
bodies, and were not ashamed to work with their hands. In reaching this
class of students I found that my experience at the Hampton Institute
was of great advantage. We decided to start a night school for students
who could not afford to go to school in the day time. The number who
availed themselves of this arrangement was very small at first. We
began by making a written contract with each student to the effect that
he or she was to work during the whole of the day at some industry,
and study in the class room for two hours at night, after the day's
work was completed. In order to put this plan upon a sound basis, the
following form of contract was signed:
TUSKEGEE NORMAL AND INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTE.
(INCORPORATED.)
This agreement, made the seventeenth day of October, 1902, between
James C. Black, of the first part, and Booker T. Washington,
Principal of The Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, of the
second part,
Witnesseth, that the said James C. Black has agreed faithfully,
carefully and truly to serve The Tuskegee Normal and Industrial
Institute, in whatever capacity the said Booker T. Washington,
Principal, etc., or those deputed by him, may designate, from date
hereof to the seventeenth day of October, 1904.
In consideration of service to be rendered by James C. Black, the
said Booker T. Washington, Principal, etc., has agreed to allow
said James C. Black eight dollars per month, provided he remains
until October 17, 1904; otherwise he has agreed to pay him at
the rate of one-fifth of that sum per month for the time he may
have been in the service of The Tuskegee Normal and Industrial
Institute; this latter amount to include all amounts which may
have been charged against said James C. Black.
It is agreed, further, that the amount earned shall be reserved
in the hands of the said Booker T. Washington, Principal, etc.,
the same to be used in paying the expenses of said James C. Black
in the regular classes of The Tuskegee Normal and Industrial
Institute. In case the said James C. Black leaves school
voluntarily, or is dismissed after the expiration of the time for
which he agrees to serve, he is to forfeit all that the school may
owe him at that time.
It is further agreed that no part of what said James C. Black may
earn shall be transferred to another's account, but shall be kept
for James C. Black's exclusive use after he shall have entered the
Day School.
It is distinctly understood that what said James C. Black may earn
is for the purpose of paying board, and no part can be drawn in
cash.
In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands and seals.
JAMES C. BLACK (L. S.)
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON (L. S.)
WITNESS: { ABRAM T. BLACKETT
{ GEORGE F. MAY