Progress and Achievements of the Colored People: Containing the Story of the Wonderful Advancement of the Colored Americans—the Most Marvelous in the History of Nations—Their Past Accomplishments, Together With Their Present-day Opportunities and a Glimpse Into the Future for Further Developments—the Dawn of a Triumphant Era. A Handbook for Self-improvement Which Leads to Greater Success
John Stuart Mill · en
_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.”