The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-12-30
MODERN EDUCATION.

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State Superintendent Lewis whose
earnest and eficient~wor has made for
him hosts of friends throughout the
state, presented a remarkably strong
and practical paper before the meeting
of the teachers assoc, alton. The de-
mand of the. age is for practical men;
for men who have knowledge and train
ing that can be turned to account in a
social and industrial Organization that
grows more intricate every day.
Are our SCHOOLS practical and up to
date?" is the gist of the question Prof
Lewis propounds, and he finds that they
are encumbered by many fossil ideals
and purposes. Our colleges to a large
extent are still under the ban of the
times when their object was to prepare
men for the three learned professions.
They have not yet heard this modern
spirit that is laundering at their doors
with thousand hands of iron and steam
and clamoring for admission They are
still fostering the i retrospective spirit and
the young men, and women whom they
send out to teach in high school and
common schools have ideas and ideals
that bear bur~Tfttfe relation to- the busy
life around, them, and they -haYezbu lit
tie understanding for the two great fac
tors of today commerce and industry,
the market and the factory. Naturally
these teachers try to instilI their own
ideals into their pupils, and as a result
parents all over the country ask whether
their children are learning anything that
will be of practical benefit to them and
they find altogether too much of the
answer to be in the negative
All this must be changed, says Prof
Lewis. Teachers must become imbued
with the modern spirit and acquainted
with the factors of modern life and
this knowledge must be carried into the
school room and the course of study.
instead Of having courses of study map
ped out solely with reference to the learn
ed professions which but few of the stu
dents can ever enter, they should be ar
ranged 50 as to prepare for the actual
demands of modern life in commerce. in
dustry and agriculture:
Prof. Lewis thinks that all the trash
of modern fads, that have done so much
to make the schools unproductive and
discredit them in the eyes OF the public,
should be swept out to make room for
SOnaetbino 1lSaf11I ap6 orao+iooI rpk,o
there will be an opportunity to teach the
beys and girls in the rural schools a
thousand things that will be of use 10
them on the farm. that will cause tn I'm
to think, prepare them for more adj
vanced methods in agriculture and at
tach them to their home on the farm in
stead of filing them with the unrest
ana discomfort that finally drifts them
into the city.
There will then be room to teach those
who wish to enter commercial life. rot
merely the technique Gf bookkeeping and
stenography, but also those laws and
forces that govern society and lie at the
bottom of the worlds commerce. Our
manual training, engineering, and technf-
cal schools will then not only be able TO
turn out men qualified for the ever. grow
ing demands OF our immense intricate
industrial system, but they will also teach
them the responsibility of the individual,
and instiH in each a desire ''to perform a
larger and grander service for his FAM
lily, his community and his state"
Prof. Lewis is correct Fads have made
fortunes for publishing houses, but they
have ruined our schools. ,sOur schools
have suffered from an inundation Of fads
and dearth OF practical ideas Throw
out the fads that merely serve to confuse
the children. give them fewer subjects
with more practical turn and more
thorough work. Prepare our young men
and women, not for life of contempla-
ton and introspection. but to take their
place in an immense, complicated social
and industrial system. This is what the
modern spirit demands and is up to the
pedagogues to rove whether they are
equal to the tas i.