Among white Southerners this feeling
is widespread and positive. A prominent Southern journal
voiced this in a recent editorial.
"The experiment that has been made to give the colored
students classical training has not been satisfactory. Even
though many were able to pursue the course, most of them
did so in a parrot-like way, learning what was taught, but not
seeming to appropriate the truth and import of their instruc-
tion, and graduating without sensible aim or valuable oc-
cupation for their future. The whole scheme has proved a
waste of time, efforts, and the money of the state."
While most fair-minded men would recognize this as ex-
treme and overdrawn, still without doubt many are asking,
Are there a sufficient number of Negroes ready for college
training to warrant the undertaking? Are not too many stu-
dents prematurely forced into this work? Does it not have the
effect of dissatisfying the young Negro with his environment?
And do these graduates succeed in real life? Such natural
questions cannot be evaded, nor on the other hand must a
Nation naturally skeptical as to Negro ability assume an
unfavorable answer without careful inquiry and patient open-
ness to conviction.
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