Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1910-10-22


lis broken up. The church through
the modern Sunday school cannot, for
it Is neither adapted to adolescent ma
ture nor can it reach this particular
class of boys. If there was some sys-
tematic attempt upon the part of the
churches to teach mOrals-not neces-
'sarily religious instruction-there
might be some hope of brighter out
look in the future. Since the family
and the church have failed, 1t is the
duty of the state, through its public
schools, to take over the question of
moral training, in order to preserve
itself. Moral training must form q
definite part of the school curriculum
of the future or a speedy decay Of
the American boy will result.
In the third place, we must con-
serve the American boy Intellectually,
by giving him course of study that
will prepare him to earn his own liv
ing honestly with hands and brain in
order to fulfil, in some measure at
least, his duties as an American citi-
zen. We have been putting too much
stress upon the cultural aspects Of
education and too little upon the vo.
cational; we have been worshipping
the antiquated and fossilized courses
of tudy Of our grandfathers too long;
we have been dominated over and
standardized by higher institutions
until schools and courses are as near
ly alike as peas in pod. A noted
educator of neighboring state has
said lately: SCHOOLS that are stand
ardized are crystallized, and thing
that is crystallized has no principle
of life in 1t" Our curricu!a as we
find them today need to be completely
revolutionized and modernized and
made to fit the average boy-not the
boy to fit the course. Our schools
under the present courses haye fail
ed to fit boys for place in life, and
still we are all agreed upon the pro.
position that schools should meet the
real needs of the communities in
which they exist. Why do the vast
majority Of boys from IA to Is years
. of age become tired Of school and
quit? Simply because there is moth.
ing there for them. Mr.. Mayne of
the Minnesota Agricultural school, in
a recent address. said: "The great
multitude of our boys are fitted for
nothing because of the unsuitability
of our schools. Take the army of
boys in the state over 16 years of
age and put them in line. March them
by and ask the question:: what are
they fitted for?' They are fitted to
become clerks in stores, possibly to
go to some higher institution of
learning, and possibly to become de-
livery boys. That is very nearly a
complete list of the occupations for
which the boys in that great army
are fitted by our schools" This is a
sad picture, but who of us will deny
it's truth? And still how can it be
otherwise under our present-day sys-
tenn Of education, which is a training
of the head only? If it tends any.
where, it tends away from the farm,
the shop and productive activity, and
toward the college or university and
a professional life.
1t is plan, then, that our courses
must be readjusted so as to include
greater amount Of hand-training, for
when the hand is busy, the brain is
thinking. No boy ever made anything
with his hands when his brain was
not working, and the more complex
the article. the harder he thought
With head and hand both busy, the
heart will never 60 astray. The rea-
son why so many boys in our cities
are fast becoming race of street
loafers. is because the hand and head
are both idle. The three months
summer vacation is largely RESPONSE
BILE for the good-for-nothing-n of
the average boy. These vacations
mean three months of idIeness, dis.
sipation and moral delinquency, which
will soon tell on the young manhood
of this nation. The average boy
needs to be kept busy by some form
OF hand labor. or he will soon fall
into lazy, shiftless habits which will
finally leave him without an honor
able career. And what are our schools
doing to- remedy these conditions?
What can be done to help the boy?
In the first place, would lengthen
the school year to twelve months with
four weeks vacation-one week at the
end of each three-months' term. I'm
der the present plan, the whole ex-
pensive school plant lies completely
idle for three months. No business
concern with half as much capital
invested as in the average school sys.
tenn. would think of taking three
months vacation. The question of
how to keep the boy "out of mischief"
during vacation time would be solved
for keeps. The summer vacation was
established to suit farming
communities, where the help of the
younger generation was needed about
the farm in crop-raising and crophar,
vestlng time. 1t is still retained in
the cities, where no such reason for
it exists. The related problem of the
strong, the backward and the frafl
pupil would also be solved.
Having established al1-the-year-
round schools, would next introduce
Industrial courses which would be
adapted to every child in the COM
munity in which the school is situated.