The New York herald., 1921-06-19
Decries the Critics Who
Talk Without Facts of DE.
plorable Failure
WAR HAS HELPED ALONG
Those Who Believe Education
Is Democracy's Safeguard
May Rest Content.


Since the Civil War;" prepared by DR..
Charles w. Eliot president emeritus
of Harvard University. was read dur
ing the sixth commencement exercises
of Rice Institute at Houston. DR..
Eliot was unable to be present and the
address was read. 1t follows:
It is the fashion to-day among hasty
and confident writer's for the news
papers and magazines and popular book
lets to assert that modern civilization
has failed. and is going the way of the
Assyrian. Egyptian and Roman Empires.
that the world 10 In chaos and must be
made anew after a period of anarchy
and suffering. These writer's seem never
to have perceived, or to have forgotten
that new moral and juridicaI forces have
come into play since Magma Charta. the
Protestant Reformation and the land
ing of the Pilgrims, and that all the
ancient civilizations were founded on
slavery, peonage or serfdom, monstrous
wrongs and evils which have now dis
appeared in the countries called civilized.
Among American writer's of this sort
there are not few who declare loudly
that American education Is failure.
and illustrate this mortifying PROPOSE
IlOu WIFI d. lew l6CtS dHa tIiVfS SPCSo-
lations. The blame for this alleged un-
fortunate condition q the American
people is variously distributed among
parents teachers. school administrators.
school boards. and college and univer-
sity faculties and presidents. Some Of
these writers appear to have cloudy Wis
ions Of remedies for this depiorable
failure in the United States of the
principal safeguard Of democracy but
most of them. like critics and cynics in
general, dwell much more on the exist
ing evils than on their remedies.
The Gains Since 1864.
Now, it has happened to me to wit
ness and take active part in the devel-
opn1ent Of American education from
1854 to the present day, and the strong
est conviction have derived from this
long survey is that the improvement of
American education, from top to bottom,
from the kindergarten through the pro-
fessional school. during these sixty-seven
years is in high degree encouraging and
hopeful. This development has not been
steady during the two generations Of
men, but rather in waves and at va
rious speeds. Moreover. the waves Of
educational progress, like ocean waves.
are often long prepared and come from
taken place since the opening Of the
great war in Europe. being one of the
happiest consequences OF the entry Of
the United States into that war and of
the prodigious efforts made by the en-
tire people and their Government to
take an effective part in It. 1t is my
purpose in this address to point out
some OF the important steps in the
total development.
and secondary, and nearly all colleges
had fixed programmes through which
every pupil was to be conducted. Little
attention could be paid to the individual
child. except sometimes in small rural
schools where an exceptional teacher
had to deal with only a small group of
children Of various ages between 5 and
10. Even from such schools with q
term of perhaps only thirteen weeks in
winter the sometimes competent college
undergraduate was disappearing as a
teacher. his place being taken at the best
by some girl graduate of State normal
school. and. at the worst, by some young
woman who could barely read. write
and cipher. In urban communities girl
graduates of normal schools already
were in possession OF the elementary
schools. and Of large parts OF the sec
ondary schools, their work being cuper-
vised by principals, superintendents and
boards conservative by nature and train
ing. and aiming to make the school an
effective factory, standardized and
smooth-running. with product char
acterized rather by certified uniformity
than by natural diversity. Even the
colleges had usually four year prescribed
courses of study. OF limited range and
elementary quality. with no advanced
studies accessible to any student. how
vi.
school nor college paid attention to
training the senses, to the acquisition of
any skill. or to implanting in the pupils
or students mind the method Of induc-
alive philosophy. or love Of reading. The
discipline in both school and college was
Of the driving, not Of the leading, sort.
Elective Courses Eater.
into this rigid and comparatively fruit
less system came gradually between 1855
and 1885 the individual election Of studies
by the student or pupil, first for college
students, then for pupils of secondary
schools. and the adoption Of the under
lying principle that hard and happy work
is only to be obtained from the young
on subjects which interest the pupil and
induce In him eager, spontaneous ac-
tivities. Interest. choice and activity
had arrived as the motive powers In or
ganized education. In order to discover
and crafty the bent of each pupil at
school the number OF subjects taught in
both elementary and secondary schools
had to be. increased, and In order to en-
able thefcollege student to follow his
bent far college studies had to be multi
piled In number and increased in range.
For these purposes q new breed OF teach
ers had to be bonn and trained--a slow
process. by 1880 considerable number
~ this new breed had been raised. go
- college difficulties began to exhibit
a considerable Improvement I'm respect to
both the quality and the number Of their
members, an Improvement which still Is
going on. This Improvement alone IS
worth the hfty years Of patient effort II
has cost.
corresponding Improvement ir
teachers OF elementary and secondary
schools IL was not reasonable 70 expect
The great body OF teachers In the ele-
mentary schools are young women, who.
on the average, do not remain long In
the calling. They have 10 be trained By
the thousand In the high and ~unnmai
schools, which, as a rule. give little op-
portunity for the development OF 1nusuai
individual qualities or capacities The
college and university faculties ought to
be recruited from among persons OF u,-
usual promise and oftsn OF unusual at
tainments. and II is the prime duty of
college and university presidents to be
constantly searching for unusual per-