St. Paul daily globe., 1892-11-21
AIM PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
Supt. Gilbert Gives His Ideas Conn
DrehenSiVeIY.


The state owes 40 one an education,
any more than 1t owes him a coat or a
dinner. The public school then does
not rest upon the obligation OF the state
to the citizen. Nor is the public school
a public charity. But the state edu-
Gates her citizens for herself.
AS he owes himself his coat
and his dinner, the essentials
OF his life, so the stpte owes herself
well educated citizens, the essential Of
her life. Nobody will probably dispute
this proposition, yet without question a
vague notion that public education rests
upon either charity or the obligation OF
the state to the citizen does influence
the public feeling toward the public
school and tends to place those limita-
tionS upon education at public expense
of which so much is heard. U.nques-
tionably many do believe that il the
state teaches the children reading,
writing and arithmetic. so that they
have reasonable chance of making a
living, she has done all she ought.
Hence, the distinction is important;
because if the state is educating citizens
for her own use and not for their own
she cannot educate them too we'll, and
these arbitrary and material limitations
disappear.
This, then, fXes-clearly the aim of the
public schools. Education in general
aims at the development OF power in
the individuals; public education at the
to good citizenship. In short, education
aims at developing men; public educa-
ton at developing citizens. Hence, to
determine the final aim of the public
schools we must ascertain what kind
of citizens the state needs. First,
let me say, by ''citizen" [ do
not mean ''yoter." Voting and
offlceholding, political duties. con-
stitute but one of the proper activities
of the citizen. Nor is citizenship linn
tied by sex. The citizen is the voter,
the officeholder, the business man, in
his relations to other men; the neigh
Dor, the friend, the father, the mother,
the husband, the wife, the lover. In
short. man considered. not with regard
to himself, but in his relations to his
fellow men. Citizenship implies rela-
tIonship; recognizes the brotherhood of
man. The best citizen, then. is the best
man in the Christian sense of goodness.
That is, he is the man who best per-
forms the duties laid upon him by his
relations to his fellow men. These are
the essential qualities of the good citi-
zen.
From this we derive the proper aim of
public education-namely, the deVel-
opment in the child of sense of duty
toward his fellow, and the cultivation
of all the powers of his being, that he
may most effectively perform this duty;
TO be more specific, the citizen trained
Tho T1nNlin Cnhnnlc chnn1H no irSf
Self-supporting. That is, that he should
be able to supply the material wants
of himself and those necessarily de-
pendent upon him in order that he
may be no burden upon society,
and may not himself suffer
at loss of personal liberty
which comes from povery. SecOnd-He
| should be able to contribute of material
| things to the general good, that he may
| be able to do his part toward lifting the
| burden of want, which acts as a handi-
cap upon the progress of the race.
These are the So-called practical pow
ers needed by the good citizen. and, un.
| fortunately, their cultivation has been
too commonly considered the aim of the
public schools. But vastly more than
| these are needed to insure the safety OF
the state. Third-The good citizen must
be a thinker. Able to weigh arguments
and form just opinions not only upon
these subjects relating to business sue
cess, bur upon the weightier
| questions growing out of his
| relations to his fellows. The
conditions of American life are not es
| pecially favorable to clear or profound
| thinking And | hear that the public
! schools have done little to render then
more favorable. DR.. Lyman Abbott
| recently said: "Our public schools
have taught great mass of men to reac
| who have not yet learned to think.
| This is severe arraignment, but, | fear
a Just one. That the times are full o.
| peril to the state whose citizens think