The Commonwealth. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1911-1914, 1913-02-27
DEMOCRACY AND THE PUB
/ Lie SCHOOL.

No one can deny that we are be-
coming more democratic in our poll
tics, our religion, our government, and
our every day affairs, but what of the
public schools? Many public men
university professors, business man,
and others-say that the public school
is a failure. Why? They do not agree
on reasons but they say this; There
is no real education; pupils lack or
iginality, push, and the power to rea-
son. Pupils leave school almost total
ly uneauipped with the knowledge they
should have to cope successfully with
modern conditions, either industrial or
social.
The causes are to be found in the
pettifogging methods of an old style
pedagogy and in the cramped confines
of the text books. The average teach
er is the slave of the text book, and
in nine cases out of ten the texts in
common use were out of date ten
years ago. They are not fitted to de-
velop in the child knowledge of the
real community affairs in which ne
must take part, or a sense of his obli-
cations to society as a whole, or the
rights that society owes to him as an
individual The new social spirit is
entirely lacking and the result is a
Young man or woman entering life
unprepared and untitled to take his or
her place in the active life of the COM
munity.
Above all our educational system is
ultra-conservative and, if anything, 1t
should be ahead of the times, for the
boys and girls enduring it are to be-
come citizens not when they leave
school, but six or eight years after
ward
Most of the school boards are prac-
tically Indifferent to the educational
aspect of the school, They generally
devote their energies to determining
whether or not the teacher belongs to
the proper church or that he or she
does not engage in any uplift work
not approved by the W. G. T. U. No
teacher resents a kindly criticism of
actual class room work, but teachers
certainly do resent any interference
with their own private beliefs, politi-
cal. religious, or otherwise; and when
some teachers, through fear of losing
their positions, will suppress their
natural inclinations and desires the re-
s lit is an instructor who lacks in force
df character. Such a teacher never
gains the respect of children and the
result is disastrous.
The remedy? The only remedy lies
in the election of liberal-minded So
cialists on all the school boards in the
state. When I say liberal minded
mean just that. There are socialists
and socialists. When you nominate
candidates for school boards be sure
Of several facts about your nominees
first, that they are socialists, thorough
ly understanding the principles OF So
cialism; second, they should be the
best educated persons you Can lhu'
third they should be possessed of a
large fund of common sense and have
the habit of exercising this quality
more than once in six months.
AOnly socialists will make progress
she school boards; progressive boards
will secure progressive teachers and
provide up-to-date texts; these will
make for a more liberal education for
our boys and girls, and they will enter
life with a wider and better prepara-
tion for the social and industrial life
that lies before them
JOHN E. TAYLOR,
Sedro-Woolley, Wash.