The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-06-30
President Thwings' Address.

l frcSiuent 1HWin9S NudICSSs President Charles F. Thwing, ILL. D.. Of the Western Reserve university spoke of "The Progress of Education" He said in part:
 T wish to interpret the progress or education for the academic year now closing under these six relations:
 First, in relation to the subject to be educated, the people; second, the educat- ing force; third, the content or material of education; fourth, the educationg tools or instruments; fifth, the educational con- dtlons, and sixth, in respect to person. ahty.
 Tn relation to the subject to be edu- cated-the people. The year gives intima- tons of the continuance of an increasing appreciation of education. The educa- tional basis for humanitys betterment IS rnore important than either the financial, the social, the ecclesiastical or the eco- homie The ecclesiastical basis is in peril of narrowness of interpretation and of application; the social is in peril of super | fcality; the economic and financial or materialism. The educational basis is as broad as humanity without supericiality, | as deep as thought without naroWness, 1 and inspiring without visionarlness. Ger ! tam important changes have been made | in the laws of the various commonwealths | touching educational affairs Illustrative | of continued betterment. Among sucn l laws and among movements growing out l of laws may be noted the progress of | the study of agriculture in rural hlgh schools. States as remote as Pennsyl- | vania and Kansas, Arkansas and Neew | Jersey are leading in such movement, Michigan has established chair of agri- | cultural education In it's college at Lan- | sing. The endeavor, too, or puttlng Ip- raries into every public school building progresses. The movement is general | enc, taking on diverse forms In different states and in different schools of the | same state.
 1 Several states, also, have estabhshe1 | commissions either to study educational | conditions or to codify school laws. llli- nois, Kansas, Kentucky, Washington and l Pennsylvania are eminent in these 1mpor- l tant relations. As part of such improve | ment also, several states are proposing | to make the supervision of educational 1n- l tcrests more expert. In such an endeavor 1 Vermont has large place. The enforce nent of compulsory laws regarding the 1 attendance is receiving special attention. l With such enforcement IS Joined more | 1jgid inspection of factories to insure | that children under legal age are nos | employed. Minnesota, Wisconsin and | Vermont represented this movement.
 Minimum salary acts still continue to l he passed, and Pennsylvania and West | Virginia illustrate the movement. The ten 1 dency to transfer the basis of taxation | from the local district to the larger area, l ELS the township the county, the state goes | forward with increasing force. As finan- l cal movement and also human one, tho 1 endeavor for the establishment Of pen- l sion funds progresses. lntimatlons abound 1 that every state will presently possess pension funs. Cities, too, are laying these l foundations Harrisburg has in this last 1ead inaugurated a wise system.
 Little Continuity.
 .sDespite these movements, it cannot be | denied that the number of pupils who
 persevere in following out their educa-
 tional course to it's conclusion is still ! small The career of the class from it's
 educational curriculum is like the march of an army in retreat-distingu gushed by
 what it loses.
 .The enhancement of the worth attrib-
 uted to the higher education for women
 still continues The desire of girls to go
 to college is quite as general as the de-
 sire of boys to become engineers. But | the sentiment--rather a feeling than a
 conviction-that the higher education of
 women should be differentiated from the
 education of men, is rising. Women have
 proved that they can do as acceptable
 service as is asked of men. They now,
 having made their calling and election
 sure. are making this question: Is 1t
 worth while to try to do the work of
 men? The question is raised in some
 minds: Should not the higher education
 of women still have for it's primary in-
 tellectual interest studies which may spe-
 cially relate to the calling to which at
 least one-half of the college graduates
 will devote themselves?' Such ques- ] ton is cominAt to move in the heart and