The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1914-09-11

part in shaping character and direct
ing the destiny of nations than the
teachers in the public schools Of Amer
ica. A great philosopher once said:
and l care not who makes its laws"
Let me give you a sentiment more
pregnant with meaning: Let me take
the children of a nation, in the years
of their formative life, teach, counsel
and advise them for six hours each
day, and l will give you a nation that
needs not the restrictions of law. You
have a greater responsibility, a great
er duty to perform to the state, than
any profession | know of. Manhood
and womanhood is the greatest asset
to state, not wealth of mill or mine
or farm. The fairest land the sun ever
shone upon, its mountains filled with
minerals, it's lowlands groaning be-
meath bounteous crops, has no value
unless it's citizenship be of a sturdy,
heard political orators paint golden
pictures of the wealth of our country;
heard them use figures that staggered
the imagination to compute as they
told of the wheat, and cotton, and meat,
and lumber, and all the diversified
products of America that we exported
to foreign shores. But as I listened
to their eloquent orations I saw the
two million child slaves of industry
whose little lives were dwarfed and
shriveled, robbed of their birthright;
saw the stalwart manhood of Eu
rope, come to the land of opportunity
to give their children the chance in
life denied to them, bending and break
ing in the sweatshops of New York
and the steel mills of Bethlehem;
saw it famed into flame in Patterson
and Lawrence, in Michigan and Colo
rado. And thought how far we were
from a realization of what constituted
real wealth. Though all the gold
mined through all the centuries were
placed in glittering heaps before us,
not one step forward of progress could
we make unless we forged a citizen
ship that had it's ideals, it's ambitions
it's aspirations.
We of mature age will soon have
passed from the theatre of life's activ-
ity and our places be filled by the
children now in your care. What are
we doing to fit them for the places in
life that must be filled? I have a lad
ten years old. He comes home from
school each evening buzzing with the
germ of some new idea, the wonder of
some new lesson learned. draw him
out, question his statement, perhaps,
in regard to something he tells me he
cause I want him to retain his faith.
He is with the teacher more than he is
with me, the father. Until he is twen-
ty or past, if all goes well, he is under
their influence. I have my business
cares and worries, and I don't give
him the personal attention and train
ing l should. I am typical of the
American father. 1t isn't a healthy
condition, but I am trying to give to
you what appear to me to be facts
rather than theories. In many cases
(and it is not to our crediD they are
compelled to be not alone pedagogue
but counselor and adviser. I believe
that modern social and industrial con-
ditions are responsible for a great
wrong to the child in that they dis
tract the parent mind from the duty
in the upbringing. 1t is condition,
howere, and it entails added RESPONSE
bility upon the teacher.
do not believe in any period of our
national development the educator has
failed to do his duty by his pupils ac-
cording to his views. A new social
era has brought new viewpoints to the
teaching profession as we'll as to 9th
ers. The cultural idea was formerly
the prevailing one. So much of the
rudimentary elements of education so
much Latin, so much Greek, so much
trigonometry, etc. An arbitrary stand
ard of excellence was fixed and if the
child measured up to that standard it
passed from grade to grade until the
finished product received its diploma
and passed out into the world Then
came the rude awakening. If the grad
ute wished to enter any of the pro
fessions a technical training came
next. The one with abnormally de-
veloped will power and aggressiveness
forged to the top in time-the profes-
sions have always been overcrowded
the normal person settled down as