Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1924-03-12
EMINENT OPINION ON EDUcA.
TON

Disinterested opinion Is dimcult
to secure. Assuming there be even
average Intelligence back Of 1t the
value Is great. With regard to pub
lie schools and all facilities for
education there are opinions galore
but the dislnterested variety are
few and far between. We know OF
no more conspicuous source OF dis
interested opinion on educational
matters than the head OF the
Carnegie Foundation should be.
DIR. Henry s. Pritchett. president
OF the Foundation. in his eighteenth
annual report says: 1T Is compar-
ativcly un.mportant whether the
school to day offer a vast number OF
subjectsaor a smaller number. but
1t Ii vital that, whatever develop
ment the school receives In order
to meet the needs Of new times and
OF new conditions, 1t shall stand
primarily for that intellectual sim
certify and that moral simplicity and
thoroughness which constitute its
reason for existence. THE teachers
in whose hands rests the future Of
the twentieth century school should
remember the evil that in the past
has been wrought in other fields by
over organization.
1.-THE increase in maintenance
costs, the growing number Of stu
dents, and the increase in the num-
Der OF subjects and activities do not
represent in all cases the mature
judgment of the teachers of the
country as to what Is wise and
necessary.
Not infrcquently many men and
many groups of men have had their
particular educational notions car
ried out through the addition Of this
or that subject or activity to the
school program. The teachers of
to-day should examine the field to
DO covered. eliminate what ought
not to be retained, and correlate the
remainder into school system
clearly related to the needs of a
democracy. Some few subjects ars
both cultural and absolutely es-
sential in civilized life. To these
others may be added. But the no.
ton that child will be miraculous
ly bettered by any given addition to
the school curriculum Is an illusion.
There arc no educational specifics.
THE school Is no longer thought
Va 90 ~ biptp VI puPllS 6dlutttu
about n master who teaches each
pupil according to his aptitudes and
powers. and disciplnes and trains
tho mind and character of the in
dividual boy or girl. 1t has become
n great piece OF machinery with an
almost embracing curriculum.
The teacher. as n teacher. Is in dam
ger of being lost in the mechanism
OF the modern school. Only by re-
storing the teacher to his or her
former place in the school can
modern education regain the powers
which II has lost"
Some will recall the storm raised
by what DIR. Pritchett had to say in
his report last year. but he is I'M
daunted. Ho Is not beholden to pub
lie favor and would not seem to have
any other ambition than to tell the
truth about the situation as he sees
II. Ho would emphasize the essential,
he would consult the views OF the
teachers rather than those of any of
tho meddlcsomc groups who are rid
Ing some sort OF an educational
hobby, or wish to make n reputation
Of being that which they are not.
Ile believes the high school was
founded to be the peoples college
and he would not have its standards
lowered. lie declares the softness
and superficiality that have crept
into the elementary school and the
secondary school affect the colleges
and universities In equal degree"
He declares the public school
makes Its greatest contribution to
training in the crafts when II
teaches boys and girls in the ele-
mentary school to do such work as
will give them the discipline of mind
and the accuracy of knowledge
necessary TO those high and honor
able vocations which find express
sion in sincere and accurate
craftsmanship"
He Is equally emphatic in his
criticism of the abuse OF intercol-
legiate athletics. The report i'm
presses us as n valuable contribu-
ton to n better understanding Of
what our schools should be, II peo-
rle will but interest themselves in
the subject and continue to seek
disinterested opinion and learn to
apprise cautiously the bulk of opin-
fD,, that 10 ,ot ,3is,,,<oros%o1