Los Angeles herald., 1908-06-08


men who have been trained to do things
as we'll as to know them. The advance
of the manual training movement, tine
recognition of the value of the kinuer-
garten. the increasing efforts TO tram
children rather than to drive thern-ail
are indications of what will be the
state of the educational system Oh 'he
country in the year 1000.
The nearer approach to ideals in edu-
cation will not be the result of academic
altruism, /but it will come pertorce as
the result of stern necessity. Competi-
tjon is growing keener every day, ana
when there are 1856, 100000 people IN THIS
country it will be sharper than we
dream of. Only the qualified man VIII
be able to succeed in that day, ana the
educational advantages necessary TO
furnish those qualifications will be
forthcoming. The jack-of-aI trades
flourished a century ago. He is out
at the heels now. He will have starved
to death long before the end Of this CEN
tury.
The IS, ,000, 900 American public school
pupils of the year 1000 will know of the
once lauded little red schoolhouse"
only by the tales they read In OLD
books The passing of that stored IN
stitution is even now contriputine
largely toward the advancement OF the
cause of popular education. The little
red schoolhouse" was useful in its day
and 1t served a noble purpose. Its day
is done now, and 1t is to be found only
in the most backward portions of the
country. One still hears regrets for It's
predecessor-the "old field school'-but
they are founded in sentimentality.
Ninety years ago the "field schooP
a,.l e.
mies' and colleges" were as numer-
Gus as there were villages In which TO
establish them. They were good
schools too, and in them the sons OF
the weli-to-do were taught much Eng
lish, a little more of Latin and some
Greek The classics were not only re-
yered but worshipped, and in the sue
ceeding generation public speaker
who could not quote from the Latin ana
Greek poets might as well not open his
month But the school was not popu-
lar, for the majority of the boys and
nearly all the girls in the neighborhood
never saw it's interior
1t was followed by the "deestrick
school--the little red house OF dialect
poetry Here the children of the pow
erty-triclken and the struggling were
gathered in, as we'll as those OF the
Well-to-do. The three RS were taught,
the dead languages were quite forgot
ten, the teachers were more democratic
but not nearly so we'll equipped as their
predecessors of the "old field," and the
influence for good was greatly extended.
Now the little red schoolhouse is
passing away. The towns and cities
have long enjoyed the privileges of
sending their children to graded
schools. The majority of Americans
live in the country. In not fewer than
thirty states the rural central graded
| school gives the rural boy the same
| advantage possessed by his urban
| cousin. More than hundred Thousand
| school children are each day being
taken to and from schools in a public
| conveyance at public cost.
The central graded school of the
rural districts is keeping pace with Its
| city counterpart and with the progress
| of education in general In that 1t is
| endeavoring to be as practical as pos
sible. Already there are rural high
schools which turn out boys and girls
| prepared for colleges, as we'll as equip
ping them for practical life by giving
them instruction in business methods
stenography and typewriting.
Latin is coming back into the rural
schools after an absence of some sixty
or seventy years, but it is not taking
| it's old position of transcendent I'M
portance, and 1t never will. The en-
phasis now is based on practical math-
ematics, hygiene and athletics. Instead
of educating the mind alone the modern