The Mathews journal. (Mathews C.H. [Court House]) 1903-1937, 1912-07-18

, the case may be, instead OF men,
such persons forget that the average
J child spends only few years I'm school
before he must so out 20 earn his own
livelihood Once he goes TO work, he
has little opportunity TO equip himself
!, for anything. He can seldom acquire
the knowledge 60 rise very FAR above
1.-THE point where he starts. If, there
fore. the time that he is in school were
devoted. first. 10 teaching the child the
lelCmCntS at least OF the occupation
that appeals To him, he would be in
lfnitelV better of than he is at present
with the fundamentals neglected, and
his time SQuandercd on a host OF cul-
tured subjects that have no bearing on
the question of bread and butter. The
tOriStS may mock as they like. The
great fact remains that every child
has first of all 20 earn his own living
and the better equipped the child is
for his chosen work. the more efficient
he is. the better living he will earn.
| The public school is the only train
Ing school that the vast majority of
IOur boys and girls ever enter. 1t
ought to need no argument to show
that the things that Will best prepare
a child for hte's struggles are the best
things To teach in the public schools
But our pedagOgues have disregarded
all such practical considerations and
lhlled our Curricula with courses that
have no bearing on the most import
ant of all cOnsideratiOns-the question
of bread and butter.
Don't Teach Them to Earn.
What is the object Of training a
! child? Why do we send children to
school, anyway? For two reasons: to
teach them to earn a living. and to
enjoy what they earn. There are no
other reasons. The fundamental rea-
son is, of course, the first: to teach
] them to earn a living. To teach them
TO enjoy what they earn is a secondary
consideration. Yet il is on this phase
of education that our public schools
children to enjoy what they earn, and
we teach them to earn-nothing.
If we should alter our scheme of
instruction; if we should provide for
| as they legally can. training, not for
college, but for life: if we should plan
for an educational structure that shall
be completed, say at sixteen years. a
large percentage of children could and
would complete the course. Then thew
would have something useful, some
! thing complete. instead of the mere
foundation stones of something they
can never finish. AS things are, Of
what use is the average school child
when he embarks on the sea of life?
He is of no use in business, because
he knows no business. To learn some
| thing about business he must go to a
business school. He is of no use in a
factory, because he knows nothing of
manufacturing. He is of no use any
where. The best he can do is to fetch
and carry-and he is of little use for
that purpose, because he has never
learned to be accurate or thorough
or intelligent about anything. His
iemployer does not want him. He
| tolerateS him as he can get no better.
The reason for this is that our pub
lice school children have never
learned the Importance or need of do
! ing things right. They have been
dealing, not with real things where
mistakes count, but with theoretical
| affairs where mistakes make no diff
ference. except in the matter of
| points" AS Mr.. J. NJ. Rogers says in
| LippincOtts Magazine: I'VE must give
objective and subjective experience Of
life to our boys and girls. We are
making it almost wholly academic.
The great objection that children have
TO most studies is that they seem to
deal with unrealities. They are so in
tangible as to be nothing more than
pictures. Education seems so foreign
to life that it becomes utterly dis
tasteful.
AT present our process is to send
children To school, where for few
years they absorb more or less def
lnitely certain amount OF varied and
unrelated Information on a vast va
rlety OF topics, the theory being that
NAA4' " ~ AAAANC mem ROOQ husbands
and wives, good fathers and mothers.
good business men and women, good
-IIorQieSSlSnal practitioners in various
directions. That this is a failure needs
no demonstration.
But why should our system be for
eign to life? Why should not the
boy who IS studying mathematics be
getting some practical demonstrations
of the necessity and the real efficiency
OF nSures? Why is he not brought
up to think Of the realities of life in
stead Of making pictures to himself
all the time? That is the whole trou-
bic with our system"
We must couple up the theoretical
and the practical. We must provide
| a system of education so real that the
children Will put their hearts into it
Efficiency goes with interest. Unde-
niably our system fails to provide the
interest. Inevitably it must fail 10
produce efficiency.
Income and Morality.
What can the public school offer 70
| support its claim that it educates ?'
asks DR.. S. n. Patten, of the Univer-
slty OF Pennsylvania, in an article in
The Educational Review. Two re-
suits can be put forward: 1t teaches
a child how to read newspap ers, and
how TO make change. a child of ten
should know all that the graduate gets
, out OF the public school. What
AeiS lHS SCnOOl system uOne To in
crease the number of those earning
$50 a week? If life is not a struggle
but an adjustment; If men are not
depraved but are made so by environ
ing causes; if children are born with
, impulses that are suppressed by the
defects of their situations, the present
practices of teachers to elevate the
moral tone of pupils are useless. The
child in a family whose income falls
below $40 week has a better moral
nature than it can retain. 1t is more
income, not more morality. that such
FAMILY needs. BY adding income
we add to the child's morality Re
duce the income and the moral tone
is lowered.
We lose sight of what has happened
during the last 5000 years when we
assert that a child in its DEVELOPMENT
should pass through the cultural stages
or this epoch. Civilization has moi
Deen going ahead, but has repeatedly
been transferred from one place to an.
other to avoid the evils of declinine
resources. Civilization has a length
attained definite form and a definite
location. We can now turn our at
tention from barbarians and aristocrats
a al Z h. nI,f1