Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-09-12
WHAT SHALL TIE SCHOOLS TEACH

WHAT SHALL THE SCHOOLS TEACH:
To the Editor of the EAGLE:
The public schools being supported at
the public expense, and attendance
made compulsory, its objects, it may be
presumed, Is to train for good citizen
ship. Many people seem to have the
idea that the object of the school is to
make smart boys and girls; that it is to
give them the ability to make living in
an easy and genteel manner. Unless
the work of the school is to educate for
good citizenship the state can have no
possible object in maintaining it. A good
citizen is one who is intelligent enough
to know what constitutes good govern
ment and good citizenship; he has a fair
understanding of the relations and re-
ciprocal duties between the citizen and
the government and between one citizen
and another. He not only has an under
standing of his social and political duties
| but he has the will and the ability to
fulfill those duties. The good citizen is
one who attends to his own business, yet
is not without interest for the public
welfare. He pays his debts, makes a
living in an honest manner and
never requires the attention Of
the policeman or the constable
How successful does the public school
as we have it and have had it for the
last forty years prepare for good citizen
ship? 1t ought to make those who have
been under its influence stronger in every
way. 1t ought TO train the powers to
right use. Is it not a fact that our pub
lie schools unfit pupils for the real work
and duties of life? In the first place
they are conducted in such a manner and
in such environments, that they reduce
the physical strength and retard the
physical development of the pupil.
Whereas, they should assist the pupil to
retain and even build up ahealthy bodily
constitution. They seldom make the
pupil stronger in body, but frequently
prepare them, not for the worlds great
battle field of toll, but for the infirmary
or the cemetery.
The training given by the public school
has been almost entirely mental or in
tellectual, as if man was nothing but
head and eyes, and that heart and hands
were no part of "a true man. Which is
more important to the state, that boy
can name the parts of speech
and can define the possessive case, or
of the more Importance to society, that
a girl can spell bread in three languages
or that she can make good bread in one?
Our schools have given us smart. peo-
pie. ''Smartness," it may be. is an
American characteristic. The smart
man, though a knave, is the popular
hero. Some people would prefer a
smart man, though not quite honest, for
1lra mt ORC To b1t
honest, though not Noted for smartness
If the state would have good citizens it
must 90 more than sharpen the intel
lect of her children. She must train
that ''intellect to right uses" Educa-
ton is not only knowing, but it is also
knowing how. Conduct is three
fourths of life" The state Furnishes for
wrong conduct, but does not punish one
for holding incorrect ideas or for having
imperfect knowledge Since the state
hangs a man if he does not behave him.
self, she ought to teach the child how to
behave. Since the state imprisons a
man if he steals or robs, the state ought
to teach the child respect for property as
well as for life, and since every man re-
quires certain amount of food
and shelter in order to live the state
ought to teach him how to make living
in the most honorable and effective way.
The schools, instead of educating pupils
away from hard labor, should educate
them towards the right and skillful use
of the hands. Mere intellectual develop
ment is not guarantee against pauper-
ism or crime. We have more paupers
and tramps than ever before, though our
school facilities are constantly enlarging. |
The illiteracy among tramps is perhaps |
as low as among other classes Accord |
ing to the statement of recent writer
there was in 1880 only one criminal to |
every 3,444 of population, but in 1880 |
there was one to every S31, an increase /
of over 400 per cent. 1t would seem to |
be clearly indicated that manual training |
and moral culture, or training in conduct, |
should find place in the teachings of |
the public school. NAP HoGELAND.