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Artist
Unknown BMC (Primary)
Title

BLACK MOUNTAIN COLLEGE’“The Idea of Black Mountain College”

Date
1946-1947
Century
20th century
Medium & Support
Ink on paper
Object Type
Archival Documents
Credit Line
Black Mountain College Collection, gift of Barbara Beate Dreier and Theodore Dreier, Jr. on behalf of all generations of Dreier family
Accession Number
2017.40.358
Copyright
In Copyright, Educational Use Permitted
Description

1 sheet of paper folded to create booklet with 4 pages, printing on all sides. Includes mission of BMC, facts about BMC, and financial information.

BLACK MOUNTAIN COLLEGE

THE IDEA OF BLACK MOUNTAIN COLLEGE
America has had to educate in masses because there have been masses of people to educate. A beginning had to be made.
But masses consist of individuals and it is an implication of democracy that people shall be free to grow and develop, - be educated,- not as masses but as individuals. No matter how much it costs, no matter how long it takes we must come to this.
One side of an individual’s development has to do with individual work, with the training and imagination necessary for it.
Equally important is another side: his development through the give-and-take of responsible relations with others, through self-government, through work that requires common effort.
A community
Where people learn by contagion,
Where purpose is tested in action through daily living and goes on with daily work together,
Where there is widespread activity in the arts, making participation natural and important, is the kind of setting needed.
There experience and responsibility can be real.
There competence and control in thought, feeling, and action can be developed.
Black Mountain College is a small community concerned with the fullest development of the individuals in it. Through competence thus developed they will best be able to contribute to the well-being of society and to the scope of their own freedom.
SOME FACTS ABOUT BLACK MOUNTAIN COLLEGE
The 90 students and more than 20 faculty come from 27 states and several foreign countries. They represent a wide variation in economic and social backgrounds. The college is open to all races.
The ratio of faculty to students, being more than one-to-five, is, we believe, the highest in the country. The faculty includes a number of men internationally distinguished for original or creative work in their fields.
All candidates for graduation are examined by outside examiners, usually professors from other colleges or universities.
Black Mountain is the only college in America governed entirely by the people in it. Legal control rest with the faculty, but important responsibilities are delegated to the students, who are seriously consulted on all matters that concern them.
The admissions committee includes students as well as faculty and applicants are passed on the basis of merit, without reference to financial status. The fee is adjusted to the means of the student’s family according to a sliding scale which next year will range from a minimum of $500 to a full fee of $1600.
All students and faculty eat together and share in the practical work of keeping the place going. This means not only administrative work, but washing dishes, milking cows, clearing new land, constructing new buildings and repairing old.
The college began with 19 students and 12 teachers and their families in 1933 in rented quarters. Now with a total community of 150 settled on its own 670 acre tract, a long-range building program is envisaged as part of the educational plan for the next two decades, featured by modern planning and modern architecture.
The college is located five miles from the town of Black Mountain and 14 miles from Asheville in western North Carolina.

THE FINANCES OF BLACK MOUNTAIN COLLEGE
The College has no endowment. It would be able to operate entirely on the basis of student fees if it were not for the necessity of granting scholarships.
However, many excellent students cannot afford the full fee. Scholarships adjusted to the student’s ability to pay are therefore granted. All financial arrangements are confidential and no distinction is made in any way between students receiving aid and those who pay the full fee.
Budget of Expenses for 1946-47 $112,980.00
Income: Net Fees Received 87,100.00
Total Amount needed for scholarships $25,880.00
Gifts received on May 15, 1947 6,208.25
Amount still needed $19,671.75
AN APPEAL: $19,671.75 is urgently needed to complete the Scholarship Fund for those students already enrolled. $500 will take care of one average scholarship.
Checks should be made out to the Corporation of Black Mountain College and mailed to Theodore Rondthaler, Treasurer, at Black Mountain, North Carolina.
Contributions are deductible for income tax purposes.
The College books are audited annually and a printed financial statement is available on request.

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