Note:
Gunnar Myrdal died in 1987, less than 70 years ago.
Therefore, this work is protected by copyright,
restricting your legal rights to reproduce it.
However, you are welcome to view it on screen, as you do now.
Read more about copyright.
Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - IX. Leadership and Concerted Action - 41. The Negro School - 5. “Industrial” versus “Classical” Education of Negroes - 6. Negro Attitudes
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
900 An American Dilemma
will enter skilled trades and thereby create a new and very eflFective rivalry in a field
in which the whites have not had as much competition as they have where the task
requires less training and education. However, certain farsighted leaders and some
others realize that the Negro must be given better schools. They believe that
improved colored school facilities will benefit not only the Negroes but also the
whites. They feel that the colored man is entitled to a good high school education
in subjects which may be selected with a view to the peculiar social situation in the
South. The Negro must be trained for the jobs which are available under present
conditions. Cultural training in the arts and sciences must for the present be subor-
dinated to an education which is more suitable to his needs. In this way the greatest
number will be benefited. The curriculum for the colored schools needs a great deal
of study with a view toward revision.^^
6. Negro Attitudes
The attitudes of the whites are of greatest importance for the growth of
Negro education, as they have all the power. The Negroes are, how-
ever, not without influence, partly because the whites are divided among
themselves and divided in their own conscience. The remarkable thing is
that the Negroes are split in much the same way and on the same issues.
It is natural, to begin with, that the American Creed interest is more
stressed with the Negroes. Deep down in their souls practically all Negroes
feel that they have the right to equal opportunities for education. And the
sanctity of the American Creed gives them the opportunity to express this
opinion and to press the whites for concessions. The stress on education in
American culture makes the Negro protest most respectable. But the
observer finds also that there are a few upper class Negroes who express
about the same opinion as whites, that common Negroes do not need and
should not have much education. This is rare, however, and the opinion
has to be concealed.
Much more important is the split in the Negro world as to what kind of
education is desirable. On the one hand, they sense the caste motivation
behind most whites’ interest in industrial education for Negroes. They
know also that they can hope to win the respect of the whites and take their
place as equal citizens in American democracy only if they are educated in
the nonvocational cultural values of the broader society. On the other hand,
they see the actual caste situation as a reality and know that many lines of
work are closed to them. In order to utilize fully the openings left, and
in order eventually to open up new roads into industrial employment, they
often conclude that Negroes are in particular need of vocational training.
They realize also that the great poverty and cultural backwardness of their
people motivate a special adaptation of Negro education. On this point
there is a possibility of striking a compromise with the liberal white man.
In the North most Negroes will not make this coficession, and by no means
all Negroes, perhaps not even a majority, in the South are prepared to take
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
