Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1920-05-28
FIFTY 7 !
DIR. w. s. MILLER DELIVERS FINE
ADDRESS ON "EDucAr1oN
IN A DEMOCRACY''

school on Wednesday were presented
with their diplomas. A fine I'M.
mencement program was carried out,
Dr.. w. S.. Miller, principal Of the Min
nesota university high school, deliver.
ing the commencement address. The
auditorium was seated to capacity.
The program opened with two selec-
tions by the hig gh school orchestra
which were very pleasing. Rev. T. j.
Hermann gave the invocation, after
which a chorus of mixed voices sang
"Under Blossoming Branches
DR.. F. w. Dobbyn, superintendent of
the local schools, introduced DR.. Miller.
DR.. Miller, as he took the floor stated
that he would endeavors to divide his
attention equally between the audience
and the members of the class and not
have his back to the graduates through
out the talk, so he chose to stand at
the side Of the stage. He told the
audience that twenty years ago he was
at high school commencement and it
was the best he had ever attended. His
only clear recollection of that COM
mencement was the long time the
speaker took.
Announcing the subject he was to
speak on "Education in Democracy, -
DR.. Miller said that he was proud to be
citizen of a country where oppor-
tunity is synonymous with education,
whore the schools have played such a
prominent part in preserving our de-
mocracy. Universal education g de.
velopment is very recent, according to
Dr.. Miller, he saying that seventy
years ago people without children con-
sidered it unfair to be taxed for the
education Of their neighbor's children.
But even at the present time there are
communities that do not enjoy the edu-
cational advantages that the people of
Little Falls have-all communities in
the United States do not have equal
opportunities for education. To sup
port this statement the speaker named
a certain state where this was true.
In the northern part of that state the
children get ten months school per
year and in the southern part five
months. In some states as high as $50
per year is spent for each child 3 edu-
cation; in others the per capita expen-
diture is as low as $500 In Mime
sota with all its wealth there were
1000 children with no schooling and
5000 whose education was not suffi-
cient. Hence, the speaker emphasized,
we must not get to feel too satisfied
although we have the right ITO enjoy
the progress that has been made here.
DR.. Miller stated that the people have
had the impression that anyone can
have educational opportunities equal to
those of others, which is not a fact.
The American youths are not equal in
all respects and because all children
have the privilege of attending the
same school does not indicate that they
have the same opportunities, for the
reason that all do not have the same
mental qualifications. In this connec-
tion the speaker told Of his experiences
while conducting psychological tests
among the soldiers in the army during
the world war, which brought out the
information that one-fourth of the men
were unable to read or write English,
and this in country that has universal
compulsory education. The education
Of these men was in most cases COM
pleted ten years ego and the blame
must be put on the school system Of
that time. Less than two per cent of
our population enjoys the high school
education and one-half million
people out of 10 million are in high
school. Only fifty thousand boys
graduate from high school in the
United States this year and from sixty
to seventy thousand girls. When these
boys and girls are sent out into tho
world they are but a small leaven in
large dough-they have big respon-
sibility on their shoulders and if they
do not realize this responsibility what
is the use of taking them and educat-
ing them at the cost Of the citizens1
There is no use Of spending money
wastefully ly-make it pay dividends.
One of the future educational prob
lens, according to DR.. Miller, is to
work out a system whereby the people
can take the training that they are
able to take. He said that the public
realizes that education must be made
better but the idea prevails among
many that education comes in layers
that one has to spend so much time
in school. To prove that this idea is
entirely wrong DR.. Miller gave a con-
crete example of how apparent stupid
itity may actually be case of lack of
He told Of a certain boy
in an eighth grade in Minneapolis who
was untidy, unruly and
stupid. A psychological test revealed
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