The Washington critic., 1888-02-11
OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
The Branches That Are Especially
Necessary to be Taught.
A FIvE-ToLD STRUCTURE.
The Newspaper as symbol OF
Modern Civilization.

lPRor. WILLIAM T. HARnts In "The Forum
for February
The most important instrument Of
our civilization is the daily newspa-
per. 1t is likewise its symbol--it
gives to each individual every morn
ing survey of the entire world. This
of makes possible daily readiustment
one's life in view of what is happen
ing in the life of all humanity.
Through such interaction between
the individual man and the race
there results process Of urban
izing, "a sort of elevation of the
entire population into city civil
ization. The rapid growth of
cities, which has attracted notice
and has even aroused concern in the
minds of those sociologists who re-
gard the phenomenon as abnormal
this tendency of our population to
collect in cities is not SO significant
fact as the extension of urban life into
rural districts everywhere. The tele-
graph and railroad furnish to the
daily newspaper its right and left
hands. Every village is annexed to
the city by rapid transit and instanta-
neous INSTRUMENTATION, and thus
becomes part of the great urban
system of the world. Each outlying
rural district becomes on Its part
suburb.
THE SYMBOL or CIVILIZATION.
/ speak of the newspaper as the
symbol of modern civilization because
it is an emblem of the democratic
spirit which insists on the removal
of every obstacle to the participation
of each in the good of all. So surely
has this become the ruling principle
that We summon all institutions,
past and present, before us, and in its
light pass judgment on them. In
how far.does n nation realize the high
est ideal, and in how far does il make
participation in this ideal actual for
all the peoplep This is fundamen-
tai test to which all our varying pro-
visional judgments are finally sub
mitted. To it we may safely appeal
whenever we attempt to justify the
existence of such an establishment
as, say, the common-school system,
or to decide what ought to be its
course of study.
Education should fit individuals for
this interchange of all with all. Each
must learn the Indispensable IpuSnu1
for intercommunication Es<9R| "
be brought on the waS y
pretending tbsssuizF
felleY-GeaGp GeaGpa6ie o. IN e. ~ 3 a a
helpful relation toward all. A sim
| pie reference to this principle, which
rules our civilization and to which
the newspaper points as symbol, suf-
fees for the justification of O public
school system. In its light we may
discuss the question; What should be
taught IN such system 2 s 49,
! READING AND WRITING.
The school places first on its list of
studies reading and writing, and it
will appear that thus choice is
grounded in reason. 1t is certain that
the wisdom of the race after much
winnowipg gets stored up in the
give the new human being the first
use OF his mother tongue Gts COLO
quihl vocabulary; that he acquires in
| tiit ltllOd VI ullu IL lS
! the most important part of the educa-
| tion which the family provides. But
\ the school alone furnishes the sec
ondary and higher possession of Ian
guage; itteaches how to preserve 1T
/ by committing it to writing; itteaches
howto master its higher and special
vocabularies; it teaches how to pass
from ones own tongue to the tongues
OF other peoples past and present;
and finally, it teaches how to
study the structure of Ian
guage and see in it the struc-
ture OF the human reason itself, with
all its variations, racial and national.
This in the aggregate may be called
language study, and it lies at the
foundation of school education as the
discipline which makes possible all
the others and which leads to the
knowledge of ones self, and by self
knowledge ! do not mean an acquaint-
ance with ones own peculiarities and
idiosyncrasies, but that far more de-
sirable knowledge of what is essential
and eternal, the nature reason it.
self, the logical structure of thought
and the ethical structure of the will.
A FIVE FOLD STRUCTURE.
u After learning howto read, the next
thing is to learn what to read. The
school accordingly lays out its work
in view of the fve-fold structure OF
human learning. 1t comprehends
two realms, nature and man. Nature
presents itself under two phases, or.
ganic and inorganic. The organic in
cludes plant and animal. Man has
three phases, intellect, will, and
sensibility. These phases named in
this abstract manner do not suggest
their concrete importance. 1t may
be noted that they comprset the whole
contents Of mans world, but at first
one does not see that teven elementary
education proceeds to determine its
course of study with due respect to
these five departments of human
learning. ts
Illiterate man is shut up in the
dark tower of ignorance, and the
school undertakes to illuminate and
emancipate him by opening windows
n on five sides Qorthis tower is q penta-
gon). 1t teaches arithmetic, geog-
raphy, history, grammar and lltera-
ture.
Arithmetic opens a window of the
soul directed outward upon the in
organic phase of the world. 1t notes
the abstract relation of all existence
TO mere time and space.
| Geography is directed upon or
4 oanic nntI1rR and its relations 6rst IN