Collegiate Technical Education for Negroes in Missouri

Abstract

The problem of developing a program of higher technical education for Negroes in Missouri involves interpreting the records of the past and the activities of the present in order to arrive at plans for the future. The proposed program is based upon a recognition of existing conditions and a belief in democratic principles. Too long has the basis for technical educational preparation for Negroes in Negro institutions been limited by a narrow perspective of the technological horizon. Too often traditional occupations and professions have been set aside for Negroes as belonging to them and to them alone. Such actions are not compatible with the philosophy of a democratic society. Preparation of individuals for useful citizenship must allow for the most efficient use of all resources of a whole society. The writer believes this study is timely and needed in order to effect a more harmonious and satisfying entrance of adequately prepared individuals from a minority group into an enlarging industrial phase of a whole society. A plan is proposed that really attempts to meet the needs of a minority group with respect to present conditions and at the same time provides opportunities for this group to prepare for a more important part in industrial phases of modern society.