Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-01-24


in the child's life in order TO prevent the
formal separation OF the growing gem
IN THESE days, when the advocates OF
i vocational training are making them
selves heard above all other voices In tht
educational discussion. the plain man should
recall that the primary purpose of the
American system OF free public schools Is
political and not Industrial.
This is a democracy in which all men are
theoretically equal. The day laborer is as
powerful at the polls as the man who earns
his living by the sweat Of his brain. The
capitalist with an income of $1,000 day may
vote for one candidate, only to have his vote
nullfed by the ballot cast by the man who
carries out his ashes.
So the early patriots decided that II the
great experiment in democracy here was to
succeed there must be an intelligent body of
! citizens. At first it was thought to he enough
! If the children were taught to read write
! and cipher. That is, we must have terate
population. We have moved a long way from
that simple standard and the public schools
teach the arts and sciences as we'll as lam
guagos and literature. \ high school grad
uatc is now better educated than the gradu-
ates from the University of Pennsylvania, or
Harvard or Yale, of a hundred years ago.
All this advance has been made in order
that the growing generation might be quail
fed to deal with the perpleXlng problems Of
our complicated civilization Until within
recent years the utiltaranism of education
has been political. The courses Of study have
been so arranged as to give to tho pupils
some knowledge of the history of the world,
some understanding Of the elementary prin-
clples of government and some appreciation
of the great underlying fact that no demo-
cratic government can advance more rapidly
than the people.
The extreme advocates of Industrial train
ing have forgotten the primary political pur-
pose of the free public school, If they ever
knew it, end they would have industrial
training begin at the earliest possible mo-
ment They would have schools in which
boys who intended to be mechanics should
begin to he taught the use of tools about
they were taught how to write with
ink There would be schools for carpenters
and for metal workers and for workers in
cloth and in leather, for printers and for
stonecutters and brickIayers. The idea of
qualifying a boy for trade would take the
place in these schools of the old idea of quail
flying the boys for citizenship.
The error of these extreme vocationalists
is graver than is generally understood. They
cite the success of the German school sys-
TEN in justification of their position, but they
forget that Germany is not a democracy.
There is a rigid class system in the Tcu-
tonic empire The boy who starts in a trade
school and discovers that he would like TO
get a broader education finds when it is too
late that II is practically impossible to climb
over the class barrier and get into one of the
universities. 1t is important that we should
perceive the danger in pushing the trade
school idea too far.
If our democracy is to he preserved and if
we are to keep open the opportunities for
every boy to rise to the heights to which he
may aspire must preserve the democracy
of the public schools. The boys who expect
to be lawyers must be kept in touch as long
as possible with the boys who are planning
to be bricklaycrs, In order that there may be
greater sympathy between them when they
become men. The bricllayer must know
from actual contact that the lawyer is a
man Of like passions with him. and the
lawyer must understand that the mechanic
is a human being entitled to the same pro-
lection of the laws that he enjoys.
Every believer in free public education
must insist that specialization in education
must be delayed as long as possible in the
life of the child There can be no valid OBJ
lection to a limited introduction of manual
training in the general course of study for
manual trimming has educational value. No
boy can make a box until he has clear con-
ception OF the completed box in his mind
If he is taught to think box out of a pile
of boards he may learn how to think Il logical
argument in support of the policy of a pro-
tective tariff from mass of apparently un-
related facts. Superintendent CARRIER laid
down the proper rule in his annual report
when he said that such modification in the
organization of the school work was needed
as would best tend ITO equip the pupils with
the basic implements of knowledge ana
training before they take up specialized lines
OF work"
Then, too, it is well for thoughtful people
to consider whittier the theory tends that all
education is worthless that does not increase
a mans earning power There is high author
ity for the statement that mans life con-
sisteth not in the abundance Of the things
that he possesseth, Some thought must be
given in the public schools to enarging the
capacity for getting satisfaction from the
consideration of something else besides the
almighty dollar.
The proper order of emphasis in the school
course is training for citizenship first, train
ing for intellectual enjoyment second, and
training for earning money third.
"
A BOOST FOR RAPID TRANSIT