The excerpt below is from the general introduction to tuskegee and its people by booker t. washington:
institutions, like individuals, are properly judged by their ideals, their methods, and their achievements in the production of men and women who are to do the world's work.
one school is better than another in proportion as its system touches the more pressing needs of the people it aims to serve, and provides the more speedily and satisfactorily the elements that bring to them honorable and enduring success in the struggle of life. education of some kind is the first essential of the young man, or young woman, who would lay the foundation of a career. the choice of the school to which one will go and the calling he will adopt must be influenced in a very large measure by his environments, trend of ambition, natural capacity, possible opportunities in the proposed calling, and the means at his command.
in the past twenty-four years thousands of the youth of this and other lands have elected to come to the tuskegee normal and industrial institute to secure what they deem the training that would offer them the widest range of usefulness in the activities open to the masses of the negro people. their hopes, fears, strength, weaknesses, struggles, and triumphs can not fail to be of absorbing interest to the great body of american people, more particularly to the student of educational theories and their attendant results.
according to washington, what problem does education resolve?
education teaches how to be successful in work and everyday struggles.
education expands the student's natural capacity and makes him a better citizen.
education creates more teachers, who will in turn educate others.
education assures a sense of dignity and self-respect for those who have been dismissed by society.