The San Francisco call., 1899-07-15
CLOSING SESSION OF
THE CONVENTION
President Jordan Answers the At
tacks Upon So-Called cover
Education -

LOS ANGELES, July 1.-THE final gen
eral session of the National Educational
Association convention to-day was held
at Hazards Pavilion. Every delegate
that heretofore had been derelict in at
tending the meetings seemed determined
to make up for former shortcomings. At
the hour of opening the lower floor Of the
Pavilion was filed. At the close of the
first paper doors were thrown open and
teachers swarmed in until it was nee
esSary for the usherS to close them be-
fore beginning of the next number. Then
many were obliged to wait on the out
side for the opportunity to enter.
The tendency Of parents to shift the re-
sponsibility of the childs education en-
tirely upon the teacher has been depre-
Gated in many thoughtful papers that
have been read since the opening Of the
National Educational Association. Aaron
Cove, Superintendent of Schools at Den
yer, Colo, pointed out some of the dangers
of this tendency in a forceful and epi-
grammatic manner. His delivery was very
effective.
The growth of paternalism, the speaker
urged, reached over to the schools, and
much of the training formerly me at
home was now relegated to the school.
The severe religious and effective discip-
line Of the early American home was dis
appearing, and the remedy advocated was
more time WIFI the LSdCHeT- fdtneT IHdIl
idleness at home, ten hours In school in
stead of six, he urged, and he argued that
the State must assume the new duties
being indicated for self-preservation-
George P. Brown, editor of School and
Home education, spoke on "The Function
of the Educational Press" He said:
The educational press must be the standard
educational host If it shall perform its func-
tion. 1t must gather and circulate the material
by which public opinion shall be nodded, and
serve the herald, at least, OF the leaders OF
the educational army. 1t seeks to publish the
observations. experiences and tentative con-
clusons of men and who write with
varying degrees OF consciousness of the trans-
ton in educational philosophy and practice that
We are now entering upon The less conscious
one is of the philosophy of the movement the
more valuable, sometimes, is his contribution,
provided he is sensitive to the new atmosphere.
Those who not Influenced by 1t may be good
priests and scribes for recording what Is done
under the law, but they not prophets Of
the coming time.
"Are Educational Journals Education
alp" was answered by George William
Bruce, editor of the American School
Board Journal Of Milwaukee, Wis. He
said:
Educational journals important fac
tor, as has been demonstrated here to-day.
They should be strong and fearless combat
that which is superficial and misleading, cham
pion that which is worthy, noble, true. In
order to make them so they must have ade-
Quate support 1t lies in your power to create
strong e0ucatonal press, by recognizing only
that which is worthy and in permitting the
law of the survival of the fittest to take its
natural course.
At to-night's session President David
Starr Jordan of Leland Stanford Junior
University delivered address entitled
IAN Apology for the American Universi-
ties" He said in part
Now and then in these days some successful
business man raises his eyes from his counter
10 question the American university's right to
exist Does higher education pay?'' he asks
and from his own experience of tireess energy
and from his own contact with the thin-legged
whfte-faced collegians seeking a job, he gives
TO this question qualified negative He fur
ther claims, SHOULD he care to pursue the sub
iect at greater length. that opportunities for
higher education too widely diffused and
that the American masses are victims of over
education.
and take account of stock. We have invested
too much in universities, love and devotion as
well as bonds and gold, for US to be Indifferent
to their usefulness.
II fs certain that to speak OF "over-educa-
tion'' is a misuse of terms If education is
rational and effective there cannot be too much
of IL It is not men trained and efficient who
enter into destructive competition 1t is the
Ignorant and ineffective who make the struggle
for existence 30 dire a battle. Whatever leaves