Talk:Calhoun Colored School

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A fact from Calhoun Colored School appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 18 October 2007. The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that in the early 20th century, when education was segregated in the United States, the Calhoun Colored School (pictured) focused on vocational education for African Americans instead of classical education to protect the school from being closed down?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2007/October.

Wikipedia

Untitled

Good articlem may need more links. Schools project can help. Victuallers 08:03, 17 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Ambiguous reference

In the following paragraph, "The author" is undefined. Please specify which author.

> Despite all of the good teaching methods, solid curriculum and quality materials the students of CCS did not make the desired progress in literacy. While these students were living in poverty they were interested in education and had family support. The author suggests that the pervasive thinking of that era limited the thinking of the faculty and staff. "…it changed their ability to see African Americans as users of literacy; that is, while minimal access to literacy was made available, opportunities to use literacy in meaningful ways were delimited."[3][2] —Preceding unsigned comment added by Winterstein (talk • contribs) 17:19, 18 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Context

While the school was described as a boarding school, it didn't say if students came from beyond the county. It would be useful to provide population in the county and demographics for the early decades of the school. Also, while the first African American department head was identified, earlier department heads were not identified as white. That might be useful for people to know some whites supported black education. Where did the first two co-principals come from? what were their backgrounds? The text says that Washington addressed them at Hampton, but beyond that they must have had pasts. It sounds as if they were very resourceful.

While people have come to reassess the contributions of Booker T. Washington, he had been admired for his efforts in education. People didn't always know what to do. Given the nature of the South, they thought this approach was practical.

There is a vagueness about some of the text, in terms of saying the students didn't achieve literacy goals. Does that mean they didn't learn to read, or didn't learn at high enough levels? Were they able to attend school full-time? In many rural communities, schools of all sorts had short schedules because of family's needs for the children's work. It would be useful to add more of that context. --Parkwells 17:07, 8 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Point of View

The article seems to have a strange point of view. Determined to prove that the Hampton-Tuskegee model limited opportunities for African Americans, it focuses on literacy questions and ignores the substantial achievements cited in one of its own references for the article. Freedmen wanted education and they also wanted to own land. Among the achievements of the school was developing a landownership scheme whereby local African American farmers were helped to buy land and build their own houses, a major improvement from sharecropping. The founders and supporters also worked on the practical achievement to build roads in the area. They solicited and received funds from major national donors in the North and the South, and had visitors arrive from around the world to observe the school and its students. The article needs to be supplemented.--Parkwells 17:45, 8 November 2007 (UTC)--Parkwells 00:08, 9 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I've added material from the Ellis article and a contemporary NY Times article on the achievements of the land bank and road building.--Parkwells 01:36, 10 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

References

Link doesn't work for reference 4.--Parkwells 03:21, 9 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]