New Britain herald., 1918-01-23
TEACHERS' COUNCIL
 LISTENS ID PAPER
Miss Campbell Speaks on "De-
 mocracy and the SchooP'

l U 1 Mary A. Campbell, principal of the 1 Burritt school, at the meeting of the | Teachers Council last evening at the ' Grammar school. The paper was one of the series being delivered by prom inent members of the council and, , like others, proved to be of deep in- terest to the members.
 ! The paper follows:
 'In these days when democracy is questioning it's efficiency and testing it through the institutions maintained by a democratic society, the close con- nections between democracy and edu- ation is significant. The school, as all other institutions, has been created by society to serve societys end. Char acter building or a self-respective way of building the whole citizen from the whole child is through a system of training which imposes on the youth such problems of life as teach him to live in the world in which he finds himslf to understand his share in it, and to contribute generously to it his loyalty and service.
 Since the public schools started with the awakening of liberty and democracy, a democratic society main- tains the school for the sole purpose of sensing, preserving, and emphaSlz- lIS certain VSLlueS pcILl16uL u iLS needs, with the privilege of casting aside values it has outlived. Thus, a system of education suited to the needs of any period of nations development will naturally need mod flying and adjusting as conditions change to any great extent. The school of today, therefore, in meeting the complex demands of democratic society is preserving all the forces that gave virtue and stability to the
 character developed in the earlier periods of our national life, while 1t fashions it's instruction on the present intellectual and social demands. '"The complex inheritance of the American people,-upon whose char acter soil, climate, traditions. social conditions and government have left marked effects.-this inheritance has l been one of the strong ia tors that has kept the educational Eystena-a system for all classes-progressive and vitalized. The early history of our democracy presents society in a per- iod of intense struggle when the well fare of the country was dependent upon the doctrine of 'getting-on. and each for himself Conditions were largely rural and agricultural with towns and villages remote. Every village was fringed with farms from which man wrested his living. Wealth l and luxury were unknown. To be able to meet the exacting conditions l of his rude environment was the real test and both boys and girls were trained to accomplishment. In | dozen different kinds of work on the 1 farm or in the village home the child 1 learned much that today the school | too To a6nc9fo6 school of experience, and it devel- 1 oped in particular his judgment and i his skill in doing with his hands. i Labor was needed in those days, the | children were the members of tho 1 firm and economy was the spur.
 ''The factory has not destroyed do- l mestic industry, and everywhere the | home was the trade school. As the child saw but few books, the very best use of few weeks spent in school was | to devote the time wholly to book l study. Educators were rare and books expensive, and it was the fear l of many of the early builders of our l dem ocracy that learning might be buried in the graves of their ministers. But it was not the book knowledge. though eagerly sought, that developed l the boy in that pioneer period. He l ence, and through the vitality of it's teachings he learned to meet new emergencies day by day, and to use his best judgnfent in overcoming them. l Tn those days democracy placed the | school second to the farm and homo in furnishing efficiency and power. | The simple, common-to-all conditions of that early period offered little op- 1 portunity for general or extensive ed- ucation The ability to read, write, and cipher distinguished the educated from the uneducated. To be illiterate was no reproach and it was possible to follow many pursuits successfully with only the education of daily work | and experience.
 "Few of the problems of modern | democracy which are being solved to-
 day by means of public education, had | presented themselves. But as re-
 markable social and industrial changes
 took place great inroads were made on
 the old educational function of the
 home Machinery has wrought a won-
 derful change. and the great expan-
 sion of our national life has had a
 natural effect upon the people. The
 immigrn mt has added weight to dc
 mocracY's problem; and as the spirit
 of the day calls for ready readJuSt-
 ment to changes, initiative to do, or tC
 add to what has been done, and CO
 operation with all forces, the school through the inspiration and vitality o1 it's curriculum, through the whole
 somcness of it's discipline, through the
 premium it places on serious anc
 thoughtful work, and through the
 tests it makes on the finished product
 is fulfilling it's task as society's agen in this great period of educational re
 adjustment.
 "A readjustment takes place grad
 ua1lv. and as the great problem of ed
 ucation is amending, the system of ed