The Washington times., 1924-08-27
DISTRICT NOW A.
BIG SCHOOL
CENTER
President William Mather.
Lewis, Of George WASH, ]
ingtoh, Gives Figures
By WILLIAM MATHER LEWIS,
President Of GEORGE Washington
University.

S i ! - q
September is about the most i'm
portant month IN the calendar. 1t
y then that The farmer learns of
the success OF failure, Of his spring
and summer Ut toll. 1t is then
that the basebalEFfan sees his hopes
Tor a pennant n1ater.aIize or fade
away. The merchant hopes for a
busy season after the suramer's lull,
and the educational institutions
OF the nation throw open their
doors to- more than a quarter of
our population.
Crops may rail; pitchers may
natter; stocks nay remain on the
shelves, but year by year, regard
less OF conditions, the proportion of
americans enrolling in educational
institutions becomes steadily larger.
The growth of great centers of
population, the deman dds of q
scientific age, the ever more diff
cult struggle for exist once-these
are some Of the fSctors which are
turning our people, young and old,
70 educational pursuits. And there
are countless thousands besides,
who are going to school and col.
lege with no well formed objective:
who attend because at is the
thing to do; who feel that in some
mysterious manner their attendance
on classes will open the Ioor - sue
cess and happiness in life.
To such, to all who intend to
enter higher institutions of learning
this fall, 1t is we'll to PROFOUND the
question, What Is education and
why do you seek it," It. is almost
as difficult to formulate a universal
definition Of education as 1t is to
give a generally acceptable standard
OF religion. Both are personal mat
ters, shaped to ersonal needs. But
one thing that education If it be
worthy OF the name, must do for
every one, and that is to Quicken
his powers Of observation
Michael Pupin in his mastery
book, From Immigrant to In
ventor, shows what such powers
properly developed may do. AS a
boy in Serbia it was his duty with
other youths to guard the oxen
Against cattle thieves at night.
Here he was taught to signal by
sticking a long.handled knife in
the ground and striking it. His
companion, rods away, with ear
on the ground, caught the signal
and answered. The young peasant
boy bordering through the years on
this phenomena of the transmission
OF sound through the hard earth
ultimately invented electrical ap-
planes which have made possible
the greatest advances in telephone
communication, and for which the
american Telephone and telegraph
Company has paiq great sums.
thousands of peasant boys have
signaled ais Pupin did; only one
made the most of his powers of
observation. That is what distin-
cuisines the real scientist from the
time server in the laboratory. The
latter has eyes, but he sees not;
ears, but he hears not The former
hears and sees and interprets.
No one is barred from education
because circumstances forbid his
attending an institution Of learning.
The world is his school. With eyes
and ears open he Is constantly in
Q laboratory. What he observes he
can study in the free libraries with
which our cities are so well sup
Piled. But If the time can be
spared, and II the finances permit.
the powers Of observation can be
most intelligently developed when
one associates himself with a
group OF learners under the leader
snip OF an inspiring teacher.
IN this day OF teeming population