The Pensacola journal., 1907-04-23
PRINCETON MAN SPOKE
AT CLASSICAL SCHOOL

processes in his development. An
educational system must recognize
| this process. must follow the individ-
ual being educated through the epochs
| of his life, the storm centeTS' of his
growth. Ignorance of the life powers
means failure of educational methods.
| We must understand the being if we
would be educators. The end of all
! education is indeed not ideal. The
man, boy or girl is the essential deed
| of education. Man is surrounded by
a spiritual environment by virtue of
| his nature the child is never an isO-
| lated unit. He is a social being. All
| that is best in the child occurs in
| the social atmosphere He develops
along the line of social relation,
which is a system of spiritual rela-
! tions. He comes into the school as
| a social unit where his social nature
needs to be developed. Hence educa-
| tors must shape educational theory
and practice with reference to the
| social nature of the child. The child
is destined to grow up as a citizen of
| the state, as a moral being. The
/ child grows up as the center of spir-
| itual environment. The teacher who
| neglects the religious sense is neglect
| ing the cardinal point of his duty.
The Child a Philosopher.
Man is in relation to the contents
| of his spiritual environment. Language
! is the great system of spiritual eX-
preston. The sense of the beautiful
in nature is defined in art, literature
and painting. The great works of art
and architecture are expressions Of
! this spiritual content OF life. The
child has a thinking and reflective
nature. He asks the why and the
how and becomes naturally a philoso-
! pher-all philosophy means is to under
stand and interpret life-the interpre-
| tatiOn of the scheme of life-the real
| iZatiOn of our destiny. The subject
| in school curricula must be studied
in educational theory and practice as
well as the child in order to deter
mine the nature of the material with
which we have to deal. The subjects
! themselves give light to teach them
| effectualy. The older education was
i one sided in that it considered the
subjective only. Today in studying
| the child we must not become one
sided. We must make a synteSIs of
all tendencies. The application of
| theory to practice should not become
one-sided. There is danger of concen-
trating on one point, neglecting other
essential points. To avoid this, the
true educator is true philosopher
he reckOns all features.
Training for Vocation.
"VOcatiOn-all education has as its
aim training for vocation. The child
at young age is interested in voca-
| tiOn- Educators must deal with the
real situation. The temptation is to
narrow education where it can least
afford to be narrowed The function
of general education is to train the
child as a whole. We cannot afford
to narrow the foundation, to push
vocation. The vocation can arise
upon this foundation. So in the
grammar and high schools the CurTi
culum must aim at establishing gen
eral principles, the education must be
a liberal education. In the college
vocation is coming to the front, yet
the college must aim first to give a
liberal education; liberal education
aims at principles. A liberal educa-
ton ought to fit one to suit the part
in light of the whole Education is
an organism, not an aggregation. Our
curricula are crowded because of ag-
gregatiOn rather than organization. |
a liberal education should deal with |
the fundamental things which become |
a child's spiritual possessions, Shap
d
of life The Iiberalizing function OF |
education cannot be sacrificed In ia |
vor of the vocation. Vocation can
and does take the lead in the medical |
and technical schools. The univeT |
Sity is the place for specialization. |
But the professional schools should |
correlate with the iberalizing schools !
so the student can connect vocation |
with its function in life: The voca- |
ton must be the agency by which |
the man or woman reflects upon the |
scheme of life-the whole life. Con |
sequently the professional schools |
must be careful of their standard or |
admission. They must train individ- |
uals already equipped with principles; |
they must not simply train to vOca- |
ton, but train human beings. They |
must organize the special function in |
connection with the general Fitting |
for a vocation in life must be con- |
sidered as the prOXimal ideals of edu- |
cation. All education has as its aim |
fitting for life. taking effective pos |
session of the spiritual inheritance |
Education should fit one to enter into |
appropriate life, to become a part of |
life and to make contributions to it. |
This brings up to the ultimate !
ideals. We should not be satisfied |
with taking the patTimOny of our an |
CeStOrS. We must aim at increasing |
life, doing a service to our genera |
ton. We must be ambitious to leave |
the world better than we found it. |
Education is the means by which we |
take possession of our spiritual in |
heritance thai we may increase that |
inheritance and hand it down. We /
are not to be satisfied with our envi- |
rOnment.
We must look TO the schools to |
remedy the evils of life We must be |
ambitious to reform our environment, |
eliminate evils. The true spirit OF |
education is thoroughly imbued with !
this ambition
Another ultimate ideal-in The |
last analysis the ideal of education |
becomes one with that of religion"