The Education of the South African Native. By Charles T. Loram. Longmans, Green and Company, London, 1917. Pp. 340.
This is a treatise written by a South African brought up among the natives. He was once a Fellow in Teachers College of Columbia University. At the time of writing this book he was serving as an inspector of schools in Natal. The study, however, was undertaken as a doctoral dissertation at Columbia.
Observing the shortcomings of writers on Africa, this author endeavors to make a step ahead of them. He feels that they have dealt too much with ethnology, and with the descriptions of customs and habits. He does not think very much of the books primarily devoted to a discussion of the conflicting opinions on craniology and psychology of the natives. Taking up his own chosen task, however, he found it rather difficult because the government has had no definite policy of native education, and when there has been a policy among the four important South African governments there does not appear to be any uniformity of effort. No one, moreover, has undertaken to give the problem of the uplift of the natives adequate treatment.
The author desired to make his work scientific but it appears that he had not prosecuted this study very far before he found that important facts were lacking and that in making his conclusions and suggestions he would have to rely upon faith that what he may surmise may in the future prove to be true, although some modification may be necessary. Taking up this problem of education, however, he made use of the reports of the government departments, reports of school officials, books, pamphlets, articles in periodicals, statistical and experimental investigations, personal experience, and the experiences of his colleagues. While the work for the lack of some scientific treatise blazing the way suffered from so many handicaps that it could not be thoroughly scientific, it is the nearest approach to it and must be considered the best authority in this field until superseded.
The work begins with a consideration of such scientific topics as race contact in its larger aspects, the native problem and its proposed solution, serving as a sort of introduction to the essential portion of the work. The chief value of the book lies in its consideration of why the natives should be educated, the early missionary enterprises, the present status, elementary, industrial and higher education of the natives, a comparison of the achievements of native education with that of European, the basis for reconstruction of the native system, the educational budget, and proposed changes.
The work is generally readable but grows a little dull in certain statistical portions. The table of contents is detailed, but the book could have been considerably improved had an index been added. On the whole, the volume is a justification of some change in the political status of the Negro for the good of all. South Africa cannot in its own interest neglect the uplift of the natives, if it would promote the social and economic progress of the whole group. The one element cannot be elevated or kept up while the other is being held down. Persons interested in education of belated peoples and in the missionary enterprises should avail themselves of this volume.
From Slave to Citizen. By Charles M. Melden. The Methodist Book Concern, New York and Cincinnati, 1921. Pp. 271.
This is a work written by one who has spent sixteen years as an educator of Negroes in the South. His experience there was sufficient for him to learn the Negro and his needs and he writes in the vein of one speaking as having authority. Because of his long service among the Negroes, the author has doubtless caught the viewpoint of the aspiring members of the race. He aims, therefore, to present the Negro's claim for recognition as a man, as a member of the human family with the implied rights and privileges belonging to him.
The book presents a definite program. It proceeds on the basis that, in a democracy, citizenship with its duties and its privileges must in the long run be recognized. He does not feel that democracy means the wiping out of racial preferences but the recognition of racial gifts and endowments. The author considers it an injustice to hold the Negro to the standards of democracy without training him to meet the responsibility. He considers it unfair to require every individual of the race to reach a prescribed standard before any of that group shall be recognized. It is, therefore, a plea for treating the Negroes as individuals and not as a single group, for fair treatment will not lead to amalgamation in as much as Christianity has not been known to promote that.