The Coconino sun., 1925-08-21
WE ARE BEGINNING TO SIT
UP AND TAKE NOTICE, DR..
COTTON TELLS GRADUATES
CONTINUED from Page One)

and visionary.
"But now that the forests over the
entire country have been cleared and
the timber sold, that the natural gas
fields have been exhausted, that our
oil regions have been tapped and pret-
/ ty we'll drained, that our coal deposits
for the most part have been leased,
that many of the stone interests have
fallen in the hands of syndicates, that
our public utilities have gone for a
song, we are beginning to study the
conditions of life and to ask serious
questions with regard to the future.
We realize that in our greed for gain
we have been prodigal of our re-
sources. Vast fortunes have been
literally thrust pPun many of the
people of this nation.
"Of course great things have been
accomplished. Travel and transpor-
tation are easy if very expensive.
Good roads, and automobiles, and
steam, and electricity, and telephones,
and radio have all but eliminated time
and distance. In many communities
the remotest farms have been brought
close to the market Machinery has
lessened labor. Therefore, with our
ease and prosperity and rapid living,
we stand face to face with the para
dox that the thing that has enriched
us has at the same time impoverished
us. We have seemingly come sudden
ly upon new conditions to which we
are unable to adjust ourselves.
However, to the student, the way
of redemption is apparent. If wit and
an abundance of raw material have
made fortunes in the past, intelligent
men and women trained to do skill
fully the work harmonizing with their
greatest interests and their several
abilities-these are to be the mex
haustible assets that will furnish
comfortable completeness in the fu-
ture. But everybody must work, and
must work intelligently, because IN
the future these competencies must
be earned, and very often earned in
the sweat of the face. While there
will always be great manufacturing
projects, the margins will be closer
and competition will be sharper.
There will doubtless be for many
generations vast mining enterprises,
but luck and wit will give way to
science. There will always be stu
pendous commercial transactions with
great ocean steamers and vast rail-
way systems as carriers, but closer
competition will diminish profits and
greater skill will be demanded to di-
rect these interests. With these in
dustrial avenues so crowded there is
but one avenue open to the masses.
"In this country, as elsewhere, the
vast majority of the people must
finally get their sustenance from the
soil, and the education of the future
must in some way, more than ever
before, inspire Glove for the land. "
''It has been shown recently that
the population of this country may
increase five fold and still get its liv-
ing from the soil that is now in culti-
vation, and that our resources in un-
improved lands will admit Of ten
fold increase in population, with scien-
tific, intensive farming. Here, then, is
one of the great problems, if not the
greatest problem of the school Of the
twentieth century. Is the school the
country over prepared to solve this
problem? 1t would be folly to claim
that it is. Under the conditions that
have obtained and under the notion
of education that has prevailed, the
school has done as well as could be
expected But for the future our
system is inadequate.
If in the past it has been deemed
sufficient for the teacher to know the
mere facts in the subjects to be
taught, the future demands knowl-
edge of the subjects, including their
relation to life. If in the past it has
been deemed sufficient for the teacher
to impart a mere knowledge Of the
facts in the subject, the future de-
mands teachers who can teach their
pupils to think the subjects. If mere
knowledge has hitherto been deemed
the end of school education, the future
demands that power in practical APP
plication shall be the dominant note.
If in the past it has been, possible for
the schools to continue with three or
four years as the average life of the
teacher, the future demands eondi-
tions that will increase this many fold.
If in the past teaching the country
over has not been profession, the
future demands students of lifes
problems, educational leaders who will
lend dignity to the calling. Ii in the
past the teaching. force has been too
largely determined by chance, the fu-
ture demands that it be made up of
men and women who,
after mature delberation, have chosen
teaching as their life work In the
future there will be no room for
The home and industry
have shifted large part of then
problems and responsibilities to the
school, and in SO doing have increased
its importance hundredfold. And so,
in the future the problem of the
teacher will not be mere problem OF
instructions; it will be the infinitely
larger problem of making men and
women of all the. children capable of
doing intelligently and skillfully their
share of the worlds work.
The first graduating class received
diplomas this morning at ten o'clock.
President Cotton delivered the COM
address. The school or
chestra played several numbers. The
exercises brought to close the sum-
mer's work of ten weeks. The enroll
ment this summer has surpassed any
one on record and the school
itself is now in better condition as
TO number and quality Of courses Of
fered than ever before.
Tbo n odd;+;op IF thron now dan9rt-