Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1920-04-09
EDUCATION MEANS
LARGE INVESTMENT
Future of the Country De-
ponds Entirely on Edu-
cation Given Present
Generation.

Seager, in his book on Economics,
after speaking OF the great value OF
education says:
IF education is SO important a
cause of the differences in the earn
ing powers of different men, and If
acquiring education is simply one
way of investing capital for future
return, how. does it come about that
more capital is not invested in this
way? The answer is simple. Those
to whom the education would be in
valuable are too young or too ig-
norant to appreciate the fact or are
without the capital to invest Their
parents are also without capital and
have, moreover, less direct personal
interest in the result
The simple fact is that the educa-
tion of the coming generation by the
present generation is financial sacri-
| fee. 1t takes the time of children
when they might be rendering more
or less service at home or working for
a petty wage to relieve economic pres
sure on parents. Many parents want
the aid of their children in earning a
living. Again, it costs the public
money in the way of taxes to support
the schools. The public at large
doesn't want to pay taxes for any
purpose, except as it becomes recog-
nized necessity.
Any politician whose principal
stock in trade consists in an effort to
convince the people that he will re-
duce taxes if elected to office, caters
to this common desire to pay as little
| in the way of taxes as possible. When
it comes to matter of education, it
is no doubt charitable to assume
that neither he nor those who ap-
plaud him understand what his talk
signifies. 1t would not sound so well,
nor be so well received if he were to
state plainly his real meaning in such
terms as the following.
81 want you people to spend less
money for the education of your
children. / want you TO enjoy your
selves now by having the opportunity
to spend all your money on yourselves
Instead of sacrificing for the ature
good of your nation and the good of
your children, either now or in the
future when they come upon the ac-
tive stage Of life. want you to shirk
the responsibility of providing the
kind of training for them that will
make them self-supporting, intelli-
gent, worthy citizens. / want you to
hire the cheapest teachers you can
get; the cheapest supervisors and
principals and superintendent you
can get. / want you to herd your
children in large numbers under
cheap teachers in poorly lighted, poor
| " ventilated rooms; and / want you
to hurry them through school and
get them out into the industries
where they will earn little for you,
and render cheap service for my
friends in the industries. We need
cheap labor in this country, and we
need a lot of people who are SO ignor-
ant that they can easily be lead
by those who need their votes. II
you elect me, shall use my best en-
beavers to make education cheap"
These words that I have put into
the MOUTH of the speaker, he never
voices, at least not in public. | have
heard such expressions in private. 1
heard it said in official educational
circles within month by men whose
positions should pledge them, as
much as if they were under oath, to
be friends of childhood and youth,
that there will be a great campaign
next fall to reduce taxes and that we
must expect it and get ready for it in
our educational affairs. To me these
speakers seemed to be ready to advo-
cate the idea that education must
suffer ''cut," Notwithstanding the
fact there is desperate need of largely
| increased funds for education. There
seems to be "money to burno for
some things; why not adequate funds
for education? Why not insist that
something less important than educa-
tion be ''cut," and the money thus
saved be added to the fund for pre-
pairing the young for their future
duties and responsibilities?
Is it not time for us to take stock
to determine in country, city and
state who are the real friends of edu-
cation and who are the enemies enc
mics either through intention or
through ignorance and short-sighted-
ness.
Public education is on trial today
| in America as it never has been in
the history of our country. The
future OF the country depends on
how we answer our educational
questions, or rather our educational
question. That question today is:
Are we willing to pay adequately for
the education of the children of the
people or are we to have mockery
of education, cheap and worthless,
for the children of the rank and file,
1