The Mooney School deserves mention next on our list. In 1886 Messrs. S. V. Wall and W. D. Mooney took charge of the school at Culleoka. After three years they removed to Franklin, Tenn., where they built up the well-known Battleground Academy. About eight years ago Mr. Wall removed to Honey Grove, Texas, where he still has a large school. Mr. Mooney continued the work at Franklin. In 1902 his school building was destroyed by fire, and he was induced to move to Murfreesboro, where handsome grounds and buildings had been provided for his use at an expense of about $30,000. The Mooney School has furnished many students to Vanderbilt University and they have frequently carried off the honors of the University for high scholarship. The Wallace University School was opened in Nashville, in 1886. The principal, Mr. C. B. Wallace, impressed himself so strongly on his pupils and patrons that a building was soon erected for his use in order to fix his school at Nashville. The Wallace School has sent more pupils to Vanderbilt University within the past ten years than any other school except Webb’s, and in proportion to its enrollment it is far ahead of any in University attendance. Fourteen of its graduates of June, 1904, entered Vanderbilt a few months later.
But it is necessary that our sketch proceed more rapidly. The popularity of the training school idea began to be manifest in many quarters. In McKenzie there had been established an institution known as McTyeire College—a college doing the work for an academy. Later this was transformed into McTyeire Institute, and Joshua H. Harrison, a Vanderbilt graduate, was put in charge. At present this school has for its principal James A. Robins and is growing in strength and influence every year. In 1892 the Louisville Methodist Conference established the Vanderbilt Training School at Elkton, Ky. This action was taken against the efforts of many who wanted a college, and is another proof of the recognition of sound educational values.
Quite a large number of other schools can be enumerated that owe their origin more or less directly to the policy of Vanderbilt University. Among these are the Branham and Hughes School, Spring Hill, Tenn.; the Peoples School, Franklin, Tenn.; the Morgan School, Fayetteville, Tenn.; the Smyrna Fitting School, Smyrna, Tenn.; Pryor Institute, Jasper, Tenn.; Union City Training School, Union City, Tenn.; Dresden Training School, Dresden, Tenn.; McFerrin School, Martin, Tenn.; Howard Institute, Mt. Pleasant, Tenn.; Jonesboro Training School, Jonesboro, Ark.; Fordyce Training School, Fordyce, Ark.; Bridgeport Training School, Bridgeport, Ala.; Luna Training School, Franklin, Ky.; Smith Grove Academy, Smith Grove, Ky.; Weatherford Training School, Weatherford, Texas; Hawkins School, Gallatin, Tenn.; Fitzgerald School, Trenton, Tenn.; Cornersville Training School, Cornersville, Tenn.; Training School, Anniston, Ala.; Bowen School, Nashville, Tenn.; Training School, Thomasville, Ala.; Culleoka Academy, Culleoka, Tenn. Not all of these schools have been equally successful; some of them, perhaps, have ceased to live, but the training school idea is stronger to-day than ever before. In some communities this kind of work finds little support or encouragement. Consequently, no training school can live or succeed there. Honesty and thoroughness are the qualities that have marked Vanderbilt training schools, and some people wish neither of these in educational work. Educational shams and fake universities and colleges still command the admiration and patronage of many.
Special attention should be called to the Branham and Hughes School at Spring Hill, Tenn. Though one of the youngest, this is now the largest and one of the most flourishing of the Tennessee training schools. Recently $15,000 has been spent for improvements of property. The enrollment for the present year is 316, and nine teachers are employed. The Peoples School at Franklin, Tenn., and the Morgan School at Fayetteville, Tenn., are also meeting with great success. Both of these have strong local support, having been provided with splendid new buildings, with dormitories and gymnasium; both have strong men at their head and more than 200 students apiece.
The result of this movement is that Vanderbilt University now receives a majority of its incoming class from the best schools in the South. In the fall of 1903 seventy-five students entered the University from schools more or less directly affiliated with Vanderbilt and imbued with Vanderbilt ideals. In September, 1904, four schools furnished the University fifty students. Within the past ten years ten schools have furnished the freshman class with more than five hundred students—that is, more than fifty every year.
Greater still is the result that has been accomplished for the general cause of education. While the Webb School has furnished the University about one hundred students in ten years, it has in that same time assisted in educating seven or eight hundred. Many of these did not finish their course at school, some finished and attended other universities, more finished and went to work. But on all the influence of those years of earnest, thorough school work will be an incalculable benefit. Similar is the record of all the other schools.
Still another outgrowth of this movement has been that training schools, owing no allegiance to any particular university, have sprung up in many points and are contributing largely to the intellectual development of our people. Excellent schools of this character may now be found in Memphis, Chattanooga, Atlanta, Birmingham, Montgomery, Mobile, and many small places.
Stimulated by Vanderbilt’s example, the Association of Colleges and Preparatory Schools of the Southern States has been formed, an organization that is devoting itself to the upbuilding of good preparatory schools, whether public or private, and the enforcement of a respectable standard of admission to college.
Finally, we may ask the question whether this work will be permanent. Will not these schools disappear before the advance of the public high school? Perhaps so, to some extent, but never entirely. The public high schools have made great progress in Mississippi and Texas, stimulated by the demands of the state universities, but elsewhere in the South their progress is still slow. A recent article by Commissioner Harris gave a most cheering account of the growth of public high schools in the South. In that he records one hundred public high schools for Tennessee, with more than 5,000 students. But the records of the Commissioner himself will show that not as many students go to college from all this number as from half a dozen Vanderbilt training schools. In fact, one is forced to doubt the accuracy of many returns. For example, twenty-five of these hundred schools report a four year high school course; but only three years are reported for the high schools at Nashville, Knoxville, Jackson, Murfreesboro, and Columbia. Only Chattanooga and Memphis, of the larger cities, claim to have a four year course. The twenty-three other superior high schools are in many of the most unexpected localities. White’s Store reports a four year course, with one teacher and twenty-five pupils; Piney Flats, a four year course, with one teacher and twenty-one pupils; Dancyville, with one woman teacher and twenty-two pupils; Chuckey City, with one woman teacher and six pupils. From statistics such as these it is dangerous to make hasty generalizations.