Newark post., 1912-12-25
THE NEWER EDUCATION

gives us this news:
The citizens in and around Cole
brook. New Hampshire, town OF
two thousand inhabitants (notc
we'll the size of the town. have add.
ed to the Public School system, gar
denS. Il greenhouse, a dairy labor
atory. Il domestic-arts department,
Il carpenter shop, a blacksmith
shop.
Advocates of the old cultural
ideal stand aghast and question Is
it possible and fro staid New
England too
/ 1t is true. and the reason is the
awakening to the idea of self pre-
! servation. These people came to
the conclusion that to save them
selves and their homes the children
must have the necessities first rea-
lizing that only by a practical and
efficient life could they enjoy and
develop the ideals of living. 1t is
only another illustration upon
which the Fundamental principle of
the American public school must
stand or fall" that It shall be a
dirCct SoUrcC Of strength to the
community that pays t0r it,"
We rural folk who are paying the
larger proportion of the taxes are
allowing our children to be lured
and educated away from the coun-
try-the farm-the home of best
health. trueSt happiness and origi-
nal and noblest occupation of man.
We are footing the bill and giving
our life's blood to the cities. depriv-
ing our community of its best citi-
zenS. Alert we are becoming to the
need of an educated and stable ru-
raj citizenship, yet our taxes are be-
ing spent to fit boy for the market
of the curb and "A girl i'll versed in
Latin and French. This we blindlv
term culture. failing to realize that
equal development, and more nat
ural. can be derived from compe-
tent instruction in those things
most needed by the man or woman
on the farm.
Understand this Colebrook idea
is not solely to make business farm
ers or professional housekeepers.
Stating the real object of the
school, Honorable II. c. Morrison.
State Superintendent of New
Hampshire says:
The purpose of the Colebrook
School is not primarily to make
good farmers or skilled mechanics.
or professional housekeepers.
The primary object is the edu-
cation of the boy and girl to be-
come a sincere aud efficient and
happy man and woman. capable of
becoming an educated worker with
material things, capable of getting
life S happiness out of work rather
than out of the leisure which
comes after work. if indeed it
comes at all. A further purpose is
to educate the strongest youth to-
ward the farm and the industries.
instead of toward the professions
and business exclusively.
This is the newer and advanced
tendency of education. 1t will not
dull. as opponents predict, the finer
qualities of our nature. There Is
no disposition to deprive the boy oI
his history; it will merely change
his Interpretation of its meaning
and bearing on present day issues
1t will not rob him of the inspira
ton gained from biography. of hi.
Shakespeare. or of his Emerson. L
will not take away from the girl
her art, her music; it will teach hel
that to best enjoy life she mus
first know the laws and strifes o
living.
One pet theory of the opposition
is that this newer idea is tendins
toward economics solely-that. il
old age when the active work of lif,
is done, our children will be unable
to sit back and read. with pleasure
the thoughts of the masters of tn,
ClasslcS-that life would be sordi,
and blind to those ideals found il
= the literature of the past.
Z In reply the best answer can b.
4 found in the comparison of tn,
few truly and the many pSeudo-cul
] tured and the home of the efficien
= farmer close to, and with work
!, ing knowledge of the laws of Ma
ture with which he of necessity an,
love co-operates. In your compari
sons, light the evening lamp in tn,
: clty residence and III the countr,