The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-09-23
SPIRIT Of SERVICE
MIST Rf F0STfRFD

| mUOI Dc TuOl[n[l
| There must be some means OF foa
tering the spirit of service" aSserti
c. r. Mann In a special bulletin Of tht
Bureau OF Education and analysing
the means OF preserving for peace
times the spirit Of the schools during
/ the war. Perhaps some sort OF re-
CURED universal service may be need
| ed to secure the same result In peace
Or perhaps It may be accomplished
by persistent campaign. like ths
! food conservation campaign. caro-.
| fully organized In every community
and patiently sustained by intelligent
corporation Of the schools Congress
will have to decide soon which
method is to be followed.
TN the second place. there mus
be some form OF physical exercise and
drill that result in fine physical set
, up, good coordination, precision
promptness. self-discipline. and the
I instructive habit of doing ones best
under all conditions as a matter oi
course. During the war military
training proved to be most effective
means for accomplishing these all
important ends quickly and on a ma
tional scale. Perhaps there are other
ways of securing this result, but the
schools hitherto have not paid much
attention to them. while military
training makes the development of
these qualities one of its first aims.
I'm the third place, the school
work may he made far more impelling
If 1t is organized in accordance with
the Turner principle. The army does
this by analyzing carefully each job
and leading a man to master 1t BY a
series OF real questions, problems,
and projects that the student must
work out for himself. The activities
of the household, the community, the
state, and the nation may be treated
effectively by this method. The hu-
manities and the sciences lend them
selves equally well to manipulation by
It, When intelligently used 1t releases
creative energy and fosters the de-
veIopnent. of initiative, resourceful
ness, and freedom of thought. 1t Is
perhaps the most direct method OF
securing motivation. of fostering pow
ers of INTERPOLATION, and of impelhnG
students to seif-discipline and hard
work,
AS the army has, that every citizen has
abilities that render him capable OF
some useful service. 1t Is one OF the
functions of the educational system,
to discover each individuals ability
and develop it for useful service. The
methods of rating. sorting. classifying
and placing men as developed by the
army are available for school use. As
these methods come more and more
into general use and as they are per
fected the schools will gradually
achieve a syst en- in which ability
rather than financial competency will
be the entrance requirements for
higher education
These suggestions offer a solution
to the present financial problem
in education. Now schools seem tc
be hopclessly twirling in a vicious cir
Gle, viz, we can not have better teach
ing till we get more money for teach
crs and We can not get more money
for teachers till we get better teach
ing. The nation has Just spent bill
lions of dollars for training for ma
tional service. This was done with an
elimination of less than per cent as
UNIT. Is It hopeless to imagine that
when the schools adopt plan of train
ing that promises to deliver goods on
similar scale there will be money
, enough to support ii?
The Ideal Since the Beginning.
The achievement of these ends has
been the ideal of the prophets OF
American education from the very be
ginning. These were the purposes
which Benjamin Franklin sought t.
accomplish in the foundation of tbs
academy at Philadelphia in iT4a
! Rensselaer, Polytechnic was founded
! 10 secure these results. They were
the purposes which Abbott Lawrence
/ sought to achieve in the foundation O!
/ the Lawrence Scientific School at Har.
j ward. Joseph Sheffield made his be.
quests to the Scientific School at Yale
4 with the same end in view. They were
I the conceptions back OF the estab
lishment of the Michigan Agriculture
college and the Farmers High Schoo
| of Pennsylvania in 1855. They com
/ PEELED the Morrill, legislation which LED
10 the establishment OF the land gram
/ colleges They have been expressed
effectively in many ways In agricul
tural training: and in the mechani,
arts they have been achieved mos
fully in the vocational training worl
! of tire war department. during tn
present emergency, They would hav.
been attained with equal fullness In
the collegiate work OF the Students
Army Training Corps had this expert
ment lasted long enough to overcom.
4 the serious handicaps with which i
was encountered at the start
Eighty separate Agencies.
/ The progress that was made dur
Ing the war was possible. because TIL
management of the schools was cen
| trained in single organization unde
military control, Now that the neces
sity Tor military control has passed
there are about eighty different Office
In Washington charged with the direc
ton Of eighty different aspects OF ma
tional education. The actual contro
of education is. however. vested in tn,
I several states and in multiplicity o
privately owned and managed institu
! ttons. Obviously progress would b.
| accelerated If some coordination o
| these infinitely varied elements of con
troll could be secured without impair
ing the local control by states and in
! diNiduals.
Voluntary Cooperation Needed.
In peace time this coordination
could not and should not be brough
about by autocratic methods but b.
voluntary co-operation of all con
cerned What is needed to accomplish
this is a federal educational council
| or department of education or nationa
| university that would define the ma
| tional problems of education. industry
| economics, social and municipal or
ganization politics and commerce. ant
point out the lines along which fruit
! full solutions of these problems Nigh
| be secured. Such an organization
| would be able to unity the schoo
| system. not by legal authority. not b,
the distribution OF funds. but by TIL,