The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-09-04
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM ALTON
BUREAU
WAR MUST NOT STOP EDUCATION
FREDERIC ]. HAsKIN. Directo
Washington. D. C.

WAN H1O6l MI 01oE
"At the beginning of the war, when
the first shortage of labor became ap-
parent, a raid was made upon the
schools, a great raid. successful raid,
a raid started by a large body OF un-
rejecting opinion. The result of that
raid upon the schools has been that
hundreds of thousands of children in
this country have been prematurely
Withdrawn from school, and have suf-
fered an irreparable damage, dam
age which it will be quite impossible
for US hereafter adequately to repair"
III. A. L. Fisher, president of the
English Board of Education.
washington, D. c., Sept. And
this year the American schools, just
opening their doors for the new Sc
mester, are threatened with similar
raid. Thousands of boys of military
age, who would otherwise be in col
| lege are in the army; thousands below
the military age, who should be in
grammar and high schools, are at
| work, taking the places of men who
| have gone to war. The attendance OF
girls is not SO much affected, but in
| Washington alone there are thousands
| of them who have left school to work.
| In this situation the administration,
| thru the bureau of education. is call
| ing upon the people of America to
avert the "irreparable damage" which
any considerable interruption of edu-
| cation is sure to cause. It is, above
all, urging parents to keep their minor
| children in school; urging legislatures
| and taxpayers not to let appropria-
| tons for education suffer because of
wartime financial burdens; urging
young men within the new draft law
| to enter the student army training
corps.
The attitude of the administration.
| as expressed by Commissioner of Edu-
| cation p. P. Claxton, is that education
takes a place second in Importance
only to the purpose of winning the
war; and that, since the great war
time need is for educated men, the
two purposes do not conflict.
Perhaps the greatest immediate
cause of the diminished attendance
which threatens the schools is the
number of boys and girls who are
working, and are unwilling to give
up their work because of their high
earnings. Commissioner Claxton would
| call the attention of these to the great
opportunities which will await edu-
| Gated Americans after the war.
AS he points out, there is a world
to be rebuilt when this war is over.
Not only the devastated countries of
| Europe, but the great nations of
China and Russia, both now passing
thru a. formative stage of unrest and
disorganization, will be in need of
|
And Europe has not been producing
trained men for four years; instead it
has been killing them. 1t is not ar
rogance to say that America faces the
task of rebuilding the world, for
European leaders admit that their ma
lions are not equipped for the task. A
high French officer on a mission in
this country recently stated that
France had produced practically no
trained men for four years, and would
be unable to carry out the scientific
and engineering tasks of RECONSTRUCT
ton without aid from this country.
The federal government itself IS
carrying out a program of education
which is much more extensive than
most citizens realize. The most re-
cent phase of this is the student army
, training corps which consists in
nothing less than the taking over OF
the American universities by the
American government, and which
} means an opportunity to obtain col
lege education at government expense
for every American youth over is
years of age. Those who have had
high school education will be given
regular college courses with a view tic
fitting them for further training in
the officers training camps, or for ad-
| vanced technical training, according tic
their aptitude. Those who have had
| only grammar school education will
be trained along mechanical lines
needed by the government, but all OF
these who show the necessary ability
will be given opportunities to qualify
, for commissions.
The student army training corps Is
the greatest and newest of the fed
eral educational projects, but by nc
means the only one. Before 1t was
organized, the government was spend
ing between thirty-five and forty mil
/ a in n6
catienal work. This included its army
post schools, it's re-education of in.
jured soldiers thru the surgeon gen.
erals office, it's extension of vocation
al education in the schools thru ths
, federal board for vocational educa.
ton, training of shipyard worker.
thru the United States shippins
board. and many other educationa
|, activities not directly connected witt
the war.
r To how great an extent the wal
2 problem has been a problem in eduea.
ton is scarcely realized. In order tt
make this nation into an effeetual wal
machine, the government has had tt
= organize all sorts of educational faeili
ties from classes in reading and writ
Ing for illiterate and foreign born re
. cruits to classes in the most advanced
e phases of modern science and technol
i ogy. Mechanics engineers and avia
r | tOfS nave Ill D6eH maze from raw ma
. terial or from men who had but 1
/ smattering of training or experience
e There is no place in the modern wa
;. game for the man who is willing, bu
| doesn't know how-at least. not unit
he has been trained. Even the privat,
S in the ranks requires a training of thu
= most intensive sort.
c And after the war the chance of tn
unframed man is going to be snaal1e
still. The war is causing a tremen
4 dous advance in what might be ealle,
s the technology of civilization. OIL.
9 sciences are advancing and new
. sciences are being ereated-as for ex
e ample the science of food and feeding
t which was formerly a matter left t
# unframed women, and now engage
: some of the best brains in the world
s After the war, there will be place TO
S every trained American, and preba bl
az nat. ThaS