Newark post. (Newark, Del.) 1910-1969, 1911-02-22
EDUCATIONAL WASTE

Inc NATIONAL 1OVelItnent issued
some time ago, co4npl1,. lcoort n,
the proceedings OF lne ii. ST voluereuc.
q, the Governors, Winch mt at me
White house. Wnlle the cal Tor the
conference may nave D.ea spec,acu ar
and the proceedings may no, result n
any immediate Soou, Tile speeches. or
the statesman and the reports OF the
scientists ana business men, showed
cOnCluSVely that the time has passed
when we. as nation, can continue to
be lmprovldent OF our natural re-
sources, TO ilVe, as II were, irUm nand
TO mouth hat our forests, our
streams, our mineral resources. mus
he husDanded is a tact that is Dccoin
ing more apparent to every one. While
the conference brought o.clDly to the
national CONSCIOUSNESS our waste or
our natural resources, the novelist ana
the magazine mucKraker mad lpnp
before been busy exposing rottenness
anG efficiency III Our ponticdl, ,naus.
trial ;hG social lie. olnclar makes
us shudder at the sight OF our break
last chop or sausage; Crosby, et al
have tried to show us Congressional
and municipal corruption and lnetti-
cheney; DR.. Wiley attacks the purity
o. the tppler Gram and the baby's
milk IN the same breath; the attorney
general and the courts proceed to ex-
pose the wlcKedness OF the trust, and
the railroads-in fact, our whole ma
tional fabric is beng investigated ana
exposed,
a mighty desire to confess, to reform
and to stay good. seems to have seized
the American people. While the ma
tlonal HOUSEKEEPING is SO merrily, so
wordlly, SO nolsly continuing, Will,
the good housewife is SO industrious,v
taking up and relaylng her carpets. #
may be worth whi!e TO call attention
to a housekeeping that is going on
without noise or clamor, without woros
or display, and which, withal is more
important and far reaching than those
already enumerated. 1t is in the pub
lie schools, the institutions which we
have learned in the United States to
call the bulwark OF our democratic So
ciety that this housekeeping is per-
sistently carried on.
Those who stand at the head OF our
educational institutions have ofttimes
been blamed for their seeming lack of
interest i'll the political, social and
economic movements of the day, and
have suffered no little approbrium and
reproach; while on the contrary, no
cass of men has so deliberately and so
assiduouSly applied itself to the study
and solution o. the wide problems of
human relationships as the leaders of
educational thought The story OF
education during the last decade and
OF today is one of progress, casti
out, adaptation and readjustment. That
they who are doing this work labor
quietly and without display is a tribute
not only to their sincerity, but also to
their wisdom.
That there has been and is now seri-
Gus waste and inefficiency in Our
schools is patent to all who are deep
ly interested in them. 1t is not inefti-
cheney OF method, and OF organization
alone, but even OF many OF the men
and women OH whom method and Or
ganizstion depend for their vitality
aiad-adequacy. The reform in method
and organization has been one OF re-
adjustment; in the teaching iorces,-
elimination OF the unfit through the
survival On the tittest.
The course OF study has probably
been the center OF attack; when it be-
came evident that the schools were no,
meeting the demands OF the commun
ity, the course had to be readjusted
The demands i'll the school were sc
many and so diverse that the problem
seemed to allow OF no satisfactory SO
luton. The colleges demand that we
shall train the pupil to meet their en-
trance requirement.; the merchan
wants us to teach accounts, typewrit
ing and stenography. the mechanic
iavors manual training and trade
schools, the farmer demands conces
sion in agriculture. More imperlou
and more insIstent is the demand Q
society that the scliooi shall prepar'
the boys and girls to take on them
selves the duties OF citizens and to pre-
pare themselves for the community an(
family relationships. 1t was with thes