River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1915-02-04

maze TO snow IN Dr01I way tie
necessity for greater efficiency,
and to suggest some Of the ways in
which the home and the community
can assist ia bringing it about.
There is a tendency nova days
for the home to leave the education
of its youth to the school In the
manner Of educational affairs, as in
other affairs Of the home, the State
ard the Nation, the pendulum of
custom swings from one extreme to
the other. Once upon time when
the ISrealites were the leading PEG
pie of the world, as IS so beautifully
described in the Bible, theshome at
tended exclusively TO the education
Of its children. In Rome and Greece
the state took the child from the
home at an early age, and educated
him for its own purposes, In
MEDIEVAL times the church became
the leader IN all affairs and during
that period of the worlds history
the church and the school were one
That is, the ministers were the
teachers, the churches and monas-
taries the school houses, and the
catechiSm and church history were
the principal branches taught In
modern times the pendulum has
swung completely around and now
the church has nothing to do with
the public school, and in my judg-
mert, not enough Of the things the
church stands for are incorporated
into our courses Of study.
But we must take things as they
are, and since present day custom
takes the education of the children
out of the hands of the home and
the church, we must yet seek the
help of these organizations if we
are to prepare our children for what
is now accepted to be the best citi-
zenship-namely, a social being,
prepared to take his place in the
social group to which he belongs,
there to live complete life, and as
sist his fellows to do the same.
A few years ago, even in the recol-
lection Of some of those who are
now sending children to school, the
idea was prevalent that if we taught
reading, writing d arithmetic,
and drilled upon the constitutions
of the United States and Wiscon-
sin, we were preparing boys and
girls for citizenship. But changes
in social, economic and commercial
have brought about a
change in our ideal of what training
for citizenship means. Look at the
efficiency and ease of all
agencies that have to do with bring
ing people into contact with one
another; the steam and electric rail
way, modern screw propeller ocean
steamers, the cable, the telephone,
the wireless telegraph; the news
papers and magazines; to bring ma
tons closer together we even cut
in two and finish the
work more than a year before the
allotted time in which to do it. Not
only the people of our own country
now freely mingle, but people of all
Countr eS meet in close social and
industrial contact. This puts new
view upon what il means to prepare
for citizenship and, to my mind, it
calls for the assistance of the home,
and the use of the school building
as a social center, if we are to meet
this new need.
Then with these increasing means
OF intercourse and interaction has
come relaxation Of the bonds of
social discipline and control. Au-
thority is no longer accepted and
reverence seems to decay on every
side. AS a nation we are losing our
regard, not only for our law MAX
ers, but for the very laws and the
Constitution itself. We are in the
midst of period of distrust. We
question the things held sacred by
custom and some fo our best tenets
aud institutions are no longer re-
vered as they should be. Divorce
proceedings show the diminishing
sacredness of the home; failure to
support the church indicates loss of
appreciation for what that institu-
ton has done for society, and re