Read the following excerpt from an 1872 report by Samuel Chapman Armstrong, the founder of the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute:
'The education needed is one that touches the whole circle of life... It must be a training in character, in industry, in thrift. The hand must be trained as well as the head. Our students must learn that labor is honorable, and that the only way to rise is through hard work and self-reliance.'
Which of the following statements best describes how critics like W.E.B. Du Bois responded to the educational philosophy described in the excerpt?
- AThey argued that vocational schools should be abandoned in favor of programs promoting the immediate emigration of African Americans to West Africa.
- They asserted that prioritizing vocational labor at the expense of higher classical education risked accommodating segregation and limiting Black political power.Answer
- CThey claimed that educational institutions should remain subordinate to Black churches rather than pursuing independent, secular training programs.
- DThey maintained that vocational training was unnecessary because Southern sharecropping contracts already provided equitable paths to economic independence.
Answer
The correct answer states that critics argued prioritizing vocational labor at the expense of higher classical education risked accommodating segregation and limiting Black political power.
The correct answer is correct because W.E.B. Du Bois and other critics argued that focusing solely on industrial and agricultural education at the expense of higher education would accommodate the Jim Crow system. They believed that classical liberal arts education was necessary to develop intellectual leaders who could advocate for civil rights and political equality.
Step-by-Step Solution
Key Concept
The post-emancipation debate between industrial education (advocated by Samuel Chapman Armstrong and Booker T. Washington) and classical liberal arts education (advocated by W.E.B. Du Bois).