Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-06-04
a MAKER OF STEAM PUMPS
I. WRITES ON EDUCATION
Shackled Youth" by Ed,oard Yeomans of Chicago, Is an
Enlightened and Inspiring Book That Ought to Be
Read by School Boards
BY FELIX E. sCHELLING
Professor of English Ii


THIS Is q book after my own heart.
l. Have you ever held peculiar views
for years and been looked at askance
by your friends, smiled at indulgcntly,
allowed for until you have become ST.
lent, not with the silence Of acquies-
cence, but with the silence that comes
from that terrible question: What's
the use2' Well, such Is my case as TO
the schools as men have made them and
as to the men who have made the
schools. And here is one Of the elect
for the elect are they who write in the
Atlantic Monthly-who has justified my
heresies, expressing in criticism upon
criticism idens which conform to con-
victions which have long held and ex-
pressing them In a manner and with a
charm which any man might well bo
proud to equal. l had read some of
these chapters already in the Atlantic.
They make fine cumulative effect thus
collected. Mr.. Yeomans, we are told,
is "a Chicago manufacturer of steam
pumps, who enjoys playing the cello,
sailing boat along the New England
coast in summer aud passing the winter
partly describes him. Mr.. Yeomans is
q man with an eye for the significance
Of beauty, with heart tender to the
children on whom the absurdities OF
our educational system heap many in L.
dignities, with a large apprehension OF
the greater things of life. take my
hat off to this book.
MIR. VEOMANS, In discussing schools
1Vl in general, declares that much oi
L., n
in neoithic thought" and asks perti-
eliminating and intelligent people is
who knows?" At the outset he recog.
nizes two classes, practical people
whose mental structure is mechanical
exploiters Of men since al
eternity," and "the emotional, the po.
etic, the artistic, the lovers Of beaut,
and the distributors Of peculiar hap
piness." Boards of education, whether
Of college or school, seldom belong I,
the latter class, and superintendent
and teachers-except for the few of tn
latter who escape-are herded along b.
the kind which chooses them. It Is tn
mechanical group which Is at presen
exploiting education and the momen
tary enthusiasm is charts, intelligenc
tests and percentages. Perhaps tn
Mr.. Edison, we are told, conforms hi
labors to one. Much to the scandal 0
schools of pedagogy, Mr.. Yeomans be
lieves that teacher is born, not manu-
factured, and should be taken, even un
certifcated, when found, as rare prod
uct. He has the audacity to doubt
a teacher can bo turned out by mean
of courses in how to do it. He eve
believes that 'the life of teacher ma
easily disqualify him to teach" and tina
information Is the least important fea
ture of education-pace Mr.. Edison
when all has been said.
"TNHIS is rank educational Dol
L shevisni !" hear the professor q
class discipline exclaim to tho superin
tendent of manual dexterity. 1T
awful to think that there are such peo
pie outside of Russia, just as we ha
got everything into apple pie ordel
everything nicely graded, a certifie
teacher In every class" not one {
them, we may add, not properly vac
cinated with the virus of pedagogi
training.
VALIANT is Mr.. Yeomans' attac
upon the idea, only too prevalent
that ''the Way, the Truth and the Ii
are along n rond that leads to recogn
ton" In our colloquial phrase, "Ar
bition is the vice of noble minds" An
: we lay stronger emphasis on the nc