The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1911-06-01
They know, too, that for all the pa
lent Sacrifices which parents daily make

tlenC SACRIFICES WHICH Ps~A ~AAy i"ohc
to keep their children in school, the fact
remains that the great majority of chill
dren still go forth into the world unskill-
ed laborers.
That is why they take so keen an in
terest in this new Idea OF vocational
training for their boys and girls as well
as in the new high school which is to
work out the Idea in Sterling on the
Prairie.
Vocational training: The training of
boys to agriculture and stock raising,
and the building trades; to their share in
the worlds work. The training Of girls
to agricultural life, no less, to cooking
and sewing and all other housewifely
duties.
1t is possible that among the readers
of The News there may be some who
shudder at the bare idea of teaching
children anything which by any means
may be of use to them in earning live
lihood. They may murmur sad some
thing about .sthe cultural idea." Or
perhaps there are remarks on 'the glory
that was Greece and the grandeur that
was Rome.
Now culture is everlast ingly justified
of itself-even the so-called classical cul-
ture in it's most detached form. But it
is possible to have the commonest en-
vironments, the greasiest occupations
yield up their culture also-even the cul-
ture which Matthew Arnold declares
consists in spreading sweetness and
light and making Gods will prevail.
Mr.. Raglan can discourse most sapient-
ly on that subject. He believes that
schools should be adapted, not to the
"glory that was Greece" but to the
glory that is America. To the immedi-
words. He would not give up the "cul-
merely arrange those elements around
the chosen vocation.
When, however, l wished to test the
working out of that theory at Sterling, l
turned from Mr.. Raglan to Rudolph
Budin.
That meant turning also from the new
Industrial Arts High school to the old
ramshackle building where the county
high school classes now meet and where
the Idea is being worked out just so far
as the crowded, limiting conditions will
permit.
In SO turning l jostled against SYM
Dol.
The old building is inclosed by an
angle of the new, and the new will be
built into the old as soon as the present
cramped quarters can be vacated. In
other words, the foundations of the old
structure will remain as a part of the
foundations of the new building.
You can easily see the application of
this symbol to other things besides brick
and mortar. The new Idea of vocational
e
1t would continue to train the mind, but it
it toward bread-winning!
The most complete boor l have ever
known-he teaches Greek-said not long
sort is grossly materialistic and, in
fact, disgraceful
Possibly he considers the petition,
"Give us this day our daily bread" dis
graceful also.
But now for Rudolph Budin.
| found him busy studying 'Mendels
Law" with the aid Of a handful of corn
in a section of the class in agriculture
agriculture being one of the vocational
studies Mr.. Raglan has succeeded in try
ing out, even in the present inadequate
building.
Next year on returning to Sterling l
shall doubtless find another Rudolph
Budin-with different name" study
ing at forge, another studying the
art of brick-making, and still fourth
Rudolph Budin preparing to be a boss
carpeiter.
So the present Rudolph his name
quite intact-may properly be used as a
type of the new Industrial Arts High
school student.
And that should be lucky thing for
Logan county.