Evening star., 1925-05-03
Nations Schools Should Teach Ideals
And Not Dwell on Money Grabbing

A. They should, but I am not sure that
they do under our present system The per-
centage of voters that actually cast ballots In
the last election was somewhere around so per
cent. or the non-voters, do you suppose most
OF them were educated or uneducated? They
tell us that 1t was the educated gentlemen
the college fellowship packed up their golf
sticks and motored out to the country clubs on
election day
Education alone does not make good citizen
Ship Loeb and Leopold had all the education
or certain kind that they could stuff into
their systems. Greek and Latin and ento-
mology and all the other ologies, but evil
dence OF moral training. They lacked all sense
or obligation to their God and their country.
Q. Is our educational system to blame for
our present crime wave?
A. Maybe. The youth of this last genera
tion were not given clear idea as to why
they were being educated. They thought they
were being trained to make money. So they
went out to make money. And they have made
1t In the quickest possible way-sometimes by
crooked deals sometimes by bank breaking. It
is significant that rs per cent OF the financial
crimes are committed by youths under 25.
They weren't effectively taught good citizen
ship. which means something more than money
making.
Chicago to Teach Morals
This lack of moral education is one OF the
greatest failings of the public school and State
university When 1 was student don't re-
iuciIfDeT one professor VINO said anything about
1t being wrong to frequent the houses of i'll
fame In the nearby city. 1t was outside the
curriculum. Neither home nor school Is doing
as much moral teaching both should do.
u How much moral education is the public
school student getting today?
A. In Chicago every child above the fifth
grade is to get one hour a week of what we
call Civic Service" That means character
culture, not surface culture. It takes in the
whole field of service that a man owes his fel-
hun Iat,,
character culture in the school you might just
as well shut up the churches, abolish mother
hood and prohibit Rotary Clubs, Kiwanis Clubs
and all service organizations.
Some think that moral and civic education
IN the schools should be Incidental" But
which is important American ideals or
arithmetic? How to be honest or to spell?
How to participate in self-government or how
10 translate Latin? Let Latin and biology be
incidental and the duties and rights of citizen
ship be the main show.
Less Educational Frills
The colleges Of the East partly TO blame
for setting up this standard of Greek and
Latin. They emphasize educational friIls
rather than moral and civic backbone. West
ern public schools are refusing to follow them
in this. We believe it our duty to prepare
students for life rather than for college board
examinations. We doubt that algebra can be
or much use in training citizen how to vote.
public school education is like West Point
or Annapolis 1t is not to teach ornamental
subjects which benefit chiefly the individual
IT should train the habits that will serve the
Nation. Public school education is paid for by
the entire country, and it should be a prepara-
ton. not to serve one, but the community.
This Is no whimsical theory. 1t is the au-
thentic and repeated proposition Of the men
who set up the Republic and proposed educa-
ton to keep it going. 1t is the deliberate con-
viction Of Washington Franklin, Adams JET
ferson, Madison and Monroe. IT is the obliga-
ton OF a service supported by the taxes of the
people, not merely OF parents. II you make
any other teaching important. If you devote
yourself TO scholarship or to success in life or
TO fitting for college to any other old OBJ
jective to the neglect OF the fundamental politi-
cal forces of a self-governing people you are
wastrel, Stacker and traitor.
wave of moral delinquency is too gener-
ally said to be submerging u.s. for us TO dare
to dillydally now with old scholastic ideals
The country is crying for higher civic ideals
These are the schools pressing ideals.