The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-07-05
MCCLELLAN TO EDUCATORS.
uF rs ENTHUSIASTICALLY RE-
CrjyED AT ASBURY PARK.
ria Advocates the Three Rs-Many Honor
wen OF national Academies Come From
crossroads schoOlhOIsc--ThOu shts by
tho Mayor on the spirit Of Unr est.

wen OF national Academies Come From
Crossroads dollhouse Thoughts by
,nc ,Ia,or on the Spirit OF Unr est
AsurnY PARK, n. j., July 4.-Mayor
caor,o B. Mcclellan OF New York adj
G.ossod the National Educational Conven-
.I,n i, the OCEAN Grove Auditorium this
anornoon. Tie Mayor was introduced
hy President Maxwell, superintendent Of
,bs New York schools. The Mayor was
rrceted by loud handclapping fromlO 900 per-
so,s and a very pretty Chauta uqua salute
Irnm ttc schoolteachers, who seemed to
=. insp.rpd Ivy the power Of the Mayors
,,e,ophors The Mayor spoke under a
,o,s of fags, after the big chorus had
.,rrcd the patriotism OF the multitude.
He said
Speech Of Mayor Mcclellan.
cit NAY 10 that ! am old fashioned, II
r,ov Ln that ray theories are obsolete, but
insure yol that / am sincere in saying
,h"t l.'ir,o that schools exist for man,
o o,''' NOT man FOR schools. There Is no more
"is.sf,l. melpplied and misunderstood
wor,. in the fnglish language than educa-
ton 10 teach Is one thing, to educate Is
another. You can teach a bullfnch to
~hi,tla Hail columbia" or a parrot to
sin'. the Star Spanrlei Banner," but In
naitbar ,9So will your efforts have resulted
In proc ing a useful American citizen.
Teaching, so far as 1t goes, Is most i'd
nirabie. hut the teaching of children that
does not educate can scarcely justify any
expenditure # public moneys. What our
| scheme # government requires Is that our
rti.ren lie educated They must be
taught. f course. as condition precedent
10 Tie 1cation, but the teaching is only
means 70 an end and is by no means an
end IN ,,,'f.
VIVA, the standards of education shall
be depend, very much on circumstances.
Everything in this world is progressive;
nothing stands still. Az we travel upon
and we! paved road ahead may not cause
us altogether to forget the beauty Of the
tcenerv left behind. Our economic and
Industrial development has been SO e1-
traordinary during the last half century
that the inevitable tendency has been In
the direction Of the practical rather than
the beautiful. However desirable 1t may
be to Increase the total of the earths pro-
ductviv. the most uncompro missing econo-
mist must sometimes sigh for the economi-
calIy incorrect charm OF his native country
side. Factory chimneys may increase the
wealth Of nations, but green valleys and
wild flowers, even pretty weeds. add more
to their peoples happiness. In the race
for wealth, In which for years we have
been engaged, our educators, recognizing
the ECONOMIC law Vi supply anu ueiildud,
have tried t. bring to market only salable
goods. When fond parents have preferred
that colleges should turn out money making
machines rather than educated men, col
eges have met the demand, and well chosen
elective courses have graduated hard
Struggle for life. Time being literally
money, every day saved in preparation
for the contest has been considered OF
advantage. A bachelor Of arts degree in
many cases means that its recipient is
a specialist in some one narrow line OF
money making, and not that he is the pos
SCISSOR of a liberal education.
The craze to turn out complete money
making machines is not confined to our
colleges it has even entered the field of public
child can afford to spend at school is neo-
essarily all too short; so short, in fact, that
very little grou nd can be covered thoroughly.
Public education cannot hope to make
SPECIALISTS. 1t can only hope to prepare
children to in time become specialists.
tons change, so the requirements needed
10 meet modern conditions change. The
three Rs of yesterday may not necessarily
he the. three RS of to-day. But there are
certain flu fundamental subjects, that every
one must know. and know we'll IL SUCCESS
in after life is to be hoped for. These
fundamentals are the same all over the
world However much opinions may
differ as to what should constitute a liberal
or fundamental ducation, there should
te no difference of opinion as to what
should form the groundwork. You have
q great opportunity here in this conven-
ton YOU who make education your life
work, to agree upon W hat these funda-
mentals should be, and then, by edu eating
public sentiment, to cause their adoption
as the three rs throughout the United
States.
I do not believe that any one can be
ovcr-educated. But pardon me, If ! again
confess to being old fashione do not
believe that any one can be educated who
has not at least smattering of the three
Is 1t may possibly serve some mysteri-
ously useful purpose to teach twelve year
old boys. who cannot read even the simplest
English to sew buttons on shirts, or to drill
girls of the same age, to whom the rule OF
thne Is unknown, in the theory, but not In
the practise, OF music and cooking, 1or
both are often bracketed together in our
school curricnla But the ignorant outsider
who is excluded from the Parnassus OF
educational circles may be permitted to
wonder AT the wherefore Of it all. 1t Is
OF local administration that the products
Of our great urban public schools seldom
succeed at either West Point or Annapolis.
Run through list of the honor men at both
academies, and while you will often find
among them the products Of private insti-
come from the little cross road country
schoohou,e, whose simple minded teacher
God bless her!-has had no other working
capital al her command than fair knowl-
edge of the three Rs, which she has con-
scientiously impaired to her pupils.
There is nothing either disgraceful or
undignfed about the three Rs. Many
eminent and good men and women have
been able to read write and reckon fairly
veil, There is nothing disgraceful or I'M
egnifed IN teaching them. And yet how
ute are they taught!
l trust that You will not imagine that
an playing devils advocate at the canoni-
iation of what in so-called educational
circles are known as educational utilities.
Many Of them are really most useful, II
Noperly and thoroughly taught. But the
tendency which exists to exploit the teacher
the expense of the taught inevitably
results in giving the pupil the merest smat-
,erlng OF innumerabe subjects, in puzZling
hs poor little brain without developing
y, IN confusing him with the higher
branches Of learning when he can scarcely
read and write, in making him a little jack
o. all trades and master of none. Educate
al yol TX" and aS much as you like-the
more me letter but in doing so remember
,na' th"r" can he no education that is not
ulil' UP on a solid foundation, the thorough
mastery Of first principles.
. me "hj"t purpose for that matter
Ie only purpose of public education
| lOr Ii /. y.l'i r,ul,lio nfluco ion only that