Publications Catalog

Letters

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Gerald L. Baliles

The South

1938

1998

How did the South
come so far?

SREB Commission for Educational Quality members

How did the South come so far
and how does it continue
the remarkable progress?

It was with great insight that President Roosevelt’s council noted that its findings were not a cause for pessimism because “the citizens of the South do not hesitate to face the facts. This would seem to assure that something will be done about it.” Indeed, Southerners and the nation as a whole faced the facts and did something about them — setting a new course for the South and the nation.

In his 1998 state-of-the-state address, Georgia Governor Zell Miller reflected: “I was just a little older than my great-grandson Jacob when the president of the United States stood on the steps of the United States Capitol, looked south and said, ‘I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad and ill-nourished.’ That was the South I grew up in. But it is not the South my grandchildren and great-grandchildren will grow up in.”

The progress of the South over the last 60 years is remarkable. President Roosevelt perhaps could not even imagine that some of those who heard his words about the South in 1938 would see the day when, as The Economist observed, the South would be a “locomotive powering the American economy.”

THERE IS AN

UNCOMMON

SENSE OF

BEING

SOUTHERN

AND WORKING

TOGETHER TO

SOLVE

PROBLEMS.

One of the means, if not the chief means, by which the SREB states have come such a long way, and one of the means by which the South maintains its current momentum, is through focused, long-term investments — especially investments in improving schools and colleges. Yes, roads, railroads, waterways, airports, seaports, electrical power plants and communications systems are critical. But even more important have been the dogged investments in the South’s human potential — what the National Emergency Council termed one of the “two most important economic endowments: its people.”

More than three decades ago, the Southern Regional Education Board said that “if excellence means anything at all, the South must be measured against the same criteria that are applied everywhere.” In recent decades the SREB has pressed states to dedicate themselves to reaching national achievement benchmarks and goals for schools and colleges; to change public higher education to meet the demands of the emerging 21st-century economy; and to provide colleges and universities the support they need.

We all know the old Southern proverb: “If you feel you’re green, you’ll ripen. If you think you’re ripe, you’ll rot.” A recognition of achievement is no time to merely celebrate. It is a time to push on to new accomplishments.

The continued vitality and progress of the South are not guaranteed. There remain formidable challenges that may thwart our aspirations. One of the reasons we are optimistic about facing our challenges is that there really is something special about the South, besides its world-renowned Southern hospitality. There is an uncommon sense of being Southern and working together to solve problems. For five decades the Southern Regional Education Board states have shared resources, ideas and lessons learned to improve education and the quality of life. The 50th anniversary of the SREB in 1998 is a perfect opportunity to reflect on our progress, to assess how far we have yet to travel and to recommit ourselves to focused, long-term educational improvement.