The Washington herald., 1907-12-04
sUPT. CHANcELLOR's BOOK.
A Revelation of the Man at the Head
of Our schools

of Our schools.
From the New York Tribune
IL is an unusual treatise that Mr. Wiz
liam Estabrook Chancellor. superintendent
of public instruction in the District of Co
lumbia, has written under the title OF "A
Theory Of Motives, Ideals. and Values In
Education" II is not a simple textbook
on pedagogical theory. but rather phil
osophy OF life applied directly 20 educa-
uonai problems. Uncommonly cOnspicu-
Gus is the fact that the writer's views
about schools and their management have
not grown up out Of observation alone
Mr. chancellor has built up philosophy
Of life out Of extensive reading in good
literature and stiu more extensive and
intensive broOding under the bias of a
strongly idealistic II not mystic tempera-
meRt The merit and faults Of his book
may be roughly inferred from this.
II has five main features % The asser-
ton OF the universal rather than the me
date place and value Of education. as an
integral social institution: CD the presen-
tation in a hierarchical form Of the evil
dences Of education as its successfully
higher ideals; 90 the discovery Of the true
relation of motives, values and ideals by
arranging these terms logically; CD the
emphasis Of the philosophical spirit un-
derlying and establishing the modern
course Of study and mode OF admin
istration3 and 60. the development Of a
system based upon the proposition Of
the complete education Of each and Of
ALI lea,-,- 1900, ,-,r,, s~9..,rr Il,
carrying it out. Mr. Chancellor has 20
look at all social institutions. relate
them TO one another, and show the
stimulus and the pressure coming from
all of them to the individual In labor
ing through the amorphous mazes OF So
eiclogy, genetlc psychology, race history,
and what not, Mr. Chancellor frequently
loses his bearings and occasionally his
temper. Yearning for unutterable per-
fection, he gets vexed over the real world:
In marriage, in home, and in family.
most men and some women are failures. o"
he cries. Most persons are not thought
ful. and therefore are not essentially sue
cessful.' ''Of religion. few manifest the
fruits by the peaceful works Of the spirit. %
"Of government. most men and women
know nothing, even in democratic Amer
ica-' There is not a single system Of
schools whose sole purpose is the true
purpose Of education. The temper Of
the present age in America is democratic.
scientific. practical, mechanical, material
istic- II is therefore out Of harmony
with the characteristic temper of histor-
ical education. The modern American
social temper Is TO be considered more
out OF harmony with true education than
with historical education" Indeed. the
whole situation is SO serious that AIr
Chancellor sees salvation possible only
through the medium Of 4 complete re-
generation Of our educational system
We must give up training children in
practical branches. education for ends
breaks down in free democracy in con-
sequence OF the rapid changes in its So
clal structure; We cannot prepare for ends,
for there are no ends. Everything is ten
tatiye." Let US therefore not worry too
much over teaching bookkeeping and type
writing, arithmeuc. engineering, and all
other sordid achievements. the philosopher
tells US Education is nothing but re-
hgion enlightened and energized." and
this means the conquest Of the human
conceived-the employment Of this life as
a means 10 a later. larger life All life
must De made a heavenly university. "A
school OF exceeding many and various Op-
portunities radiating from one idea'-the
possibility Of a FAR of. divine event for
each one OF rs These excerpts saffive
10 show how hopelessly out OF touch with
the tendencies of modern educational lead
ers Nh Chancellor is. a closer inspection
or his volume reveals a similar lack Of
sympathy and genuine familiarity with
current psychology. and the whole trouble
seems 10 be that the author has suffered
from an obsession against which scientific
calm cannot prevail Whether that OBJ
session IS a poetic enthusiasm for grand
thoughts or simply a hyperesthesia to-
ward the rough realities Of the day-to-dav
world. We are not sure. In either case. il
is a great misfortune