The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1915-12-23
THE NEW EDUCATION
Delivered December 6, Before the
Manchester Ministerial Association
at the Home of Rev. and Mrs. Du-
mont Clarke.

I
: blessing on my abundance perhap
I within three hours from me, som
, child is starving in the streets. Thi
is by chance the selfsame day ol
which we aristocrats Of learning ar,
startled by a new bomb explosion o.
dynamiting outrage Let us not b,
too hasty in our announcement o.
these deeds Of violence. These mer
did not receive the school and colleg,
education that it was our good fortune
to receive. Their only inspiration ma.
have come from drunken father anc
worse a drunken mother. Their high
schooling was probably the kicks and
scuffles Of the street. Well may we say
Father, forgive them, for they know
not what they do" But would il not
be more an act Of devotion to say
Father, forgive us, for we have not
given them the opportunity Of know
ing" Rabid socialism, dissatisfied la
Dor with its attendant strikes and
lockouts, and assassinations Of presi-
dents have come from a rotten society
based on rotten education, the educa-
tion which gives culture to the few
and to the remaining offers nothing
at all.
Keeping in mind these lessons which
we have received from the study of
psychology and social economy, let us
determine without sef-interest or
prejudice what will be the main char
acteristic of our schools of tomorrow,
the schools which are to be your contri-
button and mine to the age in which
we live.
In the first place, before we can pro-
coed with the major issues in our pro-
gram, we must put the public schools
on sound business basis. In the
larger cities this is being done. Some
of the schools in the centers of popu-
lation are beginning to realize that
school industry, like any other big in
dustry, must be run on twentieth CEN
tury principles. Business managers
are to be found, men who understand
business and business systems. But
in the smaller towns we continue to
elect school officials who could not
possibly succeed in any private busi-
ness, and intrust to their hands the
disbursement of the largest item in
our tax budget. Our taxpayers have
been providing sinking fund long
enough and they are beginning to
want dividends.
School mortality is another thing
that must have real consideration in
our schools of tomorrow. By school |
! mean the dropping out |
year by year of students who have
started on the road to education and
who in all probability would have con-
tinued their progress, had we found !,
some means Of holding them. You
will remember | stated that only ten
per cent Of our children Of school age
are attending secondary schools. And
what happens to that miserably small
body of pupils, once they are in high
ichool. Out of an original 100 pupils
who enter school in the freshman
year, only rs survive to be sopho-
norcs. At the end of the second year
We have lost 20 more, in junior year
here is another exodus Of 20, and of I
hat original 100 only 10 finally re- ;
GIVE their diplomas. What is wrong? /
Evidently our methods of teaching and
he things taught. If boy or girl +
eels that he or she is getting nothing J
ut of an education, nothing will be s
nut into it. If a youth feels that his G
ophomore and junior and senior years t
n high school are vital years in his !
fe, and years on which depends his s
ntire future career, he will make a y
reater struggle If his parents feel S
hat his education is hitched up with a
real need and benefit, they will make a
greater sacrifice. |
The big break between the eighth y
rade and the high school, the time C
hen school mortality is at the max Il
mum; is being bridged over by show a
lg the high school down into the sew c.
nth and eighth grades. This plan il
ith which you are more or less ia 7
iliar under the name of the six and n
X plan has a sound psychological "
isis to support it and is succeeding HI
bridging the gap between the COM ei
llsory education and that Of the free e
i'll sort. M
The entire school question centers in
bout single main issue: changing h;
e curriculum TO meet the changed II
Of our socio-economic life G
I'd our new conceptions Of education. pi
he one thing, If no other, which OF
sire you TO carry away from this do
scussion is the proposed radical Ii