As regards the difficulty of obtaining properly trained teachers with a
proper spirit to do this work, it must be said that as yet these
teachers could not be found, and certainly they could not within the
negro race. The mass of negro teachers are still so far below even the
low standards of the white schools that not one half of them would be
licensed to teach if the same standards were applied to them as to the
whites. Moreover, through the increase of race friction white teachers
have gradually, since the Civil War, been excluded from negro schools.
This has been brought about largely also by the negroes demanding these
positions for themselves. But it is an old adage that "if the blind lead
the blind both will fall into the ditch," and it would seem that a
majority of negro teachers are unqualified for their task of civilizing
and socializing their race; hence one reason for the failure of the
negro common school. It would seem also that, while competent negro
teachers should be encouraged in every way, white teachers should not be
absolutely excluded from negro schools; and particularly that white
teachers would be necessary if industrial and moral training were to be
emphasized in the education of the negro.
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