The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1919-05-02
THE BUSINESS MANS VIEW
OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Criticism No. 2,

which he attended, no matter in what
grade, seems to have been founded
upon the idea that education" is Gin
struction;" that Is to say, that his
parents seemed to have sent him to
school, in order that he might be
instructed" and that his teachers
seemed to think their one primary
duty was to convey instruction" to
the mind of the pupil, help him or, IL
you please, compel him to gain
knowledge. much of which, he finds
later he was never able to utilize in
any practicable way to the end of
winning life's battle.
The business man, especially one
who becomes an employer. gradually
wate s up ~ TIE tact that education
is really education, development, un-
foldment, and that instruction alone
or the gaining oil knowledge will r1t
beget education. The business men
of the country are rapidly coming to
see that the true function Of COM
merce is to render service as a whole,
and that the profits we make in
business is the pay we get for the ser
vice that we render.
We are beginning to realize that
& is true of ourselves as employers,
and true of everybody whom we en-
ploy, that the efficiency of the in
dividual does not depend upon his
knowledge--it does not alone depend
upon what he knows-it depends far
more upon what the individual is,
and what he or she is depends, in
turn, upon the degree of embodiment
or development of certain faculties
and capacities and qualities and pow
ers in the individual. To illustrate
what | mean by an example, book
keeper might know all there is to be
known, if such thing were possible,
about the science of accounting, but
if he were lacking the Development
of such qualities as discrimination,
ethics, accuracy. and speed. he would
still be a very inefficient bookkeeper-
One of our statesmen might be a
very learned man in the ancient
languages and higher mathematics,
but if lacking in such qualities as tact
and good judgement and loyalty and
honesty and many others which |
might mention, he would probably
-, he tcf in
stead of orders. | feel, therefore, as
business man-and in this opinion
! | know | am not alone-that our
schools should take steps to do some
really constructive work in the mat
ter of teaching the science of man
| building, which, of course, includes
the science OF character-building.
| am thoroughly convinced that
this can be done. | have been led
to this conclusion, not on account
of anything that | have studied in
school books. but through studies
which it has been my privilege to
pursue since entering the school of
life" and while employed in the yo-
cation of commerce. The wish fire.
quently comes to me, as | am en-
gagged in certain studies which |
pursue at home. that | might have
learned some of these things when
was in the school-room.
Possibly | might sum up Criticism
No. in a statement which, to some
of you, as educators. may seem too
sweeping, but which, | believe. will
stand the test of careful analysis. II
is this: taken as a whole, our schOo,
system, imported as it was from the
old world, and designed originally
or the classes and not for the masses, !
was founded upon an utterly false
belief. the evil consequences of which |
have been far-reaching, and this false
belief is that education" is "instruc-
ton"
which the word education" springs, |
need but to remind you, as educa-
tors, of the fact that it's true mean
ing is education"
The scientific cultivation of the |
human plant being the true function |
of our school rooms, they should |
be, and will be in time, laboratories
for the development of man-power
Business men-many of them at
least-have come to see that bust
ness, taken as a whole, is man-pow-
er plus money-power plus mechanic
al-power and the utilization of ma
terial forces and things; but we
have also come to see that man-pow
er is the cause, while money and the
efficient utilization of all mechanical
and material things are effects.
We, therefore. wish that the young
men and the young women of the ma
tion could come to us from our
schools further advanced in the de-
yelopment of the kinds of man-pow-