Now hardly any one will be found to object to this principle, though
when education in the large is considered many distinguished educators
feel that in arriving at its large aim the "Modern School" is not
altogether fair to some of the more traditional subjects in the
curriculum. So far as higher education for the Negro is concerned,
however, there is one point at which the utilitarians persistently
misunderstand those who do not wholly agree with them. No one better
appreciates the value of genuine industrial education than the
teachers in the Southern colleges. What they do oppose, however, is
that sort of large legislation which says that because the Negro is
mainly an agricultural race, his children as a whole should have that
sort of education which will make of them good farmers and domestics.
Such a program offers no outlet at all for the boy of unusual talent
and would ultimately irrevocably bind the whole race in the chains of
serfs.
What then should be the aim of Negro education? We affirm that each
boy should receive such education as would not only enable him to
develop his individual powers to their highest point, but also enable
him to fulfill his function most serviceably as a citizen of a great
free republic. Such an aim it seems not altogether unreasonable to
ask. Many Negroes will undoubtedly for many years find their true
economic place as domestic servants, many will be and should be
farmhands; but no scheme of education whatsoever should be devised
that would logically force _every_ Negro boy or girl into such
occupations as these whatever may be the individual capacity or
desire.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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