The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1908-06-08
ny TREDEUIC j. uAsI<iN,

-
When America is grown, ninety years
hence, there Will be us many pupils
In American schools as there are now
people in the country. Great as the
Improvement OF the quality OF educa-
ton tipn R Re- r III. AN, and .rlthmctie
nwa Sat 6 a1 4osa e
breaking away from the tyranny Of
the academy To teach the children
or men how to do, as we'll as how TO
tine future As r dhat sturdy Gl Ss oia Scot q
James Wilson. who is Secretary OF
Agriculture and one OF the greatest Of
living educators. said that he could
get all the =, Yale lie and m, Harvard grad
but 1t took twice that much to hire
a really expert cattle feeder.
Mr.. WILSON did not disparage uni
have been trained TO do things as we'll
as to know them. The advance of
the manual training movement. the
garten, the increasing efforts to train
children rather than to drive them
all are Indications OF what Will be the
s .t' o. The eaaca.!onad system OF me
country In the year 1000.
The nearer approach to ideals in ed
ucation will not be the result Of aca.
demic altruism, but u VIII come per-
force as the result OF stern necessity.
day and when there are sS5,0o0O0o
people In this country 1t will be sharp
err than we dream of. Only the quail
fed man Will be able to succeed In that
necessary TO furnish those qualitca-
tions will be Forthcoming. The jack
of -all-traues hourished century ago
He Is out at the heels now. He VIII
have starved to death long before the
end of this century,
The 7s.o0o.oo0 American public school
pupils of the year 1000 Will know.
OF the once lauded little red school
old books The passing of that storied
institution Is even now contributing
largely toward the advancement of
little red school house" was useful In
its day and it served noble purpose.
Its day is done now. and 1t is TO be
found only in the most backward por-
regrets for its. predecessor--thc "old
field school'--but they are founded In
sentimentaiity.
Ninety years ago the field school
was growing toward its prime. "Acad-
emies" and colleges, were az numer-
Gus as there were villages In which
to establish them. They We're good
schools, too, and in them the sons of
lish, little more of Latin and some
Greek. The classics were not only re-
vered. but worshiped. and in the sue
ceeding generation public speaker
and Greek poets might as well not
open his mouth, But the school was
not popular. for the majority Of the
boys and nearly all the girls In the
neighborhood never saw Its interior.
1t was followed by the "deestrck',
school--the little red house of dialect
poetry. Hero the children of the pover-
tE-stricken and the. struggling We're
well-to-do. Tho three RS were taught.
the dead languages were quite forgot
ten. the teachers were more demo-
cratic but rot nearly SO well equipped
and the influence for good was greatly
extended.
Now the little red school house is
passing away. The towns and cities
sending their children to graded pub-
| lie schools. The majority of Amerl-
cans live in the country. In no less
than thirty States the rural central
same advantages possessed by his ur,
! ban cousin. More than 100000 school
children are each day being taken to
and from school in public convey
rural districts is keeping pace with
tits city counterpart and with the prog
ress Of education in general in that
las possible. Already there are rural
] high schools which turn out boys and
/ girls prepared for college, as we'll as
4 equipping them for practical life by
/ giving them instruction in business
methods, stenography and typewrit-
ing.
Latin is coming back into the rura
lschools after an absenca> OF some sixty
i or seventy years. but It is not taking
Its old position of transcendent i'm
portance and it never will. The on
.iphasis now is based on practical math,
4 ematics. hygiene and athletics. In
stead of educating the mind alone thu
'modern public school endeavors also
Ito train tho hands and strengthen ths
! body
Tho teaching of hygiene in the pub
sl.lic schools is already having a tremen'
dous influence, and in the. next ninetA
A years 1t Will have worked a transfer
! tio, Of ~, ~ ho1,its Of5 tfvpry1av II r.