Waterbury Democrat., 1901-07-13
EDUCATORS CREED.
National Association Makes Declara-
 ton of Principles.

DETROIT, July 13.-The National Ed ucational association last night at the last session of its fortieth annual con- vention adopted a declaration of princi- pies declaring that the problem of ele- mentary education is the most important one with which the state must deal. The work of the bureau of education under Commissioner William T. Harris was in dorsed, and the association declared that its powers should be extended so that it would have Jurisdiction over educational matters in all of our new possessions. Compulsory educational laws and the consolidation of rural schools were in dorsed, and state support of institutions for the training of teachers is recom- mended.
 The following are the more important sections of the declaration of principles:
 1.-The problem of elementary education is the most important problem with which the state must deal. The prog ress and happiness of a people are in direct ratio to the uniyersality of edu- cation. A free people must be developed by free schools. History records that the stability of a nation depends upon the virtue and intelligence of the indi- yidualS composing the nation. To pro- vide for the universal education of youth is the duty of every state in the Union. All the residents of the territory under the direct control of the general gov ernment, including the Indian Territory, Alaska and our new possessions. must receive the benefits of free education at the hands of the government. We note with satisfaction the steps that have been taken by the present administration to place the blessings of American free schools within the reach of all the chil- dren of all the peoples under our flag.
 "We reiterate the statement that the public school should be the center of the educational life of the community in which it is located. Especially should this be true in rural districts. Here should be found the public library for the use of all, here the educational extension courses should draw the old and the young, here may literary and social meetings be held which will tend to uplift the mental, so- cial and spiritual life of the people. Freed from the rayenous influence of partisan politics, untouched by the narrowness of rigid sectarianism, the public school should become the real center of the broader intellectual life, the educator of men and women beyond the school age as well as the guide of childhood and youth.
 ''The subjects that may properly be taught in elementary schools include those that bear upon the ethical, physical and aesthetic nature of the child as well as its purely intellectual nature. Sober, industrious, intelligent, honest, cultured citizenship should be the result of public school training in the United States.
 Our system of education will not be wholly free until every grade of school from the kindergarten to and including the university shall be open to every boy and girl of our country.
 ..The public school system of a state should be a unit from the Kindergarten to and including the university, and all pri- vate institutions should endeavor to work in harmony with the ideals of public edu- cation so far as their special purpose will permit them. In order that public and private institutions of learning may more fully cooperate in the general work of education the relation between these in stitutions should be more clearly defined than it is at the present time.
 1.-The state should support and control institutions whose object is the prepara- tion of teachers for the public schools Normal schools free to persons preparing to teach are an absolute necessity in a perfected system of education.
 ..No one should be placed in charge of a school who has not been previously train ed for the work of teaching The plan of issuing teachers certificates of low grade year after year is at best a makeshift and should be discontinued whenever the state is sufficiently advanced in education to warrant it's discontinuance. There should be a limit to the length of time person can serve as an apprentice in the vocation of teaching."