Confederate+Education



What was Confederate Education like during the Civil War?
 The Civil War was a very expensive time for people in the South. Many citizens of the South could barely afford food, clothing, and shelter, let alone education. However, education, with not much funding, continued. With the help of several influential people education was beginning to be recognized as a key to making the states of the South a better place. Southerners wanted to detach themselves of all Yankee influence, including in education. They wanted to have their own standards, textbooks, and style of teaching.   In an effort to create a southern education that showed the independence of the South from that of the North, books and compositions were created for the southern learner. An example would be the //First Book in Composition, Applying the Principles of Grammar to the Art of Composing: Also, Giving Full Directions For Punctuation; Especially Designed for the Use of Southern Schools// .”A noteworthy comment found in the preface of the book is “In the hope that it may be useful to the young of our great rising Confederacy, the work is respectfully offered to the public” ( Branson, 3). The book is compiled of definitions, examples, and exercises, which help the learner continue the process of composing sentences, paragraphs, papers, etc. The book poses as a guide to helping a literate student be able to formulate their own composition and critical thinking of writing. Each chapter covers a basic part of grammar, such as nouns. After giving the definition of a noun, and including dozens of examples, there are multiple exercises where the student can practice and make sure they grasp the idea of a noun. This process of learning, especially through a textbook, is still used today. Through this book, it is shown that the act of teaching grammar has been facilitated through defining, giving examples, and ending with exercises for an extended period of time. On that note, the South has divided themselves from the North by creating their first composition book. No doubt this was a huge step in their effort to formulate their own standards for the education system. “The //Third Reader//  is the fruit of earnest and conscientious labor; and it is offered to the children of the Southern Confederacy, with the hope that their teachers will not be less indulgent to its errors, than they have always shown themselves towards those of the school-books, which before the war, were introduced into our schools, without ever having been subjected to the slightest criticism” ( Chaudron, 5). This statement was in the introduction of the //Third Reader// , which was highly popular during the Civil War period. After the introduction, the book opens with a child’s prayer, which shows how important religion was in the South, and in most cases today religion is still important to the South. Dr .Chaudron, the author of the //Third Reader// , address the teacher throughout the book giving exact instructions on how to address their students about the subject matter. By doing this, it shows how dependent teachers were on the textbooks given in the classroom. Therefore the book was not only a guide for helping students with their readers, but also was a tool for teachers on how to deliver instruction. The //Third Reader//  helps students of an elementary school level learn how to pronounce words properly when reading orally. The book while being a tool for oral reading, also elevates the students learning by incorporating definitions and different types of literature (poems, short stories, fables, dialogue). It can be seen early on in the South that still holds true today that students have a better opportunity to grow in their education if they are exposed to various types of literature. The Geographical Reader, for the Dixie Children covers geography by opening with the simplicities of it such as water and land, and slowly merges into the more complex aspects of geography such as latitude and longitude. Each definition given by the author, Mrs. M. B. Moore, is descriptive with examples and interesting facts to entice the student. The book includes maps and geographic qualities of various regions including North America, South America, British America, The United States, and The Confederate States. An interesting note is she covers the various races that can be found throughout these regions, and why they can be found there. This is a very interesting topic especially when dealing with the subject of slavery in the South. When discussing the geological aspects of a region she of course focuses on the States of the Confederacy. Moore includes historical facts such as who owned the states before the Confederacy as well the removal of Indians. The book today would be placed in Social Studies based on the geographical and historical aspects. One man who spoke highly on the importance of schools, and extending education in the South through colleges was Junius Parens. In an act to justify the importance of schools and colleges, he addresses a new military bill that is being proposed by Congress. The bill will allow any boy at the age of seventeen, to be drafted in the Confederate Army. “Hence the effect of this bill would be to abolish both schools and colleges, and thus destroy the whole educational system” ( Parens, 3). Though he focused mainly on the advantages of having colleges and the disadvantages of not having them, he also highlighted the stepping stones secondary education provides to get youth to a collegiate level. He states “schools are to colleges what feeders are to a reservoir, or what the foundation is to the superstructure” ( Parens, 1). “Common schools” are where students develop their “thirst for knowledge” ( Parens, 4). By sending men straight to war after their “common schooling” they will lose their thirst for knowledge. Parens posed a great question that if there was a need to create “pure southern literature” and cut ties with “poisonous Yankee literature” then would there not be a greater demand for southern teachers and professionals to produce text books (Parens, 5)? To further acknowledge the influence teachers especially during the harsh times of war Parens states, “now I think, it would be wrong to diminish at all the number of teachers. It is very plain, that education now above all other times, ought to be most carefully fostered and cherished” ( Parens, 7). This reflects the conflict many educators were facing during the civil war; without students there would be no schools, and without schools there would be no teachers, which in the end leads to the demise of the educational system. To discuss the topic of education in the South, on April 28th, 1863 teachers met in Columbia, South Carolina.; it was known as the “Convention of Teachers of the Confederate States.” The convention was held to form a permanent Education Association for the Confederate States of America. To legitimize the association they formulated a Constitution stating the duties and positions of each member of the Association. Several sessions was help on the topic of southern textbooks, due to the association being unable to come to a resolution on the matter. Before the discussion of textbooks continued several issues at hand were resolved such as every state of the Confederacy should form a teachers association, and that delegates from states in the Confederacy that do not have a public education system plead with their Executives and Legislatives to form such a system. Another issue “resolved, that in this time of peril and trial, we recognize in our educational systems an important interest of the country, which, next to a pure religious faith, contributes most to the greatness of the present and the hope of the future; and that they should be maintained with energy, for the sake, both of the beneficial results to us and to our posterity, and as an illustration to the world of the civilization of the people of the Confederate States” ( Burke, 8). The members of the association sought to make the possibility of a great educational system in the Confederate states there top priority. They realized the importance of education and what it meant for the future of their nation. Several days after the initial meeting of the Association, committees within the Association began to develop ideas and mark ups for textbooks. In the end several books were produced such as //North Carolina Journal of Education, Our Own Arithmetic, Our Own Primary Grammar, Selections from the Classics, and Rice’s Intermediate Geography.// <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The States of the Confederacy worked with little money they had to produce such textbooks, which shows that the South pulled through the struggle of War to keep education alive in to what seemed to be their new nation and sense of independence from the North. The Confederate States wanted to claim its independence from the United Stated. What better way to start than through education? Educators combined their efforts to produce original textbooks of the South and formed a system of public education. Though at one point it seemed impossible with little money and education being on the bottom of the list of priorities, an educational system developed. Even during the Civil War, the South prevailed in making something their own, whether it be through textbooks, or a system of public education, the Confederate States were joined by a sense of nationalism. It proves that the South overcame the heartbreak and turmoil of War, and constructed something positive, public education.