Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-12-09


been set aside by tho President Of the
United States to impress upon the I
American people the fact that cdu-
cation in this country Is in most
backward condition. and to interest
citizens in community efforts TO inn
lIroye H..
| II is easy 20 prove by statistics that
lin this country an education in rela-
lively hard 10 get Perhaps more Inn
portant ls the question of what the
kind Of education offered a child In the
1 United States is worth after he gets
IT. That, however, IL n debatable ques-
tion, while the inadequacy Of our
lachool facilities Is demonstrable in n
way that no ono can refute.
The Congressional committee which
recently made n study of education
In the United states, decided that
this country ranks tenth among thet
nations In the value of the education Il
offers it's citizens. The percentage Of
it's citizens who M, yer learn TO write /
In also much higher than In the prin-
cipal European countries. Estimates /
of iiitdfacy are never very accurate, /
put the United states il generally /
credited with about 100000 inhabi- /
rants over 10 years Of age who are H. |
literate. Twenty-cight per cent Of
these illitoratcs are native white citi- |
1ens. 30 per ceot are for irn-fJrn |
whites. and 30 per cent are coiored !
while two per cent are orientals
Germany. England, France. Holland
and Switzerland III have smaller per-
entages Of iliterates than the Jnite
states or at least did have before
the war. These countries all have
much less wealth than America, and
we ere prone TO think of them as less
advanced in democracy than we are.
Yet in education. which is the very
Z foundation of every democratic insti-
tuition, they all are ahead OF us.
Illlterate Immigrants.
In eastern and southern Europe the
percentages Of 'illiterates in he popu
latious Of the various countries are
! much higher. ranging from q per
cent i'm Austria to 80 per cent in Rou-
mania. II Is from these wholly unedu-
Gated countries. and from their most
: uneducated classes, that the United
/, states is now drawing most OF It's inn
: migrant population.
The percentage Of illiteracy merely
!, reflects the well known fact that there
are not enough schools In the United
= states In almost every large city the
: schools are reported over-crowded
every year. We hear Of double shifts
ands of enormous classes which means
. little or no individual attention for
= each pupil. In most Of our rural dis
:. iricts schools stil keep open only a
few months In the year. and many
country children can reach school only
by long. hard walks
Far more important is the qUes-
tion Of what kind Of an education the
child gets when. and II. he succeeds
In getting to school. The most strik-
- ing fact In this connection is that our
r school teachers are among the most
e poorly paid of all workers. Plumbers
= and bricklayers are pIutocrats by
IS comparison. Even in the great cities,
10 teachers are only fairly we'll paid.
's They never earn as much IA n bright
e man or woman can make in business,
Q nor as much as a gifted person can
=" make in journalism or the arts.
When you come to the country dis
. tricts and the small towns. school
: teachers are paid barely a living wage.
= Hence the education of the great mass
: of American children is entrusted for
y the most part TO young girls who want
. way OF earning pin money until q
=. husband can be found.
! To realize the seriousness Of tho
.. condition OF education in America
you must get an adequate conception
III of what education might be. and q
80 how much depends upon II. For liter
p ally everything depends upon II. Th'
- hope OF the future is in its schools
- Consider any Of the major problem
- which confront the country will
~ care and it will lead you to the schools
~ Take the problem of the nationa
i, health. for instance. The draft re
.s vealed the fact that about third q
na the men of military age in this cOun
try were physically unfit. In man
70 cases this physical unfltness was re
nd ported TO be due to a lack of knowl
y edge of the simple facts of hygien,
nj In a word many of these men ar
gs physically impaired for life becaus
thy had not been taught in school
ca rooms these facts about the huma
of body and its care which are neces
r. sary to the health and well-being {
~ every civilized individual.
he Underfed Children.
Most Of the rest OF the unhtnes
4ie was due to undernourishment. Man
y of these young men had not attaine
as to proper physical development b'
cause as children they had never ha
., enough TO eat. This Is at the bOttol
:, an educational problem, too. For
Of is impossible TO teach anything to
cd starved or hungry child. If the chill
no comes to school in that condition
ng is the duty of the state TO feed
led Indeed, it is necessary for the stat
or to feed it if the education which th
led state proposes TO give It is not TO
r. total waste. 1t may be right. und'
VS. an individualistic regime, TO let III
adult starve If he is not efficiei
IT. enough to feed himself. but TO let tf
T. children starve or half-starve is SUR
re- ly imbecile. For that underfed chi
In will in a majority Of cases fail to a
5ls tain healthy efficient adulthood. al
up will therefore be unable properly
asst feed his children in turn.
Ids Take, again, the problem of Grim
lys The United States produces more of
than any other civilized country
aid the world. Yet scientists have prove
]. beyond question that more than