Arizona republican., 1909-07-07
Set Out in Discussions of
 Educational Association WHERE THE COLLEGES FAIL
The Duty of the State to the Exceptional" or Backward Pupil to the End That the Hooligans May Be Eliminated.

Denver. Colo, July 6-"No teacher with round shoulders and a hacking cough should be permitted in school room"
 The city is responsible for lowered mentality and weakened body in an increasing number of school children"
 Feed the physical body education as you feed the brain words and figures v
 These were some of the points urged upon the huge gathering of teachers in the department of education of the National Educational Association this afternoon. William W. Hastings of Springfield, Mass, urged most of the above rigid announcements upon the teachers and though they seemed to come straight from the shoulder none of the auditors took offense. On the contrary, they heartily applauded the sentiment for hygienic school room, both from the standpoint of the school teacher and the scholar.
 The discussion of the subject of health in the school room, led by J. E. Pearls of Pueblo, Colo- brought out the fact that most teachers favor large play grounds, more work for the body and not less work for the brain, if it be administered more moderately.
 The question whether the American college has failed in its mission devel- oped a merry debate in the department of hugher education. Samuel Wendall Williston of the University of Chicago delivered an address which placed new thought upon this subject. WI. Willis ton said:
 "The American college of liberal arts has lamentably failed as q popular in stitution of higher education in that it trains less than one per cent of our young men and women, but One-tenth of one per cent of the population. It has permitted various institutions, not ably correspondence schools, private business schools, industrial and agri- cultural schools to usurD its functions, because of illiberality. It has lost disci- pline, both mental and moral" contin- ued the speaker. till the charge is freely made, and in a great measure truthfully, that very large proportion of its students are seeking merely the diploma rather than an education which will fit them for higher pursuits III me- MuO NOfhs uDoll ail dNtldSts but three or four hours daily. and who acquire habits neither of industry nor application; that there has been de- cided lowering of the moral standard among college students; that upon the whole, the bachelor degree is dosing it's significance as an indication of fitness for most of the pursuits of life.
 'Undeniably the college has lost disci- pline by the general adoption of the system of electives which leaves so much to the caprice and unintelligent choice of the inexperienced student There has been, also, a demoralization both of discipline and requirements as a result of the rivalry among institu- tions, especially the state institutions, for numbers; institutions are still for the most part gauged by their size, rather than by their product. Further more. the elective system has lowered the discipline by the rivalry among the different teachers in the same in- stitutions for large classics, with its development of soft courses-cOnces- sions to the all too obvious inclina- tions of most students to seek the easiest way to their diploma with little regard for the value of the work ac- complished.
 Perhaps the gravest charge which may with justice be laid against the college is that it has hindered or re- tarded the best development of the high school; or has perverted it from the highest uses to the people. Most high schools still arrange their course of study chiefly for the needs of the three or four percent of its pupils who are preparing for college. to the detri- ment, or at least Encouragement, Of the ninety-six per cent who have neither the desire nor the opportunity to continue their education The fact that only twelve per cent of those who enter the high school everSgraduate is also largely due to the influence of the college" The speaker said he believed that the only hope for the regeneration, not only of the high school, but the college also. lies in this complete sev- erance of this control; that the leaven- ing of the whole system of higher edu- cation must begin from below, instead of from above, as has been the case hitherto: that the high school should seek the highest and widest field for development without regard to the col lege. whose field of usefulness is still far too narrow to permit cit to domi- nate the whole province of education. He also believed that the discipline of the high school has largely suffered by it's aping the methods of the col- lege, and that this discipline must be regained at all most, first, by a re- turn to the most essential disciplinary