The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1916-01-18

Inat euuCdtlOn Is the safeguard vi
democracy is proposition almost
universally accepted. But just how
education should be worked out and
applied in order best to safeguard
democracy is the all important prob
slem confronting those who have To-
lilo with the shaping of educational
|policies. 1t will hardly be asserted
fthat education merely as such, with
<out regard to its character or meth
3od =. application will save democra-
lev. 1t is conceivable that education
Knight defeat democracy. Moreover,
tit doubtless could be shown that de-
mocracy saves education as much as
education saves democracy.
Modern education is development
OF democracy. 1t Is one Of the meth
DDS, perhaps the chief one, through
which democracy expresses itself and
works out its purposes. 1t follows
that education for democracy must
itself be democratic. But 1t Is to
be feared that many who accept the
maxim that education is the safe
guard Of democracy, do not look at
II in this light. Many still seem to
believe that democracy has to be
saved from itself, and that education
Is the means through which this is
TO be accomplished. Thus education
al policies quite undemocratic are
held to be applicable to democratic
conditions.
A truer conception of the relation
between education and democracy is
that which regards education as an
effective restraint upon the excuses
of democracy. In this view democ'
racy is essentially good but often
rash. needing greatly the calming in
fiuence of traditional wisdom. But
here also the conception Is mislead-
ing in that it sets education over
against democracy, when in truth
they are but different aspects of the
same process. The whole progress
Of humanity works out as democracy,
and education, in the broadcast sense,
is Just the process of this working
out.
Holding to this conception of the
relation of education to democracy
we are able easily to see that un'
4 democratic educational systems OF
practices are injurious to democracy
We shall also be able to see that an
education which merely gets over 10
the pupil Il certain quantity of classi
fled knowledge will not of necessity
he of any use to democratic people
NOR will the development of individu
al power unless it be wrought out IN
the very activities and for the very
purpose of democracy. Furthermore
II should be easy to see that a school
system inherited from undemocrati'
times is quite sure to contain much
that is useless or even dangerous t
democracy.
The most dangerous doctrine II
current popular discussions of edu
cation Is that which holds that know
ledge, merely as such, or even cul
ture as most often conceived, is
safeguard to democracy. Where SO
c!al classes exist each has wei
developed tradition as to what con
stitutes knowledge; and, culture i
made the chief justification Of elias
distinctions. No culture is of an.
use to democracy but that which i
us broad as humanity. And such GU
ture is democratic.
AS to knowledge, what democrac,
needs first OF all is self knowledge
We need to know the facts and t
understand the processes of our owl
life, individually and socially. Wha
we have done for the most part II
the schools is to study the facts o
the lives of other peoples and Of r.
mote times, and to draw conclusion