Evening star., 1898-07-09
EXHIBIT E AT PARIS
Plea for Educational Showing at
International Exposition.
ADDRESS BY COMMISSIONER HARRIS
Prot. Stetson's Views of the
Educational Outlook"
SCOPE AND RPOS E S

Teachers ara no more prompt than other
people. The tardy marks against those at
tending the various conventions in session
in this city just now would condemn them
to penance for year. Not 100 people faced
the speakers at the National Theater last
night when Prof. E. Dram Lyte, vice prcsl-
dent for Pennsylvania, called the house to
crder When the evening was half over
however, the thaater was well filled with
an interested audience.
The first speaker of the evening was DR..
William I. Harris, commissioner of educa-
ton, his subject being Our Educational
Exhibit at the Interna tional Exposition in
Paris in 1900" DR.. Harris is earnestly and
ardently laboring for educational eX-
hibit for the exposition which will eclipse
anything of the kind ever attempted, ami
his paper was, of course, a strong argu-
mant in favor of this. He recommends the
appointment OF a general committee to pro-
mote the plan of the nations educators.
His ideas Were eminently pleasing to the
audience.
General Committee Wanted.
''The appointment of a general commit
tee" he said. whose duty shall be to pro-
mote in suitable ways the prepara tion of an
exhibit of education showing it's condition
and progress within the United States, said
committee to be formed in such a way to
represent all education Interests and ad-
init OF easy division into subcommittee for
special work, such committee to consist of
ten state SuperintendentS ten city Superin-
tendents, ten presidents of colleges or uni-
Versitles, ten representatives of private or
aenomlnational schools, five librarians of
Iubllc libraries and five representatives of
public institutions for the education of spe-
CIal classes, including aSVlumS for OrphanS
the deat and dumb, the blind and state re-
form schools; said committee 10 be ap-
pointed by the board of directors OF the Ma
uonal Educational Institution association,
and to meet in November upon the call of
the president of the association, is to my
mind the best plan by which the educa-
ional advantages of the United States may
De exhibited to the world at the Paris eX-
position. l strongly urge that such a COM
mittee be appointed and think that the re-
suits of its laibors wou1 adequately dis
play to the world the tremendous educa-
uonal advantages Of the United States and
many times repay the labor necessary in
the preparation of the exhibit"
At the close of the address of DR.. Harris
the Chicago Quartet rendered Comrades
in Arms, Meath One Banner in a man.
ner which aroused the audience to the high
est pitch of enthusiasm. For an encore
they gave quantity sweet lullaby, Ken
lucky Babe. 81
Bristles With Points.
The next address was delivered in polish
ed language and concise sentences every
one of which was an epigram, by w. w.
Stetson, state superintendent of the Maine
public schools The subject was THE Edu-
cational Outlook and it fairly bristled
with points. tsa
I'VE are provisional and cosmopolitan
sectional and patriotic, individualistic and
homogeneous" said Superintendent Stet-
son. Our provincialism is apparent to any
one who studies persons gathered in any
great national assembly, From one section
come those who are conscious of possessing
the prestige of age and tested systems.
They know the past, delight in it's record
and give much time to recitng its stories.
They place too high a valuation upon what
we have and overestimate it's usefulness in
doing the work of today
Superintendent Stetson gave some atten-
ton to the character of training that is
given children. Parents have been putting
too much of their vitality into their work
and dissipations, he said, "and are endow-
ing their offspring but sparingly with this
gift. The control of the children in the
home has been slight, fitful and unnatural,
and hence the greater need of firm intelli-
gence, which secures unhestating obedi-
ence in the schools and thus saves authori-
ty from being defied. The desire for strk-
ing apparel, the ambition to be before the
public, and the anxiety to be entertained
have become SO strong in many young peo-
pie that they have lost all sane ideas they
may have had of what life is.
The Common Schools.
There have been too many centers
around which the work of the school has
been grouped continued the speaker
I'VE have too long misconceived the scope
and purpose Of the common school. We
evidently close to a day when we are
to sober off, recover our sanity and realize
that children are injured by being rushed
through things and rushed from one thing
to another. We have also been making the
mistake of thinking that the average child
can profit by the intricacies Of the Hegeian
philosophy, and the transcendental mys-
teries of the Herbertian pedagogy during
his grammar school course.
I'VE are seeking for teachers" continued
Superintendent Stetson, whose manners
tone, carriage and speech are in harmony
with those found in our cultured homes.
We no longer desire a tyrant or look for
a czar. We read of an age when it was
the work Of the scholar to study books
We are enduring the horrors incident to a
furor about the study of things. School
room instruction, as well conception of
life is beginning to have perspective. We
are beginning to realize that we are not
educated until we can appreciate instinct
lively, and hence unconsciously."