Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1919-08-28
EDUCATION MUST
BE SUPPORTED IN
j. s., SAYS HILL.
President of State University
Says the Mission of the
School Must Not Be Over
looked in These Irving Days

looked IN Ih6S6 Trying DAYS
DR.. David Spence Hill, president oil
the state university. delivered an exl-
cellent address at the teachers insti-
tute at the high schooi auditorium last
night. His subject was The Nature
ana support of Public Education.
BY way of introduction, President
Hill contrasted three different types
of interest in education. said he:
'As in every public undertaking,
there are found, first, a few persons
who even today do not understand
that public education is vital under
taking of human welfare that should
he protected from the inroads of par
tisan politics and mere commercial
ism. Secondly, there are persons who
cherish a sentimental, superficial in
terest in school life, but who do little
that actually helps children and
teachers. Thirdly, there are the earn
est citizens representing all races, re-
ligions, and political parties, who
know that the public school is the very
foundation of organized society at its
best.
THAT the people of this country are
firmly on the side of the public school,
high and low, is proved by the visible
evidences about us. In the United
States twenty-five millions of young
people are enrolled in schools, more
than eight hundred millions of dol
lars are expended annually for edu-
cato, and the investment runs above
the billion MARYLAND yet our pro-
visions are inadequate, if the tide of
ignorance, disease, and sin is to be
held back by the schools.
Why We Support Public Education.
THE excitements of industrial I'M
rest and of the world war, may tend
to make us forget that whatever hap
pens, our system of free, universal
education, from kindergarten through
the university must have firm sup
port. The basal reasons for this sup
port of the public school by the peo-
pie may be summed up thus;
"G) Every child born is poten-
tial citizen, and since the masses of
the people are more and more con-
trolling the state, therefore se!f-pres-
ervation of the whole people and of
the state demands that information,
intelligence and culture be made uni
versal and free.
"C2) Conservation of our natural
resources, lue ullllHdllOn VI lilS Sulib
of the mines, of the forests of the
seas, and manufacturing industry
these demand that science and skill be
preserved and increased in our schools,
colleges and laboratories.
"(8) Only the great power of the
collective organized people, the state,
is sufficient to supply and to enforce
this free, universal education, al
though the public school can work in
harmony with many other useful agen-
ceis of education, as the press, the
church, and the theater,
"(4 AS the lungs of the newborn
child have a right to air, so the child
with brain capacity has a birth right
to the best educational environment.
Education of suitable kind is the
rightful inheritance of every child of
this century.
Z These four strong arguments for
the support Of public education need
be repeated and, made plain, again
and again in every community, lest We
forget the mission of the school in this
day of trial and storm, when the great
principles of Washington, jefferson
and Lincoln and the very peace of the
world, are being challenged.
Parents and teachers are the ones
upon whom rests the heavy RESPONSE
bility of this tremendous labor of pre-
serving the mind and the good heart
of the world. More and more the
work of the trained teacher demands
srecial preparatlon zeal, and vision.
The despicable salaries or wages of
teachers long ago should have been
increased. With our demand for a
righteous monetary reward, let us Of
fer the public who support us n
bcuntiful knowledge, scientific skill,
and a zeal to preserve the best ideals
of American democracy
Urgent Contemporary Issues.
Continuing, President Hill indicated
the urgency of some contemporary
educational issues of the public
schools-issues and difficulties that
demand the attention of trained men
and women rather than pedagogical
recipes, or cure-alls of quacks. These
problems were enumerated in order
as follows:
Questions concerning legislation and
wise school law; ...
Questions of finance--the eXamina
ton of our receipts and expenditures
of public money;
Adjustment of curricula to meet the
actual needs of individuals and of the
community
The exceptional child is a problem
be he exceedingly bright or duh, a
genius or an imbecile and he demands
our attention-for his welfare has
close influence upon dependence,
pauperism, vice, and crime.
The matter of securing persistence
in school is imperative, for in Amerl-
ca less than one-half of one per cent
of the population are enrolled in any
of our colleges and professional
schools; nevertheless, unquestionaoly
the larger per cent of our great lead
crs have been college men and women.
Yesterday forenoon's program con-
sisted of an address by Mrs. Sylvia
OConnor Roberts on How to Secure