The Washington herald., 1922-01-16
Head of Columbia Fears
Effects of New De-
partment.
OPPOSES MAKING
OF MORE BUREAUS
Urges Continuance of
The Free and Natural
School System.

National Department Of Education.
which he characterizes as a pro-
posal "to bureaucratic and to bring
into uniformity the educational sys-
tenn of the whole United States.
while making the most solemn as
surance that nothing OF the, kind
is intended" DIR. Nicholas Murray
Butler. in his annual report as pres
ident of Columbia University, made
public today, asserts that 'in
the United States we are, in fiat
defiance of all our proclaimed prin-
ciples and ideals. building series
Of bureaucracies that will put to
shame the best efforts Of tho gov
ernment of the Car of all the Rus
sias when in the heyday Of Its
glory"
uance of the free and natural sys-
TEN of education that has grown
up among u.s." Germany's expert
1ence H. cited. as a lesson to Amer
lea, of what flows from highly CEN
tralized control. To set up such a
system here, President Butler de-
clares would be to tap the Federal
Treasury in the guise of aiding the
States, to establish again an army
of bureaucrats in Washington, and
to aid in effecting so great a revo-
luton in our American form OF gov
ernment as one day to endanger its
perpetuity.
Sees Un-Americaa Activities.
I'VE are surrounded by agents.
special agents, inspectors and spies.
and the people are called upon to
support through their taxes IN
harmful and un-Amerfcan activities
whole armies of individuals who
should be engaged in productive In
dustry. when anything appears to
go wrong, or when any desirable
movement seems to lag. a cry goes
up for the creation of some new
board or commission. and for an
appropriation of public funds to
maintain IL in reasonable comfort.
An Infinite number Of blank forms
must be filled and an infinite num-
bcr of records must be kept, classi-
ned and audited at steadily mount
ing cost.
For fong time the excellent lin
itations Of the American form of Fed
eral government held these move
ments In check. SO far as the ma
tional government itself was con-
cerned. When, however. the ingenious
discovery was made that the ma
tional government might aid the
States to do what lay within their
province but was denied to the ma
tional government itself. the door wa |.
opened to host OF schemes. These
have followed each other in rapid
succession. all urged with a certain
amount of plausibility and with an
appeal to kindly sentiment. usually
supported by vigorous propaganda and
Jealous paid agents.
Educators "Overorxani.ed.-
so far as education Is concerned,
there has been overorganization for
long time past. Too many persons
are engaged in supervising, in inspect
ing and in recording the work of
sother persons. There is too much
machinery, and in consequence a
steady temptation to lay more stress
upon the form Of education than upon
its content. Statistics dispiace schol-
arship. There are, in addition, too
many laws and too precise laws, and
not enough opportunity for those mis-
takes and failure, due to individual
initiative and experiment, which are
the foundation for great and lasting
success.
1T is now proposed to bureau
cratize and TO bring into uniformity
the educational system Of the whole
United States, while making the most
solemn assurance that nothing of the
kind Is intended. The glory and the
successes of education in the United
States are due to its freedom. to its
unevennesses, to its reflection of the
needs and ambitions and capacities of
local communities. and to its being
kept in close and constant touch with
the people themselves.
Praises Natural system.
"There is not money enough in
the United States, even if every dol
lar Of II were expended on educa-
ton, to produce by Federal authority
or through what is nafvely called
cooperation between the Federal gov
ernment and the several States, edu-
cational results that would be at
all comparable with those that hays
already been reached under the free
and natural system that has grown
up among us. If tax-supported edu-
cation be first encouraged and in
spected, and then little by little COM
pletely controlled, by central author
ity. European experiences shows pre-
cisely what will happen.
In so far as the schools of France
arc controlled from the ministry of
education in Paris. they tend to hard
en- into uniform machines. and it Is
only when freedom Is given to diff
ferent types Of school or to different
localities, that any real progress is
made. Anything worse than the sys-
tenn which has prevailed In Prussia
would be difficult to imagine. II rs
Universally acknowledged that the un-
happy decline in German university
freedom and effectiveness, and the
equally unhappy subsection of the ed
ucated classes to the dictates Of the
political and military ruling groups,
were the direct result, Of ne highly
centralized and efficient control from
Berlin Of the nations schools and
universities
For Americans now to accept
oversight and direction Of their tax
supported schools and colleges from
Washington would mean that they
had failed to learn one of the plain
est and most weighty lessons of the
war. 1t Is true that education is