The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-03-18
EDUCATION AND DEMOCRACY
By Frank M. Buckley, Am Superintendent of the Pub
lie Schools Of Ansonia)

movement is now overspreading the
| land in behalf of the child to give him
| his physical heritage and to grant
him the opportunity Of living in
wholesome and healthful environ
ment.
Through the field of intellectual ed
ucation the very core Of human &C.
tivity is touched and it becomes abso-
| lutely essential that intellectual edu-
cation should lead fundamentally
toward practical efficiency. Element
airy education aims specifically to give
the child the tools of knowledge and
as such it cannot be differentiated in
any great degree. BY reason, how
ever, of the vocational demands upon
the elementary schools manual train
Ing and domestic science have been
introduced and the course Of study
pruned Of its many non essentials, to
fit the boys for industrial and trade
schools that this present decade will
multiply. The differentiation tax es
modern high school to perform fully
it's duty to the community, while it
must prepare students for colleges,
must not allow itself to do this to
the exclusion of the vast number Of
lege. In the department of higher
education--the colleges and univer-
stiles and professional schools have
already responded to the demand OF
the times SO that IL Is possible .or the
poorest student at a comparatively
position to which he may reasonably
aspire. In the whole field of INTEL
lectual education the things to be
kept constantly in mind are knowl-
edge, mental discipline and applica-
ton. Facts as such have no great
intrinsic value except as they are
classified and related to other facts.
The knowledge that is worth the
striving is knowledge of power. On
account of the artif1cialty engendered
colleges of the elective system, the
whole system has been revised SO as
to compel students to choose their
studies from groups which bear q
definite relation to one another. And
normal schools find justification for
aim to prepare teachers who shall
guide the child not along the lines of
least resistance but along the line of
his own self-activity. The tendency
Of the present day educator is to
break allegiance with the old boon
companion of education, inutility, and
to swear allegiance to the newly ac-
quainted one, utility.
The supreme end of education,
however, is not physical efficiency,
that expresses itself in character. 1t
Is indeed as Spencer SO aptly said,
"the right ruling of conduct in all di-
rections, under all circumstances"
The scheme of education that trains
only the mind and the body and neg.
1ects the soul of the student does not
fully educate for 1T concerns itself
with only part OF its work and neg
lects by far the most essential part.
Since our whole civilization rests fun
damentally upon principles that have
the fullest sanction Of moral law it is
xr,fft, ~ ~ r. NJ citfzons ~ ri
ter that the education Of this repub-
lie must primarily concern itself. Es-
sential to good citizenship indeed are
good health and vigorous mentally
but Of vaster consequences are truth
fulness, honesty, reverence and self
control which make for right charac-
ter. ''Self-knowledge, self-reverence.
self-contro1; these three lead to SOW
ereign power The citizen of char
acter is the nations most glorious as
set. Is it the citizen of character
who furnishes the daily quota of GRIM
inals in our court rooms? Is 1t the
citizen of character who makes pos
sible the slow and sure grinding of
the divorce mills. Is it the citizen
of character who betrays the trust inn
posed in him by his employer--wheth-
er the employer be a manufacturer or
a bank director? Is it the citizen of
character who sells his country for
gold, imposes upon it despotic mas
ter ana makes ana unmaK6S laws IOr
a price? Is it the citizen of charac-
ter who helps to swell the ranks Of
the rising tide of malcontents of this
republic in their opposition of law
fully constituted authority? These
are questions that I leave with you
to answer in terms Of your own ex-
perience. BY the educator, however,
INSTRUCTION for citizenship must be
continued since it is of prime neces-
sity. Good citizenship is needed
the citizenship that glories in its
birth. ''Civis Americans sum-" am
an American citizen; citizenship no.
bic, honest, hopeful that stoops not
to base bribery and treats with con-
tumely and scorn the bride giver; Cit
izenship that elects to office men Of
will and undoubted integrity
of the stamp of Simeon e. Baldwin,
our honored governor, who so lives
and acts that it may be said Of him
as of wellington that tower of
strength that stood four square to all
the winds that blow" To the per-
son who dwells upon the whole SUBJ
ject of education it becomes increas-
ingly evident that the work of three
tR's'' and even of the higher studies |
in education must aim to produce cul |
tire and efficiency of the three 'H's"
Of education--the hand the head and |
the heart. To the educator the rec |
ofnpense OF duty we'll done comes in |
the contemplation of the service of |
the finished product of education-the |
citizen Of character The abiding |
quality Of the workmanship inheres |
in the plastic soul OF the student.