The Leavenworth echo. [volume] (Leavenworth, Wash.) 1904-current, 1922-03-17
(By VIM. McINTOSH.

understand 1t is comparatively re-
cent institution. The state of Massa-
chusetts had no common school fund
up to 1884 and up to 1910 the common
school system of America was not a
dominant influence in the national
life. About that time, however, the
labors of Horace Mann and others be-
gan to bear fruit, and period of de
velOpment commenced which has con-
tinued until the present time.
The educational ideals of sixty or
seventy years ago were fundamental
ly different from those we now enter
tain. Up to that time higher educa-
tlon had been the prerogative of u
highly select class, consisting for the
most part of men who had given indi-
cations in boyhood of unusual intel
lectual endowments. Education as we
now understand it was not matter of
course, and the only exceptionally
able, or the sons of wealthy parents
were encouraged to acquire the
knowledge taught in the academies
and colleges. That knowledge was
confined mainly to what is known as
the classic studies, and here we have
the origin of what has been a source
of great trouble and difficulty in con-
nection with our whole public school
system.
From the Top Down.
The men who were instrumental in
founding and developing that system
were the educated men of their day,
and of course their conception of edu-
cation, was education such as they
themselves had received. Like most
other great movements the school sys-
tenn grew from the top down. The Sc
lect class of exceptionally able men,
mostly members of the learned pro-
fessions, imposed an imitation of their
own educational system on the rank
and file or ordinary everyday people.
The result was naturally misfit. The
teaching methods and course of study
adapted to the exceptionally able
youths destined for law, medicine or
theology, were not suitable for the
boys and girls destined as artisans
and farmers to do work equally neces-
sary but entirely different in its ma
ture.
The New Problem.
The old problem was the education
of the exceptionally gifted few; the
new problem is the education of all
the children of all the people. The So
luton of the new problem was at
tempted by those educated under the
old conditions, and we are today suf-
fering from survivals of the early ex-
periments. 1t was inevitable that
great mistakes should be made be-
cause the great mass of ordinary I'M
educated people were incapable of
working out for themselves a school
system adapted to their needs. They
had to depend for guidance and lead
ership on men whose needs were fun
damentally different and who were
unable to conceive of an educational
system essentially different from that
under which they had been prepared
for the professional work to which
they had devoted their lives.
A Process of Evolution.
AS time went on the inadequacy of
the public school system became APP
parent and for forty years process
of evolution has been in progress and
is still going on. The difficulties of
the school problem can only be real
lied by a careful study of the entire
situation, a complication of great i'm
portance being the features Of the sit
uatlon are continually changing.
First of all the elementary system
adapted to the needs of the select few
intended for college and university
had to be modified so as to meet the
demands of the great majority who
leave school at thirteen to fifteen
years of age. This in itself was a
stupendous task even if the demands
of the average pupil had RENAME
stationery. But the development of
the public school system conceded
with industrial a nd social changes
such as had never taken place before
in the history of the world. During
the past seventy years the whole COM
pleXion Of human lire has chanoed
and the demands made upon the ind-
vidual have been correspondinciy
modified. This again called for mod
itications in our educational system so
that there has been no such thing pos
slble as stable and settled policy in
school methods or school manage
ment. The explanation Of this is to
be found not in the vagaries of the
school authorities but in the changed
conditions under which life has to be
lived and the consequent notifications
necessary in that preparation for life
which we call education.
The Old Simple Conditions.
lh1nk for moment how compare
lively simple were the conditions OF
life siXty-five or seventy-fve years
ago. If you wanted to go from one
place to another you were conveyed
IN a wagon or stage coach. A man
or boy could learn to care for the
horses by which you were drawn in q
very short time and the art of driving
was very easily acquired. Now con-
slider the contrast between that meth
cd of conveyance and a modern rail
way train such as we now use
with its Pullman and observation
cars. Compare the modern engineer
with the old-time stage driver, and g
locomotive factory such as Baldwins
with a primitive wagon shop anc
think of the preparation necessary foI
the work involved in each case. Ir
the old days we used a talloW candle
or coal oil lamp; now practically
every hamlet in the country has elec-
trio light. Up to sixteen years age
the automobile was a rich mans toy
and today it is in general use fol
pleasure and business purposes.
Think of the old sailing vessel OPP
Grated on principles with which mer
had been familiar for thousands Of
years and compare it with the mod
ern steamship with all its elaborate
and ingenious arrangements for pro-
ducing speed, comfort and safety
Comparisons of this kind might be