Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-06-26
CITES INSTANCES
Of MENTAL WASTE
Secretary RedfieId, in Ad-
dress at College, Argues for
Vocational Education.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
AMHERST. Mass, June 26-The minds
of men should be made productive
mechanisms rather than mere store
houses of facts, declared Secretary Will
liam c. Redfeld of the Department of
Commerce, in speaking on mental waste
last night at the alumni banquet of
Amherst College. Secretary Redfield
urged vocational education as one Of the
| means Of eliminating this waste
Some months ago." said Secretary
Redfield, II received within one fortnight
three letters. Two were from profess
| sional men of high standing, one of them
an educator; the third was from a well
| known technician in a certain field of
accounting. Each of these three gentle
| men had an idea which he was DESTROYS
| of impressing upon me. and each wrote
| at some length. 1 read the letters, then
| read them again, and at last settled
| down to see if l could learn from them
what the writers meant to say. In each
| case, however, l had to write to the
author to know definitely what 1t was
| he meant to tell me. Here was mental
waste. The men knew, or l believe they
| knew, what they wished to convey, but
| either the idea did not sufficiently clarity
ltSeH IN t1clT IIllHuS 81 tlldt ehSS SoUiNA
| write about it clearly, or else, in the
| midst of many cares. attention was not
| given to clear expression. In all the
cases the only result was to let me know
general way related to such and such an
| idea. but what that something was L
could not tell.
Another Instance.
1T was not so long after this expert
| ence that l had a delightful visit from
another gentleman interested in altru-
| istic movements and particularly in the
| uplift of the young. He spent twenty
| five minutes in carefully explaining each
| phrase as he used it, so that ere long
| my mind was lost in an endless chain
| of explanations. At the end of twenty
minutes l asked him what 1t was that
i he wished to convey and he then ear
| nestly essayed to tell. But when he left.
certain important developments along
altrustic lines, l had no clear idea of
what he wanted. and had you asked me
what he said l could not have told YOU
for as a matter of fact he had said moth
ing definitely. 1t was mental waste.
Il take it that an institution of learn
ing such as this Is has at least for one
of its highest functions that of teaching
minds how to work we'll, and l have call
ed attention to some lapses into waste
in order that by them l might emphas size
the practical value to the country of this
institution and its sisters. They are
destroyers of mental waste, promoters
of mental work. they take the most
precious mechanism we possess and set
it working well. and in so doing render
mighty service Speaking. as the
cause Of the lack of teaching in edu-
cation, 1t seems to me vital that the
minds of men should be made not mere
storehouses of facts. not animated en-
OH dioc lint i've m a nil ans
knowing how to use well the powers they
have, avoiding mental wastes and pro-
ducing something definite out of the ma
terials committed to their care"
Mr.. Redfeld took up the question of
the value of academic training. explaining
that it would very likely be found that
there was mental waste involved in it,
and then spoke on the question Of voca-
tional education.
IF we stop to think what is the real
value to the boy or girl of the academic
training he has had, fear we may find
a still further and larger element Of
waste for We are dealing now with the
vast mass of those among us whose cir
cumstances require not so much the
training of the mind into its perfect
work, but rather the teaching of the
hand and eye In vocational skill. What
the college must do In making brains
work well must be done in the secondary
schools in making the mind work we'll
through the hands. 1t surprises me often
that the theme of vocational or indus
trial education is SO often treated as if
it were a cold thing. 1 wish there were
shorter words in which to describe it.
Anything which is called vocational
education gets a heavy blow at the start.
1t would mean more If we said it was
making men,
However. this polysyllabic thing goes
to the very vitals of our American life
1t enters the humblest homes. and there
are more humble homes than there are
the other kind. This, L say, goes into
these modest homes, and says to the boy
and girl: We will make practical men
and women out of YOU We will teach
you the dignity of self-support,' We will
take from the shoulders Of your fathers
and your mothers the burden of having
to support you during years of ineffi-
cheney, while you are picking up as fast
as you can, by the most primitive ways.
enough knowledge to make you skilled
and able to earn a mans or Womans
wage
Further Application.
Nay, 1t goes further than this 1t says
to the boy: We will add ten years of
full mans earning power to your life.
1t says to the girl: We will remove you
from all the temptations and dangers
that arise amid unprotective poverty
We will provide for you that marriage
shall not be a haSty safeguard against
danger; that you shall become a well
taught and skillful wife, and that you
and your husband and your children
after you shall all have the gertrude
and self-respect that comes with know
ing how to do well the work to which
you have set your hands,
1t seems to me that if we could let
our imagination picture to us what 1t
would mean to the states from which
we all come if every boy and girl in
those states could do we'll some single,
| simple. honorable kind of labor, we would
not rest until we had wrought into law
| with small regard for d,ffar>spc.S ~