Gilpin observer., 1910-09-15
20 WHAT SCHOOL SHALL WE
SEND OUR BOYS AND GIRLS,

In the minds of parents, particu-
arly those living in the rural dis
ricts, the above qeust.on, like Ban
nos ghost, will not down. They
want more training for their children
nan the training Of the eighth grade,
'.t the only course open to them
to send their boys and girls away
o the high school. With the high
'~hool, as now organized, they are
lct satisfied.
First, because the high school pre-
,ares for college ana not for making
!. living. With most people the alb
;orbing question is the bread and
Iutter question. A few may retire,
)ut the mass must toll on. They
know that at no time in the high
school course are their boys and
girls much better prepared to earn
heir bread than Is the common lab
orer with whom they must compete,
md at the end CT the course they are
not really fitted for anything except
tcl enter college.
Secondly, because there being few
or no electives offered, all must take
the course as prescribed or withdraw.
All must be ground through the same
mill. it matters not what they expect
% be or do through life. Whether
lifted by nature to dc a certain kind
Of work does not enter into the queG-
tion at all.
Thirdly, because training in the
high school more often turns the
boys and girls away from, rather
than back to life in the open country.
Too often after four years away from
home. spent in the atmosphere CT the
high school, the boys and girls feel
themselves too good to enter indus
trial life,-too proud to do manual
labor any more. The glare Of the
city and a small clerkship are more
attractive. Sad indeed is the plight
of any nation whose people come to
look upon industrial life as degrad-
ing.
About five per cent Of the people
are in the learned professions, while
a.nety-five are in industrial pursuits
and always must be.
The professional man needs the
training of the high school, college
and professional school, and it is pro-
vided for him. The man in industrial
life needs it, too, but cannot always
get it. Unfortunately millions can
not defer their technical training un-
til after they have had high school
training.
Our system OF education. particu-
larly secondary. has been maintained
almost wholly for the benefit Of the
five per cent who go into the learned
profes sions, while little or nothing
has been done for the ninetyfive up
Oh whom the nation depends.
Whether or not the ninety-five per
cent are more important than the five
per cent, they are at least many
times greater. II many times greater
then 1t is certainly not unjust to
claim at least equal chances for prep
aration.
Under the present minute division
Of labor. and in the absence OF the
apprenticeship about the only place
where a boy Of high school grade
can learn a complete trade is in the
reform school or the penitentiary.
Isn't IL high time the high schoo
cease preparing for college and be
gin preparing for life?
This article is not meant as an at
tack upon the high school. but rathe
to reflect the feelings Of parents liv
ing in rural communities who wisl
further training for their children
than that Of the eighth grade.
In the state Of Colorado are NOR
than fifteen hundred districts fille'