Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1924-11-22
SPECIAL LECTURES
FEATURE WORK OF
EDUCATION WEEK

EUuCAIuN WEEK
About 5000 school children of Wat
erville and Winslow listened to adj
dresses delivered by citizens of this
community yesterday morning and
afternoon at the assemblies in the
various schools on the general sub
ject of Education" The addresses
were delivered as a part Of the OBJ
servance of National Education Week
which Is taking place all over the
United States this week. Every phase
Of education was discussed by the
speakers, some telling of the bene-
hts that the children derive from ed
ucation and others speaking Of the
duty of the child to study as a part
of his or her duty as future citizen.
Thursday morning at the chapel
exercises of Coburn Classical Insti-
tute. H. Chesterfield Marden spoke
to the students. Yesterday morning
at 8:45 DIR. +. E. Wheeler went to
Winslow where he addressed the stu
dents at the opening school exercises.
At A. NJ. yesterday the Waterville
Senior high school students listened
to addresses by Carroll N. Perkins
and Albert Raymond Rogers. At 3
p. NJ. Mayor Leon o. Tebbetts and
DIR. John G. Towne spoke at the Jun
Tor high school assembly. During
the day John Foster Choate went in
to the classrooms of the North gram
mar school and spoke to the pupils.
Walter s. Austin and Arthur ]. Graf.
ty did the same in the South gram
mar and Myrtle street schools.
Mayor Tebbetts spoke on the sub
iect Does Education Pay?" His
talk in part is as follows:
Does education pay? That is a
question raised by not only the young
but by the old, not only by the poor
but even by the rich. not only by the
illiterate, but occasionally by those
with cultured minds and trained
hands.
What is education? 1t is easy to
raise that question but perhaps diff
cult to answer it. 1t is surely more
than drilling into the mind an
amount of lifeless knowledge. or in
structing a child in the elements of
reading and writing. 1t is the &C
QUESTION of such knowledge as is
needed to get subsistence. 1t is
the exercising Of the higher faculties
and affections, in a word education
is the influence of gifted and quick
ening minds on the spirit of the
young.
Does such an education pay? Sta
tistics tell us an illRerate man earns
on an average of $500 year, while
the partially educated man earns
$1,000. In other words, the average
earning capacity of the illiterate man
is worth $4,000 at five per cent, while
that of the partially educated man
is worth $4,000. But how about the
l,f What n re
his average earnings? Statistics
place them at $1,000 a year. This
may seem rather low. but even at
this figure the earning capacity of
the high school graduate is worth
$4,000.
Look at the income of specialists!
There are surgeons who receive
$1,000 or even $4,000 for single
operation, or great lawyers who
charge from $1,000 to $4,000 for a
few hours work in cross-eXamining
a. single witness.
But there are still other sides to
this question. It-may not be right
to look at it from a merely material
standpoint to calculate the value OF
an education only in terms of dol
lars and cents. Even leaving the
purely financial aspect aside. we
Ind education a most lucrative in
yestment.
Education pays because 1t fits its
possessor for life, for the work that
may be expected to open to him, 1t
affords him at least some means of
preserving himself from danger of
suffering want. More than that. 1t
leads him to better performance of
all the duties of the citizen, in short.
of all the duties which he may owe
to himself. to his family. to his COM
munity. State and nation.
DIR. John G.. Towne, past COM
mander Of the American Legion OF
Maine, said that he had decided to
speak on the value of American citi-
zenship. He recounted the landing
of the Pilgrims over 200 years ago
and their building of the foundation
of the great Republic. He called the
Declaration of Independence the
greatest document the world mas
ever known excepting the Bible. He
told the students that they lived in
a country that they need not oe
ashamed of and mentioned the Con-
stitution of the United states. Wncn
a., in its preamble says that the PEG.
pie shall have right to lire, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness.
ana years cba"
! after the great war. an organization
was founded which is now the great
est organization in the country. That
organization was founded on the
idea of service and its members have
dedicated themselves to service.
DR.. Towne spoke of the motto over
the main entrance to the Junior high
school. For God. for Country and Tor
Home" and asked the children to think
Of the wealth of meaning in those
words.
He declared that the United states
was the only real republic in the world
where one really had the to carry out
the idea of the Declaration OF Inde-
pendence.
He spoke of the wonderful chance
every child in America has in compar-
ison with other countries. He men
toned that eight men who were MEM
bers Of President Hardings cabinet ola
NOT have more than an ordinary chance
In life. President Coolidge was the
SON of a poor farmer; Herbert Hoover
ran away from home at the age OF IL
wears because of trouble in his nome
and Secretary of Labor Davis came
over to this country a poor immigrant.
when the men were drafted for the
world War in the country. declared the
doctor. "a per cent. were found TO De