Elmore County Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1910-1915, 1912-08-03

tional Demands" The current "Di
gest presents review of a recen
book by James P. Monroe, Secretar,
of the Massachusetts Institute O
Technology.
In this volume, Mr.. Monroe set
forth with much clearness and force
advanced ideas. He insists that tn,
fundamental demand in education Ii
for efficiency, mental efficiency, ply
steal efficiency School children
are the greatest of all natural re
sources They are Infinitely more
important than those natural re
sources of which SO much is heard >
and 1t is the promise of education
to conserve children as the most
valuable of all national assets. AS a
citizen, the potential economic worth
OF each school child, provided he be
SO educated by his family, his en-.
V1ronment, and his school as to be.
come an efficient member Of society
a child must have a sound body,
trained senses, a clear mind, and
above all Well-balanced character.
To secure these should be the SUI
preme aim of education. But chill
dren to the number of fifty or sixty
should not be put in uncomfortable
desks in ill-ventilated school rooms,
and then bombarded with facts. 3"
On the contrary each child should
be treated as an individual problem.
His vulnerable points physically
should be ascertained and remedied.
The teacher should find out what
kind of a mind he has and then de-
yelop it, getting at his strong and
weak points morally, and building
out of them a sound and well-round-
ed personality. Eight special demands
are set forth by Mr.. Munroe as fol-
lows: The first of the new de-
mands in education, therefore, is for
small classes, so that the teacher
may really know each one of her pu-
pills, and may give him a true edu-
cation suited to his special needs.
The second of the new demands is
that We shall take greater account
than We do now of the health of the
child, by seeing that his eyes, ears,
lungs and all other parts of his ply
steal machinery are sound, or are made
sound and that he has extensive
an abundance of fresh
air and plenty of the right sort of
and plays.
The third of the new demands is
that We shall provide genuine, edu-
cative exercise for the mind of the
child by giving it interesting and
stimulating work to do, and that
We shall not clog and deaden it
with unrelated uninteresting and I'M
important facts.
The fourth of the new demands is
hat we shall in reality train all the
senses of the pupil SO that he Is act
tally able to use his eyes for seeing,
lis ears for hearing, and his hands
Or making things that are a credit
o the maker. Too many pupils in
he schools seem to have no connec-
ion between their eyes, their ears,
heir hands, and their brains; so
hat, as far as efficiency goes, they
night just as well be blind, deaf and
crippled.
The fifth of the new demands is
hat education shall put its chief
Emphasis upon character; that the
upil shall be trained, in school and
ut of school, to-day and tomorrow
nd all the time, toward self-reliance,
and self-respect.
The sixth demand is that the main
mphasis of schooling shall be plac-
d on the social side, on preparing
he boy and girl, that is, for eff
ective living as a member of the
community of which he finds him
elf constituent part.
The seventh new demand Is that
,hen the pupil gets to be fourteen
ears old, to that age when, If he
o choose, he may leave school, |
here shall be some one right at
is elbow, some one who knows and {
HON the boy respects, to advise
i'm what to do next. {
And lastly it is demanded that from
hat fourteenth year up to manhood
nd womanhood each and every pu- ,
il shall have wide variety of OPP
ortunity for making himself Tor her. ;
elf into the most intelligent, the
lost efficient and therefore the hap
lest citizen that is possible for him
} be.
In one of his chapters Mr.. Mum
aa,,+1oJa tha+ onJIauao Jn much i,