The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-07-05
TClELLAN TO EDUCATORS.
mr. rs ENTHUSIASTICALLY RE-
rrIIED AT ASBURY PARK.
No Adj, COATES the Three Rs-Many Honor
Ncn OF National Academies Come From
crossroads Schoolh ouse--Thoush hts by
,ne Nayor on the Spirit OF Unr est.

,ne Mayor on the Spirit OF Unr est,
.AsprRy PARK. n. j., July 4.-Mayor
o.rre p Mcclellan of New York adj
osoa.ed the National Educational Conven-
,ior IN the Ocean Grove Auditorium this
.,,orroon. The Mayor was introduced
~ president Maxwell superintendent OF
,ts New York schools, The Mayor was
a-oe,ed hy loud handclapping froml0, 900 per-
.ors and very pretty Chautauq salute
s.ar, the .choolteache who seemed to
-, inspired by the power of the Mayor
,,a,arhors. The Mayor spoke under a
hank Of flags after the big chorus had
s,,rred the patriotism of the multitude.
| He said
spccch OF Mayor Mcclellan.
1T NAV he that | am old fashioned, 1t
NAV he that my theories are obsolete, but
a:s,,re Won nat | am sincere in saying
Ia ! asSI'Eb sIeye that schools exist for man,
md not man for schools. There Is no more
misused, mi~applied and misunderstood
word in the English language than educa-
lion, 70 teach is one thing, to educate Is
another You can teach bullfnch to
whistle Hail Columbia or parrot to
s In3' the star Spancleh Banner" but in
neither case will your efforts have resulted
in nroG,Iring a useful American citizen.
Preaching 50 far as 1t goes, is most adj
nirable. bat the teaching of children that
does not educate can scarcely JUSTLY any
expenditure Of public moneys. What our
scheme of government requires Is that our
cbiLirsn be educated They must be
TAUGHT, Of course as condition precedent
IN The education, but the teaching is only
mean, to an end and is by no means an
end In Itself.
what the standards OF education shall
be depends very much on circumstances.
Everything in this world is progressive;
nothing stands still. As we travel upon
the Journey of human evolution the broad
and well paved road ahead may not cause
us atog ether to forget the beauty of the
scenery left behind. Our economic and
Industrial development has been 30 e1-
traorinary 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 earth's pro-
ductivity, the most uncompromising econo-
mist must sometimes sigh for the economi-
ca!ly incorrect charm Of his native country
side. Factory ohimneys may increase the
wealth Of nations, but green valleys and
wild flowers. even pretty weeds, add more
10 their peoples happiness. In the race
for wealth. in which for wears we have
been engaged, our educators, recognizing
the economic law of supply and demand,
have tried { bring to market only salable
that colleges should turn out money making
machines rather than educated men, col
EGGS have met the demand and we'll chosen
elective courses have graduated hard
beaded Young men -r ready to begin tn the
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
& specialist in some one narrow line OF
money making, and not that he Is the pos
sessor OF a liberal education.
The craze to turn out complete money
ma king machines is not confined to our
colleges 1t mas even entered the field of public
eiucation. The time that the average
child can afford to spend at school is nee
very little ground can be covered thorough y.
Public education cannot hope to make
SPECIALISTS. 1t can only hope to prepare
children to in time become specialists.
As the requirements Of modern condi--
tons change, so the requirements needed
70 meet modern conditions change The
three Rs of yesterday may not necessarily
be the three Rs of to-day. But there are
certain funda mental subjects that every
one must know, and know we'll If success
in after life is to be hoped for. The Sc
fundamentals are the same all over the
world. However much opinions may
offer as to what should constitute a liberal
or a fundamental ducation, there should
be no difference of opinion as to what
should form the groundwork. You have
great opportunity here in this conven-
lion. you who make education your life
work, to agree upon what these funda-
mentals should be, and then, by educating
public sentiment, to cause their adoption
as the three Rs throughout the United
States.
4 do not believe that any one can be
over-educated. But pardon me, If again
i confess to being old fashioned. / do not
! telieve that any one can be educated who
has not at least a smattering OF the three
Rs 1t may possibly serve some mysteri-
ously useful purpose to teach welve 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
three is unknown, in the theory. but not in
the practise, Of music and cooking, for
both are often bracketed together in our
school curricula. 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
anything but fattering to our standards
o. local administration that the products
succeed at either West Point or Annapolis
Run through a list Of the honor men at both
i academies, and while you will often find
among them the products Of private insti-
tr,i3ns, YOU will find that the vast majority
| come from the little cross road country
II
/ God bless her,-has had no other working
capital at hrr command than fair knowl-
Il edge Of the three Rs, VII ich she has con-
scipn'i.u-ly impaired to her pupils.
There is nothing either disgraceful or
undIgnfed ABOUT the three RS. Many
emnen, and good men and women have
been able to read, write and reckon fairly
well. There is no, hing disgraccfuI or I'M
csnIied III teaching them. And yet how
Are are they taught,
l trust that you will not imagine that l
an playing devils advocate at the canoni-
ration Of what in so-called educational
circles are known as educational utilities. '
Many OF them are really most useful, If
Properly and thoroughly taught. But the
tendency which EXISTS to exploit the teacher
the expense Of the taught inevitably
'e'llS in giving the pupil the merest smat-
eFlng OF lnnumerahle subjects, in puZzllng
lIs poor little brain without developing
IN confusing him with the higher
branches Of learning when he can scarcely
tead and write in making him little jack
VI al trades and master OF none. Educate
au You Ike and as much az you like-the
more the better--but in doing so remember
taa there can he no education that Ia not
ouIt up on a solid foundation, the thorough
mastery Of first principles.
>, Inc chief purpose, for that matter
we only purpose Of public education
LOT 1t i with public education only that
p,,r1 oil . Law To DO rfn@