Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 10.djvu/394

 EDUCATION IN THE SOUTH.

I. BEFORE THE WAR.

IN dealing with southern education, an adequate conception can be gained only after first making an examination of the industrial organization of the South. This is owing to the now generally recognized fact that systems of education are out- growths of and dependent upon the economic environment in which they originate and develop. The educational, like the political, institution may be designated a " superstructure " in that it has at all times reflected and been a product of the particu- lar economic conditions existing in a given social stage, being shaped to meet the demands of the industrial and commercial organization of that period. This interpretation of the place in society occupied by the educational institution puts the source of all improvement and development of education in the industrial life. While the economic organization is thus the basic factor in determining the curriculum of the school, it exerts an influence in yet another direction. Through the financial support which it affords or withholds it is the source of existence of the educa- tional system. Upon the sum appropriated from the social income for educational purposes depend the number and equipment of the school buildings, the efficiency of the leaching force, and the length of the school year. In other words, it determines both the quality and the quantity of education.

In considering education in the South, the period taken for review necessarily cannot be brief, if we are to trace the surviving influences of earlier industrial forms and their resulting institu- tions. Without this attention to the developmental side, the method of action and body of thought that characterize the South will not be seen in their true perspective, and the educational situa- tion becomes an unsolvable problem. The object of this paper, therefore, will be, while tracing briefly the economic evolution of the South, to point out the accompanying growth and modifica- tions of education.

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