New-York tribune., 1916-01-17

"Thc Masses on ihe uHN '"''
THE Masses" magazine tor fepru'ly
hos ono OF the best articles on the
Gary plan that it has been our priv
icgo to read. Whoever wrote 1t re-
allied the fundamental aim OF the pian'
"to make education q part of life ana
life a part of education More than
that. the article shows convincingly
how the present public school system
fails TO make education a part OF ire
End fails utterly "to tit one to take part
IN the activities Of the world with a
confident and joyous spirit.
We recommend for the pcrusal Of
rarents and teachers who are arguing
in circles about children getting
muddy on the playground" or who OBJ
iect to noise on the playground and
By the way. why in the world should
children not be noisy on the play
ground? - the following quotations
from "The Masses" article:
Public school System Not an Educa-
ton.
"a friend Of mine assures me that the
Gary plan is an infamous scheme to
introduce religion into the American
public school system, which
rrovokes me to the following reiiec-
tions:
AT eighteen went out into the
world, q product of the American pub
lie school system. ! could read. write
d bad hand, do simple arithmetic with
difficulty, and had a smattering Of
history, geography, botany, chemistry
algebra, geometry and Latin. ! could
not saw board straight, nor carry
tune. nor repair bicycle, nor dance,
nor sew on button. nor pay a COM
pliment, nor tie a shoestring so II
would stay tied. was very unlikely
TO know the name of any particular
flower. tree or bird. was habitually
unobservant Of everything that went on
around me.
lie, to which the public schools Of
three American towns ,of from 1000 10
10000 Inhabitants) had laboriousiy
contributed, went out into the world.
"Now, have just been reading John
and Evelyn Dewey's book, Schools Of
Tomorrow and I find there what |
already suspected, that this was not an
education Al all. find that my educa
tion began the moment ! left school
it began when, deceived by my air Of
Intelligence, a foreman offered me Sc
week to run a cooker in a candy
factory
Education Began Outside Of School.
at was for me a painful process and
for him an expensive one. put in the
wrong quantities Of sugar and glucose;
/ I let it burn; l nearly let it blow up;
/ forgot TO oil the steam engine; /
mixed up my daily reports, and |
/ burned my arm on the steam pipe every
/ time ] reached UP 10 turn off a valve.
7
wrath Of the foreman | passed a mis-
cradle existence. But all the time
was learning learning the nature Of
machinery, the necessity of being care
/ ful, the disastrous results of inaccu-
| racy. The foreman thought he was
/ running a candy factory and ] thought
+ was earning living bat ] was get
/ ting an education which ] ought to
/ have got ten years before.
"Of course | was fired. The print
ing and photographic trades successive
+ Is and for brief periods took up the
burden Of my education. A truck farm
er most rashly sacrificed his melons
and beans TO the process. The public
library helped along. And the social
iSt local transformed me from shy
and speechless youth into d person
capable of expressing his thoughts in
/ public. Teachers IN the gulse of nov
elists and playwrlghts gave me no.
tions about the world and about my
place in IL. And one day, very timidly,
/ having Just been fired from my latest
lob, | went to a newspaper Office and
asked If they had anything could do.
/ To my great surprise and immense
gratihcation, they made me reporter
on the spot.
81 was not, as may be imagined, the
best reporter in the world but | did
know little more about people and
things than when | left school. Under
the spur Of necessity and interest |
mastered that mysterious machine. the
typewriter, in something over five min
utes: J learned to take an interest in
my fellow human beings, to ask ques-
! tions. TO distinguish between a lie and
the truth, TO see little Of the vast