Los Angeles herald., 1907-12-19

to point the path by which society will
reach its goal.
"Yet, looking backward, back over the
path down through the ages, the path
over which society has come and which
men call history and one sees beautiful
consistency in 1t Also beautiful, indeed,
that many have been led to exeiaini:
Surely there is a God and this God holds
the destinies of races and nations in his
hands and with them he is working out
world PLAN 1t is consistent In this:
That despite countless twists and turns,
countless doublingS and redoublingS, |
countless crossings and recrossings of
itself and upon itself, every swerve from
a straight course has had an appreciable
and adequate cause. 1t is consistent, too,
in the sense that in spite of inhumanities
and cruelties and grievous wrongs the
way has been steadily onward and up
ward. Higher forms have grown out of
lower forms and higher civilization
out of lower civilization. So true is
this of the past that we are assured the
future will in no respect be otherwise.
Yes, the past convinceS us that there is
goal and that this goal expressed In
terms of the social body in the develop
ing of higher types of humanity-of a
higher form of civilization. Expressed
in terms of the individual and of the
individuals life the goal is the unfold
ment, the growth, If you please, of the
human soul. From this point of view
the school process is part-a part only
of the world process by which we are
striding toward this goal.
Education's leaI Object
''This conception no longer permits us
to regard the end of the school as the
mere teaching of a quantity of arith-
metic, of geography, of grammar as
SUCH 1t bids us look back of and be-
yond these to the real and ultimate end
the building of the soul
THAT the schools are rising to this
conception is obvious. One hears many
ratings against the schools. You will
hear much of this before the end Of this.
week. But for one, while 1 am not un-
mindful of the defects of the schools, l
am convinced that never in the history
of society were the schools better than
they are today, nor striving more ear
nestly toward the goal which have ex-
pressed. The seIA-government as prac-
ticed in our high schools and grammar
schools, the medical inspection accorded
the children, the bathing facilities which
have been introduced in our schools by
a generous and high-minded board of
education the instruction in art and
music which gives to the children feel
ing for the beautiful in life, the work
in handicrafts which develops initiative
and constructive power, the organization
of ungraded rooms and of parental
schools for special cases, the giving of
courses in the fundamental virtues-all
these activities are but illustrations of
how the school is attacking the problem
of the development and unfoldment and
growth of the human soul. One teacher
well expressed the sentiment which DOM
mates the corps as whole, l feel. en-
tered her class room the other day just
after the class had been dismissed. 1
sat down on front seat while she sat
at her desk We gazed at each other
moment without speaking. Then / said:
Well, what is it all about. anyway
I'll tell you,' she said. These little for
eigners-for her class was largely drawn
from the foreign-born population of this
city-'come to me with their minds closed
up. They don't know about the beautiful
and inspiring things there are in the
world and I'm coming along and opening
the windows that they may glimpse the
beautiful things beyond. That Is it,
teachers. That is exactly it. Our mission
is the mission of giving these boys and
girls of ours the things that their souls
can feed on. And this, 1 take it, is the
true significance of the work of our
schools"
Wild Animals
Superintendent H. A. Adrian spoke at
Simpson auditorium on Some Wild AMI
mails Have Known" He said in part:
my subject is not the Seton Thomp-
son story of lobo or the pacing mus
tang, but the story of years of my ex-
perience with growing humanity.
'I will bring up, for example, one boy
who was called Dutch john He was
frequently tardy at school, and when in
vestigatlons were made for the cause it
was found that he had ten COWS to milk
In the morning, had to walk two miles to
school and this al the are of II wars
"A discussion arose among the boys re-
garding their future ambitions. Dutch
John said: I'll be great DOCTOR
Last year when the great German ply
sician advised an American lady to come
to her native land to get treatment he
said to her to secure the only great sur
geon in America, and that was our
former Dutch John now DR.. John
Osborn"
At the Polytechnic high school yester-
day afternoon Superintendent Adrian
made an interesting address on "a Visit
with Luther Burbank"
The following are the resolutions unan-
imously adopted by the county institute
at its session yesterday:
"Be 1t resolved
''First-That the teachers of Los An
geles county, in annual convention assem-
bled. hereby renew their devotion to the
cause of popular education by affirming
that the highest function of the modern
democratic state is the mental, moral and
physical training of its youth for intelli-
gent. righteous and efficient citizenship.
"Soecnd--That we urge upon all boards
of education the Importance of establish
Ing physical examinations in the public
schools for the purpose of detecting de-
fective conditions in the health and de-
velopment of pupils. We recommend such
legislation as will make such examinations
obligatory. Compulsory health and de-
yelopment examinations go hand in hand
with compulsory education Therefore
the state should provide medical aid for
INDECENT children.
''Third--We appreciate the increasing
desire ON the part of taxpayers to be just
with those who give their best services