The Somerset reporter., 1907-10-31
State Supt. Smiths Address.

by Superintendent of Schools Payson
Smith before the convention of Maine
teachers. He had as his subject
practical Education" In the tire at
ment of it, he emphasized the impor
lance of training young PERSONS
mind for that particular line of work
for which he may be especially suited.
He conducted his address with the
prediction that the time is not far dis
tant when the sons and daughters of
Maine will be educated for the de vel
opment of the industries that are now
nearly latent in the State. When
such a time comes, Mr.. Smith de-
clares, education will be at its best
and a practical education will be as
sured.
Mr.. Smith spoke, in part, as fol-
lows:
The demand for practical educa-
tion is characteristic both of the peo-
pie and of the age. 1t is not only
characteristic demand, it is likewise a
legitimate demand Our school sys-
tenn, like our government, is repre-
sentative. The people not only ought
to have what they want in the schools;
it is quite certain they will have it.
Indeed they are having it and for
whatever the schools possess, both in
way of faults and in the way of ex-
cellencies, the people are mainly re-
sponsible.
In the matter of a practical educa-
lf kn 10 AynA
the office of the teacher is to mold and
form that ideal for the benefit of the
school.
The first element of a practical ed
ucation is determined by It's value to
the individual. While education is of
supreme interest to the State, it must
become, in the end, an individual mat
ter. Indeed, it has value to the State
only as it enhances the value of the
individual citizen.
Our somewhat common notion that
mass education is possible has led us
into mistakes. 1t is possible to pro-
vide mass instruction, mass drill and
to some extent, mass recitation; but
none of this has value.
When we attempt to apply the same
measure on the point of value to all
individuals we go far afield and our
mistakes exceed those OF the great
law giver.
In this individual conception of edu
cation, / apprehend that it is practi-
cal when it leads each one to his own
place of highest usefulness. From the
point of view of the mass, or of So
ciety, the result is the same. No man
i fills his best place as citizen unless
he occupies his own niche as man.
The man who ought to be a hustler,
because of his peculiar fitness for that
work, will be better citizen for not
being a professor of Greek. There
fore a practical education Is the edu-
cation which helps the boy to find
himself, adapt that self to the environ
ment in which he is to live.
An education fails, from the practi-
cal point of view, if it does not take
into account individual tastes, talents
and capabilities, or if it does not bring
children, with advancing progress, to
realization of these points of indi-
viduality and awaken in them the de-
termination to make the most of them.
The teacher who plans his work and
methods upon the basis of an assumed
average, or supposed type, will fail
to give practical education to his
class, as a whole, because he will fail
to reach the individuals whom it in
cludes. A school system that works
absolutely on a law of averages will
finally fail, because, when it comes to
all the elements that go to make up
personality, there are no averages.
Every child furnishes his own educa-
tional methods as well as his own ed
ucational opportunity. The school
system that persists in disregarding
this fact will not only fail to educate,
it will finally lose the children it seeks
to instruct.
The parent, indeed, now generally
recognizes, so far as home training
goes, that each child is entitled to the
heritage of his own peculiar charac-
teristics and he sees only justice in
adopting. for each the form of treat
ment demanded by those characte ris-
tics. He attempts little more than to
guide the natural forces into the best
possible channels.
How foolish, therefore, is the parent
who insists that his children have
their school training modelled upon
his own; or how foolish to demand
that the schools give his child only
those subjects for study which appeal
TO MS OWN btuS6 VI Vic PldSUlSdi,
while denying to other children privi
leges equally important to them.
The chief factor of practical ed
ucation is not to be determined as ex
listing in any one subject, or in any
group of subjects. 1t Is variable
quantity and becomes fixed only when
it is taken in relation with the indi-
vidual. The factor calling for closest
attention is not in subjects at all; it Is
the person who is to be educated.
In our pursuit of practical educa-
ton, we likewise make mistake when
we place the greatest stress upon
knowledge. The saying acknowledge
is power" is only half truth.
There Is no intrinsic value in mere
J ly knowing things. The acquisition
of facts does not constitute an educa-
tiCn. A man may have all the wis
dom of Soloman, but, If that wisdom
be not transmitted into service, he
may as well be Observation-Disclosures,
indeed, for 80 he bears material fol
the building.
Education of the practical sort does
not consist in knowing even very
practical things. 1t comes of the dis
cipline engendered by the careful
logical, thorough study Of few fund
amental principles, with practice in
. their application.
Only those facts are worth the
teaching in way of added skill and
power-and this the fact seldom car