Review of The Little professor of Piney Woods
... ” Review of “The Little Professor of Piney Woods” By Beth Day Germar Kriesing Seminar: The Education of the African American Dozent: Prof. ... 02 In retrospect I am happy to have chosen this seminar and I am especially glad of having read this little book. ... In the first part of my review I will try to give a short summary of the book and in the second part I will state on certain aspects of the book and try to provide a little context knowledge. I tried to make the summary a story of persons, because this is the extraordinary power of this book: it contains so many little stories and personal accounts of what had happened that one cannot separate the school from its people. ... These events described on the previous pages prepared the ground for the development of the Piney Woods Country Life School. ... A little later he started touring the country to raise funds, important things he learned: he needed regular contributors, he had to keep his records straight and one way to convince people of his idea was to tell about actual experiences from the school. ... The impacts of his teaching were already visible for instance in the first Christmas when “the Piney Woods folks traded their fireworks and smoke-filled rooms for a simple sermon and a concert of sacred music. ... But he succeeded and so “The charter was duly drawn, signed, and submitted to the government of Mississippi, and on May 17,1913, “The Piney Woods Country Life School” legally and formally came into existence. ... 123) In 1913 the first white teacher came to Piney Woods and she stayed two full years without receiving any pay for it. ... When Laurence Jones’ mother “entered the scene” at Piney Woods another good soul was added to the staff. ... Besides “normal” students Piney Woods was also open for “subnormal” problem children, cripples and blind students. ... Until their death Jones used to drop by and have a little chat with the Websters every day. ... He sent out students to care for the ill ones, sold donated or produced goods for little money so that poor families could afford things they normally could not, his wife organised sewing, cooking and canning groups, worked with local women etc. ... In the fifties Piney Woods included fourteen grades. ... There is one sentence in the book which sums up his philosophy: “It does not occur to the “little ‘Fesser” that any child is hopeless.