Perth Amboy evening news., 1921-12-08

WASHINGTON, D. c., Dec. s.
This week has been set aside by
the President of the United States
to impress upon the American peo-
pie the fact that education in this
country is in a most backward con-
dition, and to interest citizens III
community efforts to improve it.
1t is easy to prove by statistics
that in this country an education is
relatively hard TO get. Perhaps
more important is the question of
what kind of education offered a
child in the United States is worth
after he gets it. That. however,
is q debatable question, while The
inadequaey of our school facilities is
demonstrable in a way that no one
car refute.
The congressional committee
which recently made a study OF
education in the United States de-
cided that this country ranks tenth
among the nations in the value OF
the education it offers its citizens.
The percentage of its citizens VINO
! never learn to write Is also much
higher than in the principal Eu-
| ropean countries. Estimates OF IL
iiteTacy are never very accurate
but the United states is generally
credited with about 100000 in
habitants over 10 years of age are
lli~i.erate. Twenty-eight per cent
of these illiterates are native white
citizens, 30 per cent are foreign
born whites, and 40 per cent art
cclored, while 2 per cent are ORR
entails.
Germany, England, France, Hoi-
land and Switzerland all have small
er percentages of i~lliterates than
the United States-or at least ola
have before the war. These coun-
tries all have much less wealth than
America, and we are prone to THINK
of them as less advanced in democ-
racy than We are. Yet in educatlo
which is the very foundation of ev-
cry democratic institution, they all
are ahead of US.
Uiiterate Immigrants
In eastern n southern Europe
The of il%literates in the
nopu!ations Of the various countries
are much higher. ranging from 20
per cent in Austria to SO per cent
in Roumania. 1t is from these
wholly uneducatCd countries ana
from their most uneducated classes
hat the United States is now draw
ing most of it's immigrant population
The percentage OF illiteracy mere
" 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 and of enormous
classes, which means little or no
individual attention for each pupil.
In most Of our rural districts schools
still keep open only a few months
| in the year., and many country chill
dren can reach school only by long
hard walks.
Far more important is the ques-
ton of what kind of an education
the child gets when ard If he sue
ceeds in getting to school. The
most striking fact in this connection
Is that our school teachers are
among the most poorly PAID OF all
workers. Plumbers and bricklayers
are plutocrats by comparison. Even
in the great cities, teachers are
only fairly well paid. They never
earn as much as a bright Qan or
woman can make in business, nor as
much as a gifted person can make
in Journalism or the arts.
When you come to the country
districts 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 the most part u
young girls who want a way o
earning pin money until a husband
car be found.
To realize the seriousness of tn
condition of education in America
YOU must get an adequate concep
ton of what education might be
and Of how mucn depends upon II
For literally everything depends up
on it. The hope of the future IS Il
it's schools. Consider any of tn
, major problems which confront tn
country with care and 1t will lea
you to the schools.
Take the problem OF the nationa
health for instance. The draft re
vealed the fact that about a thir
, of the men of military age in TIL
country were physically unfit. |
many cases this physical unhtnes
was reported to be due to a lack {
knowledge of the simple facts {
hygiene. In a wore many of thes
: men are physically impaired for Iii
because they nae no been taugf
, in school rooms these facts abol
the human body and it's care whic
are necessary to the health an
[ well being of every civilized ind
vidual.
= Underfed Children
Most cf the rest OF the unitnel
was due. to undernourishmen