Georgia Tech and the New South Creed

Equality

In the short text, Engineers and the New South Creed, many debates were broken down. Some that puzzled me where the ones on improving the stability of the south, and school vs. shop. I felt while reading this passage that I might have missed a few references because I am from Florida and do not always realize the rivalry between Georgia and Tech. Other than that handicap, I found the passage enlightening and nice to learn some history about Tech and Georgia.
The first topic that aroused some fights inside of me was the emphasis on how the new program was viewed. It was viewed as “an antidote to the rising tide of class antagonism in America. (Hopkins, 182)” This thought process is problematic because it is not helping people but keeping them content. It would only benefited the people who could afford to go to school there and not create equality. The proposal seemed as if it was a description of a Utopia and not of reality. The proof is in the statistics after the first few years of opening; over half of the students were sons of wealthy businessmen. How is this a program that was beneficial to the masses? The answer is, it wasn’t.
The other problem I struggled with was whether Georgia Tech should be shop or school. Thankfully, today it is school but I do not see a problem in shop schools. There are shop schools today who use the knowledge of the students to help pay for the equipment and hardware at the school; such as: cosmetology, and massage therapy schools. I felt that that debate was more of a trial and error, than a definite fact. The history proves that a school was needed even if it did step on the toes of Georgia.
These debates are not answerable. I felt with the hopes of the program that the people really had no vision to “break down the barriers of prejudice.” If they did want to actually accomplish the goal that it would take more than a school. It would take many trials and years. But why would they want to make everyone equal?