Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1914-12-02

Of education is the result of an evolu-
ton which is still evolving. good
criticism acts as propeller in our
system OF education, a bad one as a
break. Social efficiency" is the edu-
cational ideal adopted by many at
the present time. What do we mean
by social efficiency? BY social eff
cheney is meant the ability to pull
ones weight into the struggle for
life, not 10 be a drag upon society,
but rather force for good" A glance
Will make ii clear that social effici-
ency involves mortality as a part OF
itself Stealing will make it clear that
social efficiency involves morality as a
part of itself. Stealing is moral
wrong, even though IL be done in the
refined modern way OF using a false
bottom in the measure or by short
weights publishing a dishonest or
misleading advertisement. Such
practices establish the socially ineffi-
Client and immoral individuals. IF
the school is TO fulfill it's mission in
society and provide that knowledge
and training which is of most worth,
it must adopt as its own the moral
ideal under which as standard its
means may be systematiZed and uni
fed
The School Socializing Agent
The school is the institution whose
prime function it is TO socalze the
members of each new generation"
This embraces two central thoughts:
To become socialized means, first, that
the individual come into essential
harmony with the institutions of
society; second that he do this by
making the social inheritance his
own. The school environments are
not such as to teach efficiency which
is moral control The school is
thought of as a thing apart. having
no direct connection with life. The
school is a medium whereby social
efficiency is made or not made a part
of individual life, and true social eff
cheney can be gained in the school on
ly as the latter presents for solution
problems such as arise in the larger
social. industrial, political and re-
ligious life outside, and this the school
as now organized does not do. The
training as now received in our
schools is largely abstract and arti-
fetal, not available for actual situa-
tons as they arise in daily life.
w litil VIC Sptcih VI tlilCltliIS VIC
usually have reference to economic
efficiency the ability to produce. This
is absolutely essential as a basis for
the development OF personality. But
let us stop a moment and think of
every producer as a consumer. The
school is under just as much obliga-
ton in training for consumption as
for production, and should teach the
pupils what kind of newspapers,
magazines, books, amusements, cloth
ing, house furnishings, light. water,
street car service we demand and
consume Are we content as members
of society with sensational news
papers, cheap fiction, questionable
amusements, Eaudy and freakish
clothing and home decorations, and
the like, when other kinds are OBJ
tainable? All these have a moulding
force upon character develop moral
control. 1t is coming from the alb
stract to the concrete, the fictitious
to the real.
Moral character is the by-product /,
of the whole educational process"
We must remember that the ideal
must crystalize into habit, otherwise
the ideal is not efficient in moral con-
troll. So long as the school curri- (
culum remains so highly ornamental
and artificial, actual moral situations
such as arise in the big school out of
school, the world, cannot be adequate
ly presented to the pupils. 1t may be .
we shall surmount this difficult edu
cational situation through more of a
vocational system, like the shop the I
office, or the store. Indeed, many Of .
our schools are introducing success
fully vocational school work. What .
we have said is not i'm condemnation
or criticism of the school which is
already on the road TO a higher etii
cheney, a moral control.
During the period Of adolescence,
an opportunity which should by all .
means be utilized to the fullest eX-
tent, moral control should become in
grained into habit in the character
which is just being crystalized. IT is
the moral as well as the social duty
Of every one TO make himself intelli-
gent upon the aims and problems of
the school. lie must take a personal
interest i'm the work Of the school and
by hearty cooperation help to make
il what it should be-" Such co-opera-
ton means a sanitary civic education
whose basic principle is moral con-
troll.
MAKING Supn