The Detroit Tribune

Adult Education

There are millions of adults in the United States who
are either illiterate or so deficient in their knowledge of the three
"R's" so that they are handicapped as workers
and citizens. Of this number, nine tenths are Negroes.

With the army's success in attacking this widespread
problem of illiteracy as a goal a special institute on adult
education at N. gives has been held as a first step in a
correctional program at Hampton Institute, Virginia. The
Institute was jointly sponsored by the United States Office
of Education, the American Association for Adult Education
and the National Conference on Adult Education,
and financed by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

America, with all of its wealth and potential opportunities
can never take its rightful place as a leader in
world affairs as long as it does not provide educational
facilities for its own people. If the above figures were
broken down by states, the South would show the majority
of illiterates due to its dual education system, when it
really can't afford to support one.

Appropriation of funds for federal education is the
answer. The South has resisted any attempts to obtain
federal control of education, for this might mean the end
of segregated schools or at least more educational opportunities
for Negroes. What the South fails to realize is
that it is only holding itself back when it holds the Negro
back.

The achievement of a democratic way of life will depend
on the ability of the majority to think and act with
intelligence and discrimination. America will never be
such a nation so long as it spends more on chewing gum
per year than it does on education.