Raleigh, April 29 (AP)—the Brasstown community of Cherokee and Clay counties, in the far southwestern end of the state, is the scene of something new in North Carolina education and co-operation, according to staff members of the State department of agriculture, recently returned from a study of what is occurring in the Brasstown community.
In that locality has been established what is known as the John C. Campbell Folk School, modeled after the folk high school of Denmark, which is characterized as an “experiment in adult education.”
“Education is not a process to be measured by academic grades and degrees,” according to the Danish conception. “The humbler tasks of farms, shop, and home have a cultural value more fundamental than that of books. Education should not discredit such labor, but should give it meaning, breadth and depth.
Brasstown was selected for this experiment, in the words of a department of agriculture agent, because it is “a section poor but capable of agricultural development, a natural center for an area of some 50 square miles. It is on a good highway, within 8 ½ miles of Murphy, the terminus of two railroads, and is about 100 miles from the markets of Asheville, Knoxville and Atlanta. “Its greatest asset is its citizenship, a strong group of small farmers with a high reputation for integrity. Ninety-seven per cent are landowners.
“their desire for a school which will help the country is partially indicated by the following pledges made by 116 citizens: Over $800 in cash; locust posts; telephone poles; building logs; building stone; firewood and native shrubs, trees and bulbs. A total of 1,495 days of labor, 397 with teams, is likewise pledged during the first three years of the school. Three hundred eighty-eight days of labor, yearly, without time limit, has also been pledged. In addition, 30 acres of land as a site has been offered the school.”
As one of the initial steps in this “enterprise in co-operation,” it is said, a savings and loan association has been organized in the community. Sixteen men and women joined the association at the initial meeting, and subscribed 18 shares of stock. This is the first savings and loan association to be organized in this section of North Carolina.
From the front page of the Concord Daily Tribune, Friday, April 29, 1926
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92073201/1926-04-29/ed-2/seq-1/
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