New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-01-28
"Writing Down" to Them

\ correspondent OF Inc Tribune coih-
plains that authors of the textbooks used
in the public schools have formed the
habit of "writing down" to the children
Possibly our critic is correct in blaming
the textbook for that intellectual apathy
and want of curiosity which is more or
less common among|us. Textbook WIFI
ing has become something of trade.
A textbook seldom gives the authors
real thought; it gives his conclusions. IL
seldom invites TO open and honest discus
sion of the "why and wherefore OF n
subject 1t presents closed case. Its
usual purpose is to give the material re-
quired by a made-in-advance scheme OF
instruction. The most ordinary effect OF
q textbook is to kill the students interest
in subject so completely that he Will
never again show any natural inclination
to think about it. The average textbook
is simply mental labor saving device.
But this criticism applies to more
things than textbooks. One has only to
glance at the stuff which cutters up the
places devoted to the sale of popular
magazines or run through the list OF the
latest fiction TO see what a fiourishing IN
dustry the business Of writing down" to
people has become in this country. sTheo-
retically, it would seem that a democratic
public would insist that it be taken Who'll
" into the confidence of its writers and
thinkers. But our literature, the stage
and the lecture platform show that the
very opposite of this theoretical condition
is no longer even trade secret.
In fact. we prefer to be talked down
TO. We haven't time TO search out the
subtleties and finer shades Of things. We
want everything so simpified that the
man on the street, rushing to the nearest
subway station or lodging auto trucks,
NAV take in the whole meaning of great
truth without Stacking his pace or making
the least effort at attention.
The highest form of modern literary
excellence, assuming that to "put thing
over" is the measure of success, is that
of the display ad-writer. He who aspires
10 a literary career these days should
cease trying to emulate Chaucer and
and study the psychology OF
billboards. Do not give US inquiries; do
not ask us to stop and think. Give us
results, bald, obvious, easily grasped, pos
tive afirmations that can be put into
words of one syllable and printed in capt.
tai letters-preferabl red.
Who cares what man really thinks or
how he reached his conclusion? Only
reach something, however commonplace,
and be quick about it. Tell us what we
already know; only dress it up with a
dash of sensation. The chief end of man
is to "reach the public" Study TO show
thyself "low-brow" lest thou commit the
crime of speaking or writing something
which is cover the head" Of the shortest
man.
There was time when the Poes strove
to attain artistic delicacy and perfect
beauty OF form, and called self-approval
success; when the Emersons gave their
best thought and their whole thought to
the public, knowing they would not be
the first to be misunderstood. Would
they not have been less lonely if they had
taken more pains to "give the public what
it wants? He who puts his tongue in
his cheek and "writes down" to us will
never say anything worth preserving, but
we shall encourage in him a feeling of
satisfaction which the older writer's did
not have-the illusion that he is leading
the public-a comforting thought if one
refrains from asking; "But whittier"