Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1922-07-03
PART EDUCATION MUST PLAY IN
WORLD REBUILDING TOLD BY HEAD
BRITISH UNION AT HUB GATHERING


president fthe National Union of
Teachers Of England and Wales, in
an address at the opening session to-
night Of the annual meeting Of the
National Education Association. The
association with its numerous affiial-
lated bodies will hold day and eve
ming sessions throughout the week.
and many thousand educators from
all parts of the country are here for
the gathering.
ut is my belief" said Mr.. Cove
that the educators OF childhood and
youth can. if they have the vision and
desire be the strongest force for peace
and good will amongst the democrac-
les. There can be no doubt that the
school Is an international factor of
potent force and it is within the
power OF its teachers to use it for the
destruction or the healing of the ma
tons.
We must realize ourselves as
world citizens whose task it is to in
teSrate its moral and spiritual forces.
we must Danish from the schools a
nationalism that does not find it's
highest expression in service to hu-
mainly. We must eradicate national
Jealousies. prejudices and hatreds and
let the spirit of common childhood,
common parenthood. permeate and
brood over the schools.
Europe is still riven with economic
antagonisms and national suspicious.
The war has not cleared the path to
realization Of brotherhood of the
nations. Our prime minister stated
that an old man greeted him on his
return from Genoa, calling it Gehen-
ma and said Mr. Lloyd George. it
was not far from it after all, for felt
there was but slight partition in
tervening between us and that evil
place. At times l could smell the very
fumes arising therefrom.'
Il do not believe lasting peace
will come to us on the plane of ma
terial concessions. political adjust
ments and economic hegemony. Many
OF the chancellories OF Europes are
still drunk with materialism and the
democracies crushed by pessimism.
The indignation that is sought is ma :
terial and economic and therefor I'M
stable and transitory.
THE abiding indignation must be
sought on a higher plane-the plane
OF intellectual. moral and spiritual
well being. 1t is here that the school
| can play its great part. 1t must trans
form the materialist habit of mind of
statesmen and Of peoples. Through
the emotional appeal of the child we
must bring about the triumph of rea-
son.
intellectually the vast mass Of
mankind, the democracies of the world
have not perceived the delicate and
complex relationships of modern So
ciety, much less have they any appre-
citation of its moral and spiritual sig
nifiCance. The vastness and COM
pleXity of modern society, with its
subtle economi0 reactions. have left
them dumb and passive. It is the
school that must give democracy the
power Of adjustment to the new con-
ditions and save personality from in
tellectual, moral, and spiritual pass
ivity.
The greatest safeguard against flu
ture wars will be found in the intel
! lectual perception by democracy of the
unity Of civilization and the active
participation &C the common man in
the social and political questions of the
day. The school must give the knowl-
edge upon which sound citizenship is
founded and moral fibre which active
citizenship dems nds.
Our work we already perceive IS
not to pack the human mind but to de-
vclop human personality. The passiv-
IT. that makes Of democracy an empty
form will be banished in the self ac-
tivities of the school We put our
faith no longer in receptlvity but in
purposeful activity. No autocracy can
be imposed upon a race that has been
trained to work out it's own salvation
IN Its schools.
Men cannot be redeemed merely by
maxims, neither can universal good
will: be achieved by preaching. The
school provides the social organization
for the exercise Of concrete morality
and the realization of vitalizing be-
cause actual, social service.
1.-THE schools CT the world have been
effective organs for the cultivation OF
national consciousness. They must
now become organs Of international
consciousness II the efforts towards
peace are to be successful. We have
to weave in our schools and unive'si-
ties the GARNER Of a common human
ity. We en-. end must. aid the force
Of peace and goodwill W evolving
world history and universal geography.
Acquaintanceship begets understand
ing. and understanding appreciation.
and the generous mind OF youth will
respond to our appeal to a common
humanity. We must girdle the world
with the Imagination of generous
youth. We must not only scrap our
ornaments. bu, also our historical text
toolss.
"The reaction Of the war has left
democracy listless and without any
clear detectives. he passions Of the
past have left men dry and 1t is clear
that in Europe. at least. masses of men
are merely the creatures OF blind eco
nomic forces. 1t Is our task in the
school to restore vitality and give di-
feciion to the democracies of the