Washington Journal., 1916-01-28
Seriousness and
Our School System
Especial Correspondence for this paper
by a prominent Washingtonian).

= A doubt was recently expressed in
this column whether a good part of the
native Americans of German blood
would stand by German ideals even
after the excitement of present condi-
tions has gone by and an aggressive
movement would become necessary in
order to- realize some OF these ideals
for the benefit of the American peo-
pie. AS a result the writer has been
told by several fellow citizens of this
class that all such doubts are quite UNI
justified, and that they themselves as
well as the majority of their friends
and neighbors of the same class would
undoubtedly stand by the German ideals
in peace as well as in war.
Well, that sounds very fine indeed.
from the German no less than from
the American point of view Perhaps
the time is not far off when such
boasts may be put to the test.
1t is a commonplace, that whoever
has the children has the future, and
consequently it is in the schools that a
determined effort to make German
ideals a real constituent of national
consciousness in the United States
must begin. Will my enthusiastic
friends do their share to bring about
such a change in our system of public
instruction that within a generation
one of these German ideals may be-
come an American ideal also, towit, a
school system which makes it possible
for every American boy or girl to re-
ceive a real Notwithstanding there
by the sort of mental and moral train
ING, and the amount of information
which all German boys and girls re-
~ceive-having due regard, of course, to
the differences in the unavoidable con-
ditions Of the two countries.
At the risk of drawing down upon
me the wrath of three-fourths of a
well-meaning but badly informed com
munity, | am going to say here what
practically all persons competent to
judge know to be true, although those
of them who dislike swimming against
the current will keep very still about
it: The American school system is
4 extraordinarily inefficient, and some Of
it's features are absolutely farcical.
There are degrees of badness, and it
may be %cheerfully admitted that the
schools in the Middle West and on the
Pacific Coast are several points better
than those of the Atlantic Coast and
the South. 1t must also be stated that
who by their own gifts rise above the
system, to the joy and lasting benefit
of their lucky pupils. AS a whole,
hawever, our much-belauded public
t&ool system leaves the majority Of
our children mentally and morally un-
trained, and so woefully deficient in
ordinary information that people from
other countries, and especially thetTeu-
tonic countries, stand amazed when
they have an opportunity to observe
conditions. When you meet a we'll
trained and well-informed native Amer
lean, it is quite safe to assume that he
has acquired his training and informa-
ton, not because Of but in spite of his
early schooling.
The causes which have brought
about and maintain this sad state of
things are various. There is politics.
Nearly everywhere the schools are a
plaything of party interests. There is
graft: Everybody who desires to do
so can easily ascertain the part played
in school administration by certain
large publishing firms or school book
trusts" There are numerous minor
factors; but at bottom there is one
| great cause which also is at the bot
tom OF almost every i'll the social body
of the United States is heir to, a cause
moreover which the German element
ought to be most capable Of removing
because it is distinctly alien to the
German character. That cause is:
Lack of seriousness.
The American people take very few
things seriously--so seriously, 7 mean,
that they would sacrifice a great deal
for it. Thus, like other things, wesdo
not take Il schools seriously, although
1t must be said that we do pay school
taxes more cheerfully than war taxes.
We. will pay money for our schools, but
We will not really work for them. Our
children are not Taught to take their
schools to seriously; u teachers, with
many honorable exceptions, do not take
their work too seriously; parents do