The states-graphic. (Brownsville, Tenn.) 1???-1984, 1918-01-25
EDUCATIONAL READ
JUSTMENTS NEEDED


While our public schools and our va
rious other educational institutions
probably have not deserved all the adj
virse criticism and the censure they
have received on account of this con-
dition, it cannot be denied that they
are largely to blame, that they are
lacking in a number of important res
poets and that they often fail serious
ly in fitting their pupils for efficien-
ey and effectively meeting the prac-
teal problems which they inevitably
encounter when they begin the serious
business of doing their share of the
, worlds work and earning livelihood.
Now that we are at war and are
beginning to realize that all our re-
sources and every pound of our ener-
gy as a nation must be made to tell
forcefully if we would win, we are be-
ginning to appreciate the great need of
more practical education and training
for everyone in order that we may be
thoroughly efficient as a nation and
exert our maximum potential strength.
Forward looking men also see that we
shall need national efficiency after the
war just as much as now in order that
we may meet successfully the condi-
tons that will obtain then.
For these reasons there is grow
ing demand for such readjustments
and changes in our educational sys-
tenn as will make available education
and training of more useful, practi-
cal nature, education and training APP
plicable to everyday problems and
conditions of our national and indi-
vidual life.
Supt. H. B. Wilson, of Topeka, Kan,
in an address before teachers meet
ing in Washington, D. c., some time
ago, pointed out that pupils are not
taught in our schools the things they
need to know in after life because the
courses of study embrace too much
dead, obsolete, functionless matter,
. not because too many subjects are
taught. Under the present system, he
declared, crimes are committed in the
schools under the names of history,
composition and spelling.
He cited several instances as show
ing the weakness of the public schools
Among these was one where the
teachers of one of the middle western
states prepared for the use of their
pupils list of $4,000 words. The ma
jority Of these were such words as
even teachers would be unable to pro-
nounce or spell without the aid of a
dictionary.
A New York teacher, he said, pre-
sented to each of II successful bust
ness men al list Of ten problems de-
signed for pupils in the seventh grade.
The highest score made by any of
these practical business men was 20
per cent correct answers.
Dir. Wilson said he had never found
his technical knowledge of the differ
ence between abstract and concrete
nouns of any real value in English ex-
preston nor a knowledge Of technical
arithmatical terms an aid in an inti-
mate knowledge of mathematics.
In one case cited a pupil was almost
driven from school because the teach
ers insisted in suppressing his one tai
ent--drawing order that he might
study subjects in which he was not in
terested and could not learn. DR.. Will
son urged that the "one-talent" pupils
gifts be encouraged and not suppressed
in order to make them more complete.
Writing in the Review of Reviews,
President Thwing of Western Reserve
University, says that our public
schools, though free, are schools for
only small share of Americas chill
dren; statistics compiled for more than
$50 American cities show that only 56
pupils out of each 1000 who start in
the first grade Of the elementary school
go on and complete a high school
course.
The lesson, he points out, is the
same as the one which England is
learning with terror, namely, that the
state and its future are menaced by
the uneducated masses. America
should see to it that all her children
are given an education worthy of a
democratic, responsible citizenship.
He is convinced that the intellectual
parts of our educational system
which is weak, uninspiring, unrelated
disiointed, wasteful, ineffective, should
be reinforced; the system should be
made vigorous, quickening, compact,
economical. The schools should not
be content with being merely intel
lectual; in addition to disciplining the
intellect they should train and develop
the moral side o, pupils natures,
touching the conscience, moving the
will and inspiring the heart, and an eff
fort should be made to inculcate the
importance of the principles of justice,
honesty, modere ton, sel-respect and
t importance.
Education, DR.. Thwang declares, is
t be concerned with humanity, not
with humanism or humaneness. Ger
many, he points out, has progressed
ed far in the field Of humanism but
has done little in the field Of humane
ness and much less in the held of
humanity; she has been prevented by
the intellect, the reason, the -Vgical
premise and conclusion from seeing in
to the soul of humanity itself.