The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-12-23
SMARTLY RAPS
POPULAR IDOLS
OF EDUCATION
Continued from Page /

erence 10 the establishment OF early public
schools, she said.
We boast Of our system of education
with especial emphasis on the system We
have built up a great machine Our chill
dren az the age OF four or five are poured
intc the hopper OF the kindergarten and
ground systematically through the pri-
mary aud secondary schools II in the
grinding process a few grains OF human
it's escape the machine. there are COM
pulsOry education laws and vigorous able
bodied truant officers 10 gather them up
and restore them through the mill By
means OF college entrance examinations
Of "a diploma system. the youth are passed
on TO the somewhat more flexible machine
Of the colleges.
For generations we rave looked upon
this structure and called IL good. But
that day is past In the minds OF al
thinkers on educational matters, there
have arisen grave doubts as to the Wis
dom Of what we are doing. A question as
10 whether We are not on the wrong
track and are Visiting money OF the peo-
pie, energy ~ the children, opportunities.
wasting life"
The speaker said she proposed temper
arily 10 puJ herself in the position of an
fconoclast and deliberately cast down a
few idols. She outlined the condition Of
the earlier schools which were near
enough 10 the beginnings Of their OWE pc
ruliar civilization 20 understand what was
hest for them. Then college work was
planned for professional men and took
clearly defined and narrow lines. The
academy Was the door ana soon began 10
demand pass word and so the common,
schools. becoming the slaves of the sec
ondary schools. were attached TO the sys-
tenn. The system was dominated from the
colleges, which dictated 10 the secondary
schools. who In turn stretched out a com
pelling hand 10 the common schools.
System is inadequate.
That system said Mrs Miner, EEK
lists today and is out Of harmony with
modern civilization and inadequate 10 the
needs of modern life. The American peO-
pie have accepted with pride and salts
faction this condition.
we cannot draw the wet sponge across
the accusing slate and begin again. A
new foundation must be made. The unit
Of our present school organization is the
class; the unit of the new education must
be the individual. The kindergarten took
the first step toward emancipation. It
taught the rights of the individual and the
desirapility OF allowing each child to de-
velop and grow according to his own pc
cuhar characteristics in natural. uncOn-
sCiOus way. The spirit of the kindergar-
ten is right though much of its practice
Is wrong. In the Michigan schools the in
terest holds through the third grade. and
there is recognized break at the begin
ming of the fourth year. Then and through
the eighth grade the problem is A serious
one. Here exists the greatest school
waste. Journalism begins and we are
hampered BY the idea that the children
must be fitted intellectually into a certain
The one solution of the problem is to
let all who deal with young people learn
TO listen to the nature of the child, and
let me emphasize that i mean the nature.
not merely the within.
Send Too Many to College.
We are sending too many people to coll
lcge. In any college campus you will meet
scores OF students whose faces show that
they are spending days studying things
that find no response in their natures.
When they are through il is too late for
them To learn the work they might have
done well. Each year | find myself adj
Nising more and more frequently against
a college education for individuals.
"'rhe introduction of manual training
the wider interest in general athletics the
multiplication of subjects taught in many
of our city schools show the growing feel
ing that the needs OF those who may not
or should not go 20 college are being
looked after"
Mrs. Miner outlined the movement i'm
the direction of specialized schools in
Cleveland and an experiment made in De-
froit Of putting an entire class bodily from