The teachers and citizens of Kentucky are pioneers in the movement, which has now become nation-wide and has even been adopted in other countries. The movement which they have so unselfishly fostered demands the best that is in us all at this time when the last battle in the crusade against illiteracy in Kentucky is being waged.
I honor the moonlight school teachers and set a high value upon the service which they are volunteering to render to humanity and to the state. May that service enrich their own lives as much as it will their fellow-men and the great commonwealth of Kentucky.
James D. Black,
Governor.
The moonlight school teachers were aided and supervised by the county illiteracy agents. These field forces had gradually increased in number since the first experiment was tried out with them in three mountain counties in 1915. Kentucky meanwhile had made two appropriations, $10,000 in 1916, and this had been increased to $75,000 in 1918. The field agents of the Illiteracy Commission now numbered seventy-five. An institute was held for these county agents at the State Capitol, where they were gathered for training at the state’s expense. After a week’s deliberation and discussion of the problem of illiteracy and the methods of attack, they went into the field with an enthusiasm that was contagious and well-nigh irresistible. These county agents were men and women of professional training and high attainments. Many of them were college and university graduates. They were practically volunteers, their salaries being only about sufficient to cover their traveling expenses. What the teacher attempted in her district, they attempted in the county in a larger way. The story of the campaign made by these agents, their daily and nightly travel on horseback or afoot, their valiant efforts to reach illiterates, their ready arguments, their tact and diplomacy, their enthusiasm and pluck would fill a volume in itself. The spirit of these leaders and the scope of their operations are revealed in the following report of a young woman who was one of this corps of earnest workers:
I am sending you the final report of the work done in Pulaski County.
First, I desire to thank the Illiteracy Commission for extending me the privilege of serving the best cause in Kentucky, the effort to teach the illiterates, the most unfortunate people in the world, and to prevent illiteracy by enforcing the compulsory attendance law.
I am happy to report forty-eight moonlight schools organized and two hundred and fifty illiterates taught to read and write. Besides this, one hundred or more are being taught at home.
The people have shown a co-operative spirit and in many districts volunteered to teach in the moonlight schools. They are anxious to have this curse erased, as they realize it is a menace and prevents progress in every community where it exists.
The illiteracy work has had excellent results, many too numerous to mention, but,
First. It has shown the need of a new educational system where the unfortunates can be given a chance to learn and advance.