New Britain herald., 1926-07-30

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 incredible. I refuse to give any fur ther currency to the statistics on this and other shocking social conditions.
 "This situation may be traced to many sources. The World War naturally af- fected human society rapidly and vio- lently. Since the war we have witnessed a very unstable condition in every realm of human relationship. The general con dtions attendant on the war brought the country an unparalleled wave of spiritual awakening during the course of the struggle. These flood tides of spirituai forces quickly reacted at the termination of hostilities. Ever since, we have founo ourselves in the backwash of social dis integration.
 "The automobile, too, has had very marked effect on society. No one can doubt the mechanical. commercial ana recreational aspects in which we nave benefited by the invention of the auto mobile. The convenience, the speed, tho comfort of the automobile is immeasur- ably beyond that of the horse-drawn ve- hicle. Yet we have shown an amazing ineutitude to foresee or cope With tne social, moral and human problems tna' the rapid introduction of the aueomooiie has created. The increasing toll of lVes taken by reckless drivers, the crime ana immortality engendered by rapid trans portation, the joy-ride, the breaking up of the old-fashioned home and other et- fects combine to suggest that the human element has suffered tremendously TOT the sake of the mechanical.
 uDUT there is way to solve the o'i-
 ID faculties now confronting our so- cial life. And we must begin with the vouneer generation by teaching morals and character in the schools. we are spending more than two billion dollars avery wear for the education of the youth of the land. Are we making success of ;+q One of the great objects for which ve are striving is to make good citi- ,ens think it undeniable that without instilling in the minds of our young peo- ple an appreciation of the value oi 'he old-fashjoned virtues we cannot get very far toward the attainment of this ob- feet I do not think that even the fond- sst narent will contend that the young n.ople of today are as reverent ana ohedient as those of past generations. It ought surely to be possible to teach our children the necessity of discipline and duty. integrity and uprightness without ot the same time taking away from them all the joy of life
 In the days of the little red school house the curricula were as simple as tho menus in the homes of that day; "readin' 'ritin' and 'rithmetic" with . liberal dash of the gentle art of spell in0 constituted the course of study. The school year was arranged with an eye to the course of nature; it generally "took up' when the fall harvesting was done and closed in time to release the students for spring work. In com- harrison with the work for both boys and girls that was fixed duty, school was lark. Nothing to do but sit still and learn a few lessons-that was in- finitely to be preferred to the daily routine of work.
 Another admirable feature of the early school and one which did not mani- fest itself as an official part of the course of study was the interest which mother always, and father frequently, took in the youthful students progress.
 Boys and girls in the earlier days did not start school as young as they do today, with kindergartens taking tho toddlers, and almost every child entered school able to read simple English and grounded in certain other fundamentals, learned at mothers knet while she was sewing, knitting or about any other household task which enabled her to devote part of her all-too-well-f time to the instruction of her children.
 TYR. TIGERT, in addition to being the b Commissioner of the United States Bureau of Education, is leading edu- cator of the country. He was born in home on the campus of the Wander. bilt University at Nashville and has lived in an atmosphere of education and learn ing all his life. After his graduation
 from Vanderbilt University he won the famous Rhodes scholarship and went to , Oxford College, England, where he took two different degrees. Before being ap. pointed as Commissioner of the Bureau 3 of Education four years ago, Dr. Tigert ' was professor of philosophy and psychol. 7 ogy at the University of Kentucky, t Coppriohi bp Public Ledssr