Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-10-17
THE GOWNSM4N


Litit LdtIn ana Less OFeek
TTHAT anybody should have the slightest
interest in these days of martial activity
in the dead and dying languages of an
tquty" may we'll f the man in'the street
with wonder. But shall we continue to teach
the classics, shall we keep on with what
people call the smpracticalities of the hu-
manties in our schoolrooms? These are ques-
tions that will not down, whatever their ap-
parent irrelevancy in moment when all
our sweet ways OF use and wont" are aban-
doned in the imperative need OF presenting
a united front TO the enemies of mankind
What we teach Is quite as important as
what eat For II the nature of the menu
of our homes is essential to the maintenance
OF our physical health, the nature OF the
menu of our schools and colleges is assuredly
as essential to the maintenance of the ideals
of our lives the very ideals for which we
are now fighting. practical man of affairs.
discoursng dictatorially the other day. de-
Clared:
After the war. sir. we are going to have
no more nonsense in education Things are
going to be practical and our children are
going TO be taught only what Is useful TO
themselves and TO the state. Wen have none
of these ornamental unnecessary subjects r
our schools. Every child shall be assigned
his worlS-work which Is productive tan
gible, marketable and appraisable by the hard
heads of business or the hard hands of toll
"Ah,' sighed of his hearers, that is
precisely what Germany has been doing all
these years That is the species of education
which has brought on this war"
UTILITY, practical applications, immedi.
u ate returns proper demands for this
supreme moment: and we accept them as OF
this moment, With a robber in your house,
choking your wife and trampling your chill
dren, you must become their defender or be
branded a poltroon. The virtues for you to
emulate at such moment those of the
policeman. still better. those of the pugilist.
If you have given previous hours to jujutsu
or some other mode of the manly art of
sef-defense, you may thank your good stars.
But, the peril to your family once over and
your prowess established. are you to be con-
tent to remain mere practitioner of jujutsu
ever after? Education for an emergency is
justhabe where, as in the case of this pres
ent war, the necessity has been thrust upon
us. But an educational system founded on
the idea of preparation for an imagined emer-
gency is mprac emergency may
never arise or you may have been trained
for the wrong emergency.
THE making of ones own living is one Of
l. the exigences of life. 1t is thing so usual,
so common. that it rises out of the category
of an eXigency into that of condition.
And vet even the making of ones own 1iv-
ing is not universal condition. and the
most thoroughgong advocate of vocational
training might stop short of demand that
the shoemaker shall be pinned from the
| hr1 to his last. There was an old Roman
| once who wrote n big book on the making
| of an orator. He began with the selection
| of the orators grandparents. a prccaution,
np' "hoHE u'lllnportant III any walk OF liie'
re I,'tue everything that the chllu was 10 ne
LduSht Sonie'iiHg cohtr'putory drec'y 10
| ptonclencN III the gut OF gao-language gave
| him facility; dancing. grace poetry, figures
Oh speech history parallels. we wonder
Whelher oiu Quintlllah' lor tnat was ms
.'lie' nlisH' hot nave clappeu ms nahuS III
| JOY AT the reailZatior OF ms ioeal IN some
| II'tllpe,S Oh the uhlteu states senate OF
| mHo'il ne n'snt wen say IN Nerghlah phrase'
| "e - No'Ve anu ho'hihe more
| .1,.-..-,..
! NotAIloNAL education trains man for
| MS hours OF labor. and for those hours
| eo"SlH,, rai'S t man LOT ms tunes OF leisure
|ion oF "ho, Inv ,,,, 10 - ,"t n fe,uS aequlsI-
| Vocational training is in danger of becon,ina,
| uHberaI. because II sacrifices evervthing eIse
to the doing of one spec,dc thing and onIv
| incidentally trains i'm opvtbinp else That
| sneciae of educatior vbicb croot.s n tor,nor
| of mind at once amen ready and canahIe
| which prepares the soil so TO sneak 10 re-
| ceive any cron and fertility to grow n 10
| harvest ie tho education not of tbo ora,or
| tbc shoeraker tho genera, but tba od,,na,io,,
| Of the mani is not adncation for ON or,ar
| gency. but education for ali emergencies and
the only real education in noint of fact N'N
!
NrO MAN oP sensa obiec,s IN usof,,, st,,5,,s
| N ,ro ohiaa, - TO- - .d..,te %
s.uuIes, pointed win unitarian AIMS Is
uu'tI tio, ~, .",ns cosrse III sGlence'
,iii turr o,t aIras or,,or auS" "a rtf
| cans co,,rsa v,hioh con,himos ,,Ith th,.
,rairira ,bo Iorge. ,ra,nina 90 v,ind .,tn;t
aa.''ns ,''g - iai 81 ,'aiius ., Iii'',u, spl,,
nrtroa m" o,,d ,r,nn nion IA ~.
| engineers anu men OF science' ana the