The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1908-12-31
EDUCATION For EFFICIENCY
From
THE VIEWPOINT OF THE HON.

DR.. William y. Harris. ex commission
er of education, somewhere, sometime.
said that the sum of all the good to
man or woman as the fruit of the school
may be itemized as follows:
A good physique.
To know what our life requires us tc
know.
To be able to do the thing we need tc
do.
To love the good
These are excellent points but the
modern Dogenes is not looking for the
merely good man, but for the efficient
man and expects the goodness to be
thrown in for good measure.
To the above items we might add;
Good health as being fundamental tC
efficiency in any work. The sick OF
afflicted man or woman never has the
patience, the vitality or the endurance
to accomplish all the soul desires.
To be self supporting and law abid
ing.
To have good habits of thought, atten'
tion and concentration.
To have healthy interest in the best
things of life, literature science and art.
To have keen sense of values not
only in trade but in knowing what in
life is really worth while.
al, ty
think for ones self
To have self control in order to pre-
vent dissipation of power and to hold to
ones work
To have the power of self.expression
or the ability to reveal ones true self in
his life and his work.
To have the initiative or the ability
to be leaders in the real work of the
world.
In fact the best educated man is the
one Who does his work best who rend
ers best service to himself, his fellow
man and his God. Education may be
measured by accomplishment in life. aud
does not consist so much in acquiring
knowledge, though il Is necessary, as
in ability to render the largest service.
It is admitted by educators every
where that there is too much theory
and superficial teaching in our schools
and that many children are compelled tC
study many branches for which they
will never have any use, resulting in a
waste of time and making necessary the
cramming of the students brain with
book learning.
Our programs are congested because
they comprise too large remnant of
the old rubbish that used to be needed to
take up all the time and attention of the
pupil for the eight pre-high- school
years.
1t took lot of useless arithmetcal
puzzles and technicaities, of meaning.
less parsing and paraphrasing, of use
less geographical statistics, Of spelling
up and spelling down. of deadening
reading of a single reader in each grade
for several years; it took lot of such
time consuming and protitless drill to
fill up eight years of school life, and to
deaden hosts Of children's Interests in
intellectual pursuits forever.
Democratic education that offers equal
opportunities to all; must in my OPT
nion, provide as adequately for the
vocational aims of the future artisans,
merchants and farmers as for the fu.
ture professional men.
Prof Ballet says, Much of our pre-
sent school work divorces knowing from
doing and often exaggerates the rela-
tive value of the former rs compared
with that Of the latter. Examinations
test knowing more than doing and
even university degrees are conferred
on the basis of attainment rather than
doing Prof. Dewy says, ITO do, tc
perform, to execute, to make, to control
and direct activity-it is for the sake o.
such things that perceptions and impres
sions exist Indeed, to see and to hear is
more than to have impression; to see
and to hear is to do,-to do in co-opera
ton with the head arm, hand and
foot
The truth is dawning on the age that
usefulness and happiness are intimately
associated. Indeed, they are almost
identical one and the same, and consti-
tute the main object and end of living
To energize is to be happy.
Complete living means the freesi
activity along lines of ever widening
usefulness. Hence it follows, preparation
for usefulness is the criterion by which
all instruction and training are to be
judged.
SO much for efficiency in education
Now let us consider the viewpoint OF
the home-,he home Of today and to
morrow.
Mrs. Lynden Evans, in recent ad
dress TO the Chicago Womens' club, stat
ed that in the United States we have
Is, 000 900 private homes. Now il is q
safe conclusion that each must have
some kind of housekeeper. Add tc