Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1907-06-21
Common Sense in Common
Schools.
Continued from First Page.

the point where they become conyinc-
ed that they are not elected to gradu-
, alton.
/ cannot escape the conviction that
there Is too much of a tendency, so
far as common schools are con-
cerned, to educate the mass of our
boys out of touch with their social
and vocational needs-too much OF
a tendency to make prigs OF them
and to give them a dislike for any
calling which will not allow them to
wear nice clothes and keep their
hands unsoiled. All honor to the
boy who feels that he is called to do
what his condition in life fits him
for.
The educational system which
stimulates the boy to rise above his
environment and 60 higher in the vo-
cational and social scale is a good sys-
tenn so long as it actually accom-
plishes this result In a fair percent
age Of cases; but 1t is not desirable
when it achieves this at the cost of
making a high percentage of educa-
tional mistits in order to elevate a
few into the intellectual or profess
sional pursuits.
Common-school training should be a
common-sense training adjusted to
bear directly upon the reasonable ex-
pectations of the mass of pupils, upon
tile needs of the community Il n
needs of the individual In his relation
to his community. Probably many
sons of mothers who have done wash
ing and other manual labor as a
means of livelihood have become pro-
fessional men-lawyers, doctors, min
listers, teachers and college professors;
but / admit that, in the instance
which l have just cited, a more sensi-
BILE education for the boy in question
would have been a solid grounding In
the elemental and vocational studies
mathematics, English, manual
training. physics and business sub
jects, instead Of Latin, Greek, French
and German. And those whose con-
dition and prospects in life correspond
to those of this boy are legion and
form the great majority of the pupils
of the public schools In the larger Cit
les.
After all, utility should be the su-
preme test In education. And this
standard should be especially applied
in shaping the course of study in the
common schools. The statement
that the curriculums of the public
schools will not generally stand this
test may be a surprise to many par
ents; but such is the lamentable fact.
Until very recently it has taken a
courageous educator to come out into
the open and squarely defend the
utilitarian theory of education and
fight for vocational studies for their
own sake. On the other hand there
has been no lack of champions for
the leisure-claSS theory of education.
1t has been fashionable to contend
for those lines of study whose adyan-
tages must be mainly collateral rather
than direct, for general mental dis
cipline and a broad liberation and
harmonious development of the fac
ulties, as c%ontrasted with a training
calculated to fit the pupil for the sue
cessful pursuit of a vocational
though, perhaps, a humble n
These who hage had the haraihood to
contend for the so-called sfads'-
such as drawing, chemistry, manual
training and household arts-seem to
have often felt it necessary to make
their defense along the line of the
leisure-class theory Of training by ar
guing that these studies should be
pursued because they liberate the
faculties, put an edge on the powers
of observance and elevate the mind
into the altitude OF clear and logical
thinking. For one, 1 have no hesita'
tion in urging that the men who
make the curriculums of our public
schools put the emphasis on the ele'
mental and the vocational studies be-
cause a majority Of the pupils cannot
hope to enter professional life, and
should, therefore, be trained by the
shortest and most direct u to fit
themselves for the life of labor in
shops, stores and offices.
One Of the most important develop
ments of Naturalization is the recog
milton that all pupils IRE not alike:
that some are of the practical, execu-
tive type, while Others are of a recep-
tive and scholarly bent of mind. I'm
der the old theory of education the re-
ceptive boy made a good showing in
his school career, while the boy of the
practical and executive turn had a
poor standing as a pupil. But keen
observers of educational currents could
not escape the fact that a high per-
centage Of the boys who scored little
short of a failure in school quickly
outdistanced the "studious" and
scholarly" boys in the serious and
responsible struggle of practical affair.
Certainly the facts have taught us
that the restless, driving, executive
kind of boy is of as sound and valua-
BILE timber as the docile, studious and
receptive boy; that he is as likely to
cut Just as wide a swath in the worlds
affairs as the lad who Stands higher
in class rank, and that he is as well
worth educating as the natural schol-