The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-04-30
MIR. CRANE ON EDUCATION.

One of the consequential forces in
the agitation which is gaining
strength every day throughout the
country for a much needed reform in
the methods of education now pre-
vailing is the work being done by R.
T. Crane, the multi millionaire man
ufacturer of Chicago. He is soon to
pass through Topeka on his return
home from a sojourn along the Paci-
flc coast and the probabilities are that
he will stop off here long enough to
deliver an address on this subject to
which he has devoted so much atten-
ton. He has been invited to by those
earnest Topekans who are concerned
in an endeavor to make the local
schools come nearer filling their prop
er functions.
Mr.. Crane hasn't much use for any
of the education which is labelled
academic and classicaI-the kind pro-
vided In most instances in the high
schools and the colleges-and he has
never hesitated to express his opinion
to this effect and in convincing style.
He is the author of book on the sub
ject which is entitled The Utility of
All Kinds of Higher Schooling" and a
reading of It will convince any one
of higher schooling in fitting boys and
girls for their life work is not merely
one that is expressed off-hand. It is
founded on painstaking research He
has communicated with the large en-
ployers of labor all over the country
and from their replies he is warranted
in arriving at the conclusions he has
drawn.
'I think 1t is safe to say here"
writes Mr.. Crane in pressing home a
strong point for his case, that this
country has made the most wonderful
progress in its history, in all general
lines conducive to prosperity and hap
piness during the past fifty years. And
1t is equally safe to say that higher
education had little or nothing to do
with this condition, for practically
none of the men to be credited with
this advancement had more than a
grammar-school education. This be-
ing true, the question naturally arises:
Is it advisable to rush into such ex-
tensive and expensive experiments in
higher education when such marked
progress has been made without It,
and when the great employers of the
country, almost to q man. show no
disposition to give preference to the
products Of higher education ?"
Some people criticize Mr.. Crane as
being an enemy of education. But
such is not the case. He rightly diff
ferentiates between schooling and ed
ucation. making the distinction that
schooling is simply learning or mem
orizing a lot of unimportant things.
while education is knowing important
things, things that are of value or SER
vice to the individual who knows
them. And commenting on the fact
that DR.. Eliot, in saying a good word
for his famous five feet of books ex-
pressed the opinion that any man
could get liberal education by devot-
ing no more than fifteen minutes
day to them, Mr.. Crane insists that
young men who wish to become en-
lightened or educated on any parti-
cular subject may obtain from books
all the knowledge required pro-
vided they can find what books
to read. ''Such persons" he adds,
''do not need to be urged to read and
study for themselves; neither do they
need to go to teacher. for teacher
can tell them nothing more than they
can find themselves
It is the further opinion of Mr..
Crane that a high class common
school education is most desirable.
He calls 1t "the best foundation for
any nation" He believes that high
schools and colleges are being deveI-
oped along inefficient lines at the ex-