The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1910-07-15


Educational association at Boston
there was heated discussion ovel
the domination of the high school:
by colleges. Discussing the sub
ject, William McAndru, principa
of the Washington Irving high
school, New York city, said:
Today 90 per cent of the high
schools are dominated by the col
1eges. Under this domination, in
the opinion of college men them
selves, the high schools have not
advanced. The Harvard presi.
dents report for 1905 and 1906
says: The secondary schools have
distinctly lost ground Under the
circumstances this is not unnatural.
1t is unfortunate that department
of public service should come under
the control of institution so remote
from public interference as the col
1eges are. There is no spectacle in
American life today more pitiful
than the contrast between what
the college advertises to do and
what it performs. On one hand il
gives out well written schemes Of
an almost universal education; on
the other, it is helpless. Professors
unable and unwilling to enforce
serious attention from their stu.
dents, but serving as an excuse 70,
congregating thousands of young
men absorbed in puerile and trivial
interests.
The college fails utterly il
training these lads in intellectual
ability. The average third-yeal
boy in high school is more able tt
think, discuss and express an ides
than the average college student
two years older. Faculties are not
familiar with Our problems, thei,
students are four years older, their
wards are only a small fraction OF
the youth of the land, and they
have prescribed what we, down
amoung the everyday life of the
people, should do. Such a pro-
position would be doomed to failure
were these men endowed with SUI
perhuman wisdom and skill. But
they are not making a convincing
success even in their own field.
The young man learns in college
that he need not work, he comes to
regard his college as social and
sporting club. The moral atmos-
phere surrounding him receives no
attention commensurate with the
gravity of the problem.
The teaching by our college
professors is the poorest in the
country. College professors are
not fit guides for those of us who
are being paid by the people to
educate the peoples children
They are not required to study the
art of teaching. There is no cor
relation of the work required OF
one boy by his different instruc-
tors. There is no supervision by
one head. In many cases the out
worn form of the lecture is used as
a substitute for teaching. The
President of Cornell says, The COL
1ege is without clear cut notions of
what an education is and of how il
shonld be secured And he saws
that this is true of every college in
America. Men who have known
the least about colleges have beer
the most generous donors toward
their support. There is an attitude
of superstitious awe and reverence
toward these institutions which
makes it impiousto question them
At this moment I feel like a guilty
boy swearing at his grandmother
The result of letting this. col.
lege influence dominate is to dis.
count teaching and magnify coach.
ing. Teachers are never selected
because of some special quality Of
humanity, but because they have
specialized in Latin perhaps, and
we are getting the narrowest type
of which the human mind can con.
ceive, to exert their influence over
our youth at their most plastic
period. We exalt the curriculum
over the child, and give him for a