Brief for the higher education of the negro

by Kelly Miller

THE MORAL IMPOTENCY OF ELEMENTARY AND MECHANICAL KNOWLEDGE.

Again, the higher education should be encouraged because of the moral impotency of all the modes of education which do not touch and stir the human spirit. It is folly to suppose that the moral nature of the child is improved because it has been taught to read and write and cast up accounts, or to practice a handicraft. Tracing the letters of the alphabet with a pen has no bearing on the Golden Rule. The spelling of words by sounds and syllables does not lead to the observance of the Ten Commandments. Drill in the multiplication table does not fascinate the learner with the sermon on the mount. Rules in grammar, dates in history, sums in arithmetic, and points in geography do not strengthen the grasp on moral truth. The ability to saw to a line or hit a nail aplomb with a hammer does not create a zeal for righteousness and truth. It is only when the pupil comes to feel the vitalizing power of knowledge that it begins to re-act upon the life and to fructify in character. This is especially true of a backward race whose acquisitive power outruns its apperceptive faculty.