The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1920-04-10
PARENTS AND EDUCATION

There is considerable food for
thought in the following from the
Miami Herald:
The lack of servants has forced the
large majority of women in the Unit
ed States to do their own work. Lack
of outside help has forced the men to
do their, own gardening, janitoring
and repair work. as we'll as a share
in taking care of the baby. And if
the teachers continue to be paid so lit
tie and therefore continue to leave
the schools for more gainful occupa-
tions, the modern parents may be
forced to educate their own children.
This might be rather a difficulty for
some parents, but on the other hand,
it might be very good thing for the
children.
The tendency Of the last twenty
years to take everything, especially
education, from the home, has done
more to break up the harmony Of the
family than any one thing. 1t had be-
come impossible for the parents to
teach the little children their letters
because that would interfere with the
system of reading then employed in
the schools. Home education in arith-
metic and writing was also impossible
because Teacher doesn't do it that
way" The daughter learned to cook,
not as she should. in her mothers
kitchen, but in the domestic science
class, The son learned his manual
training, not in his fathers barn or
because things about the house need
ed repairing, but with thirty other
| boys under an instructor. The father
knowledge of history and politics,
| gained in a lifetime of reading and
thinking, was not available for the
growing boys and girls because they
were too busy learning theories from
school books. The mothers wise and
practical skill in home economies, her
love of literature or art or music was
also shut away from the children be-
cause they were too much engaged in
the Representatives of the over,
crowded classroom.
And, as a consequence, for the last
five years we have been hearing the
cry, "The school has become devitaliz
ed. 1t needs a closer relation to life.
To combat this, they are making the
schoolroom into workshops, int
banks, into business organizations
All very good, but it is not enough
There is the home, with it's practica
application of principles, neglected.
Not that every home as it stand
today is able to give its children
well rounded education. But VIII,
should it not? How can we expect an,
national growth if the parents know
so much less than the children tina
they can teach them nothing? Ar
they not themselves the product of
generation of school rooms and d
they not boast that they remembe
nothing of what they learned?
If the home is worth while at it
should be able to give its children tn
fundamentals of knowledge. Schoc
teachers will tell you that childre
from cultivated, educated homes lear
faster, are better scholars, have
more valuable background, than chi
dren whose lives have the pinched an
meager contribution of homes withou
books and without any appreciate
of learning.
l The home is the fundamental c
education. In the last few years
! has forgotten this For this reaso
l the lack of teachers will throw til
burden of education on the parent
and be for the country an exceller
{ eye-opener.