The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-05-14
WHAT ARE WE SOWING?
The Necessity Of Art Education In the
Public Schools,

Vt is at once obvious to the thoughtful
mind that the art education Of the stu
Ciio and the instruction given in the art
school must Of necessity cover entirely
different ground from that given in the
schools. There Is difference in the pur-
pose of the two, the main purpose Of the
former being the development, training
works of art. These schools are for the
specially gifted. for the favored few.
Art Education in the public schools
must mean something more than this.
1t must mean the uplifting OF all the
studies to higher plane. 1t must mean
more spirited insight into the nature
Of the child.
1t is not the province of this article
to tell what is being done in our schools
to further the art idea; very little when
the great end to be attained Is consid-
cred; much, when one is In a position
to understand the difficulties that beset
the way.
Neither Is 1t the intention to tell the
teachers what they ought not to have
done, and what they ought to do that
they have left undone.
There are others who owe q duty to
our schools whose responsibility Is none
the less because they hold no Official
connection with the schools; whose
broader lives and larger opportunities
make 1t possible for them to more fully
realize the power of beauty to enrich
and refine the lives of men. They have
the intellectual power to see the rela-
tionships between themselves and their
environment, and their fellow-men and
their Creator. They have the clearness
of perception to recognize the public
schools as the solution of many physi-
cal, intellectual and spiritual problems
that are near us. Who are these men
In Scranton? Eleven thousand children
In the schools Of Scranton today! Who
knows what Is being done for them,
with them, among them? 1t Is for these
that men and women of wealth and
power. the men and women Of breadth
and brains must take q thought today.
What you would have come out In the
life OF the nation you must put into
the schools" has long been the maxim
OF Germany. That which the men and
women who are building the Scranton
Of today would like to see as the pre-
vailing characteristics Of the people Of
the Scranton Of quarter Of q century
hence, they must put into the schools
now.
We cannot always see the end from
the beginning, but it is surely not much
to say that the lives OF the people may
be changed for the better by the study of
the beautiful: In nature. in human life
and in human work.
Those whose spiritual insight Is
clear enough to perceive the uplifting
and ennobling influence Of art, will re-
alize that In the public school there are
given means to carry a love for the
beautiful into every home and make 1t
the possession Of the poorest child in
the land. Who will lend, from this time
10 n tI~. L. ~
ture he possesses to the children in the
dingiest school room in Scranton? Let
1t be one Of the noble women of Scran-
ton who shall lead the way in a move
ment to put the best and most worthy
before the children in our schools. Let
the educated men of Scranton fall
quickly into line bringing, as did the
wise men of the east in olden time, the
choicest of their treasures to lay at the
feet of a little child. Who is the art
dealer who will put himself on record
as being. the first to recognize and re-
spond to this need of child life? We
have no need to wait for clubs or organ
izations. Simply let the men and wo-
men OF Scranton, who have the beauty
or art in their homes, the clearness OF
truth in their minds, and the love of
ChflstS little ones In their hearts. go
into our schools and leave there forjust
this short time something of the beauty
with which their own lives have been
daily frightened, to gladden. those who
hnd perhaps in our bare school rooms
the brightest and most beautiful part
OF their small lives. Surely this would
be preaching q powerful sermon. the
gospel of sweetness and light" the
sermon Of brotherhood with all human
1ty; or glad self-sacrifice, the loftiness
or aim and purity Of purpose, from the
text "1nasmuch as We have done it un-
to one OF the least Of these, my breth-
rem, ye have done it unto Me"
LUCY AGNES BOOTH