The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-09-27
WAR BOOSTS EDUCATION
the TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
IMPORTATION BUREAU
BY Frederic j. Haskin. Director.
Washing tOn, ID. G.

phdSlZed by American eOuSdlOis- IL
Philander P Claxton, United States
Commissioner of Education, recently
issued the following warning:
Because of the partial dlsorSan1-
zation OF society ana the general ex-
element accompanying our entrance
into the war, there Is danger or large
increase in juvenile delinquency ana
crime. Against this there is no surer
guarantee tnan prompt ana regular
attenuance at school"
Another prominent educator points
out that commercial success after the
war is largely dependent upon we'll
educated population. He urges the
establishments OF more continuation
schools for children who are COM
PEELED to start contributing to the fam
lily income as soon as they leave the
eighth grade, as well as free courses
in Spanish both for children and for
adults. Never before, he asserts, has
the national value of public educa-
ton been so apparent
American educators are not alone
in this discovery. The whole OF
Europe has awakened to this fact in
the past two years. The value of the
educated man has been demonstrated
as never before. 1T is not only the
information possessed by the educated
man which makes him valuable" said
a British army officer in commenting
on the value of education to a soldier.
He has been trained to think"
In view of these opinions, it is not
| surprising to find widespread educa-
tional reforms taking place in France
! and Germany and Great Britain. The
latest British educational bill contains
particularly radical features.
In the general confusion at the be-
ginning of the war, the necessities and
privileges of children were forgotten
Every country had certain laws con-
corning the minimum age at which
! children might be employed, but in
| the rush for war material these laws
were either ignored or rescinded. In
| Great Britain children nine and ten
years old were accepted by munitions
| factories Moreover, the schools were
| taken over by the military authorities
and turned into environments for
I troops, military headquarters and sup
ply depots. This threw hundreds of
! children out of school, leaving them to
| roam the streets or to stay in empty
homes.
For the majority of mothers were
working in munitions factories. They
wers>away from their homes all day
and naturally could not supervise
| their children. The loss of a fathers
! discipline and guidance also began to
| have its effect. Some British educa-
| tors have even suggested that the
darkened streets were another unfor-
| tunate circumstance swelling the list
| of juvenile offenses, all crime flour
! ishing in the dark. At any rate, the
school authorities began to be worried.
Many school children, and especially
| boys, are suffering from a want of
| proper care and discipline and are eX-
posed to serious risk of deterioration
| they told the public, and insisted upon
| it's cooperation. Evening play centers,
| providing children with suitable oc-
| cupation and amusement after school
| hours, were established; the govern
ment ordered an evacuation of the
| schools occupied by soldiers, wher-
| ever other arrangements could be
made, and the board of education
started a campaign to arouse the
country to the dangers which threat
ened its children.
! The result is the recent education
bill, which practically puts the child
rem of Great Britain under the guard
| ianship of the board of education. II
specifies that every child must attend
school between the ages of five and
| fourteen. Children over twelve may
be employed after school hours, but if
| the school medical officer or local ed
ucation authority believes that such
| employment is interfering with the
child's physical development or with
his school work, the employment must
cease.
All private schools are made sub
ject to inspection by the board of ed
ucation, and if found unsatisfactory
children will not be permitted to at
|
know no Nicholas Nickelbys or Kipps
After leaving the elementary school,
at the age of fourteen, the pupil mus
attend a continuation school 'at such
times, on such days as the local edu-
I cation authority of the area in which
he resides may require, for 800 hours
in each year until he is sixteen years
old" Employers or parents who at
tempt to prevent children from com.
plying with this regulation are sub
ject to.a fine of from five to twenty
five dollars. The exemptions from
continuation schools are largely in the
hands of the board of education, also
altho certain specific exemptions are
specified in the bill. If a person has
passed the matriculation examination
of university. or an examination
recognized by the board of educa tior
able to prove that he is receiving eff
ficient full-time instruction in some
other manner, or if his education OBJ.
tanned somewhere else is considered
sufficient, he does not have to attend
the continuation school.
Nursery schools for children under
five years of age, whose home condi.
lions are such that attendance at such
a school is necessary for their healthy
physical and mental development, are
also a feature of the bill. 1t also con
, / tains provisions for holiday or schoo
camps for young persons attending
continuation schools; of physical train
ing centers, other than those connect
ed with elementary schools, and O
school baths and swimming pools
This is the liberal educational pro
gram of Great Britain, which never
before has so concerned itself with tn,
mental and physical growth of its PEG
pie. For many years, higher educa
ton in Germany has belonged entire
; ly to the upper classes. The elemen
tary schools were free, and so wer,
certain vocational schools, but ner,
education for the poorer classes stop
ped. For the secondary schools
known as gymnasiums, did not pegil
where the elementary schools left off
A special preparatory course wa
necessary to fit a pupil for them
) and this preparatory course was ex
: tremely expensive. Thus the Juuker
kept their high schools and universe