By Columbus McKeel, Ahoskie High School
We are living in a new era today; one unsurpassed in the annals of history for its wonderful educational facilities.
For several centuries the person who was able to secure an education was fortunate indeed. It was a thing almost unthought of by the people from the lower stations of life. But there has been a tremendous change. No longer does monarchial government hod full sway as it did in ancient times. It has disappeared and its place has been taken by a broad democracy. A democracy stronger than any monarchy ever was, a democracy under which every man has a voice in the government of his country. We have a government “of the people, for the people, and by the people.”
But what brought about this change? The answer is not hard to find if we will glance back a few centuries and let our eyes rest upon monarchial Europe. We see countries ruled over by tyrants whose every word is law. We see the nobility, rich and idle and unscrupulous, ready at all times to carry out any command of the king, however unjust it may be, in order to win favor at court. Then we see the people poor, down-trodden and ignorant. It is indeed a pitiful sight. We see them toiling from morning till night to support the county’s monarch and gain a miserable living for themselves. But what can they do? Nothing is the answer. There is no chance for advancement in life for they are ignorant and their money taken for taxes. There came a time though when the people, ignorant and downtrodden as they were, grew tired of oppression. They rebelled against the monarch who for so long a time had held them under this thumb. They became more and more independent, and as a result almost all over the world today is ruled by democracy instead of autocracy.
Under the present system of government, colleges and other institutions of learning have been founded. This has been done for the purpose of educating the people. there is a reason why the people should be educated, a reason of vastly improved importance than lots of people apply to it.
Here is the reason. Our government is a government made up of the people and run by the people. In order to make it a success, it must be run intelligently, and to run it intelligently, the ones who are running it must from a necessity be intelligent people.
To be an intelligent citizen of this country one does not necessarily have to have a college education. But every natin must have leaders, not only governmental leaders, but industrial leaders, educational leaders, and leaders for the hundreds of other things that make our government what it is, and the better educated a man is, the better fitted is he to assume leadership. Still, we cannot all be leaders, but is that any reason why we should not seek a college education? Most assuredly not.
With the opportunities open to the American boys and girls, every one of us should be satisfied with nothing less than a college education. There are thousands of ways in which we would be benefitted by it. Take the time spent in college. We are preparing ourselves for the battle that lies ahead of us, the battle of life. The training we received consists not only of text-book matter, but we also receive a course in the study of human nature that we would not get elsewhere. We are thrown with hundreds of people daily, everyone different from the other, and the number of things we notice and make a lasting impression upon us is surprisingly great. This knowledge is of great importance to us in later life, especially in our dealings with people who are strangers to us.
We are taught refinement, a mark of character that never leaves us. If this is not clear to you, stop for a moment and do a little thinking. Picture in your mind a boy, who at the end of his high school career, is unfortunate enough never to have received any training in culture and refinement. Four years later, look at the same boy at the close of his college career. You are surprised, you have a perfect right to be. Instead of the blushing, bashful, scared boy of four years before, you see a young man, calm, collected, perfectly at ease in any drawing room. One who can carry on an intelligent conversation on almost any subject. Is this not a help? Indeed it is. It is a thing longed for, and wished for by thousands daily. But they do not have it, so they are compelled to stand aside and see the ones who have acquired it take the places which the unfortunate ones have coveted so long.
Then comes the thing of more importance than anything I have yet mentioned. That of training us for the work we intend to do after we have finished our college course.
Every person has a certain amount of ability along some line. Lots of times he never knows in what way his talent can best be used until he goes to college. Then under the supervision of skilled men, who can do, his training begins. Four years later if he has worked and not idled away his time, he comes fourth with a mind trained to meet the problems of life.
Next, we find the man in after years. We see him steadily climbing the latter of fame and success. We find him among the leading people of . . . .
From page 6 of The Chowanian, Chowan College, Murfreesboro, N.C., April 24, 1924. The story was continued on page 7, but page 7 was never scanned. If you need the rest of the story, you will have to find a copy of this newspaper.
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