The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-10-25
THE END OF EDUCATION.


Before the Annual Meeting OF
the Connecticut State Teachers Assoc
citation Valuable Advice to Teach
ers.
The following address on 1.-THE End
of Education was delivered before the
closing session of the annual meeting
of the Connecticut State Teachers as
ISOLATION at the United church, Friday
evening by William De Witt Hyde
president of Bowdoin college:
Educational discussion during the
past dozen years has passed through
several distinct phases. First it began
with the teacher, and showed how
much he must know and how good he
must be- Having secured omniscience
in the teacher, or started all who felt
themselves deficient in that attribute on
the quest for the degree of Phi. D., and
having filled the evenings with lectures
and clubs, the Saturdays with insti-
tutes, and the long vacation with sum
mer schools, we felt confident that the
N1'ffS
to know everything, or else, like one Of
my predecessors in the presidency OF
Bowdoin college, who felt that he ought
to be able to teach everything which
was taught in the college, died in the
attempt.
Then came the era of method and the
supremacy of the normal school. The
emphasis was not on knowledge so
IL. l,n Dfi r,,rNl nj
For time we fancied that couple Of
years of method might even be a sub
stitute for the four years of High school
or academy work and that colleges
were something of superiority so far
as the teaching profession was con-
cenerd. That view has happily been
outgrown in our leading states, though
there are sections of the country where
the normal school and method are still
the substitute rather than the supple
ment for sound secondary education.
Then came child-study, and with 1t
the devices of the kindergarten. Her
bert and instruction gave way before
Froebel and development. The youngs-
ter was in the saddle, the whip was IN
his hand. The teacher was the pur-
yeyor of whatever his spontaneous Gu
riosity might call for; the cook of what
ever intellectual delicacies he might
condescend to taste. The principle OF
election at the top of the educational
system was the compliment of this Cos
pei of spontaneity at the bottom; and
the old curricula We're abandoned with
the recklessness with which the Miller
ties disposed of their goods in the for
ties, and the speedy advent of the men
tai millennium was confidently await
ed
But it didn't come. We had to go
back to the old problem of the curricu-
lum, and from the five years following |
the appearance of the report of the |
committee of ten in ninety-three, eve |
arybody was discussing the question of |
the relative worth of subjects and time
allotment, conditions of admission to |
higher grades and enrichment of the |
curriculum geneally.
That completed the cycle. Teacher /
and method, child and spontaneity had
each had their turn; the courses of .
study were duly enriched, and with
what remained? Nothing but the inev-
liable question, What is it all for? In
the language of politics, Where are
we at? The books on education which
have appeared within the past three
years by Hanus, Butler, Dutton and
Fitch are concerned with educational
value and worth, with ends and aims.
Hence it is hardly matter of choice
with me, but simply necessary def
erence to the spirit of the times, which
leads me in this year 1900 to present as
our subject 1.-THE End of Education"
What then is the end Of education? l
fear that a verbal definition would not
give us much light at the outset. Be-
fore we try to define it or consider how
to impart it to our pupils, let US see
whether we teachers have gained it for
ourselves 1T Is comparatively easy to
divide all teachers into two classes; one
who have not attained the end of edu-
cation and one who have. Let us see to
which class we belong. 1T is not a
question primarily of how much we
know, or where we were trained, OF
whether we have Herbartian methods,
or adopt Froebel's principles, or follow
the Eliot programme. 1t is more per-
sonal and vital than any Of these
things.
Do you let teaching drive you like a
slave? Do you assume a great respon-
sihility for results? Like a man riding
In a carriage who still carries all his
bags and heavy bundles in his hands
Instead of setting them down on the
bottom of the carriage where they will
ride just as safely? DO you worry? !
Do you take your work home with you, {
and let it spill over into your hours
which should be given to rest and recre- !
alton? Do you try to make your own
clothes, do your own mending, under ;
AXE considerable housework accept all s
sorts of social invitations whether you
feel like going out or not? Do you go {
% church twice on Sunday, and teach
/ Sunday school class, and in conse-
1uence feel as tired Monday morning t
is you did Saturday night? Do you [
end your money to your poor relatives {
If trust speculatively inclined ac- G
1uaintances to invest it for you? Do t
,ou give up your vacations to the V
.laims of your relatives, and come i
rack in the fall as weary as you were t
n June? In short, are you wearing t
nut, breaking down, threatened with t
lervous prostratio afflicted with the g
lues, all as the result of your own @
oily, your own morbid conscientious i
less, your own disregard of the condi- t