Evening star., 1928-02-25
BY the Bookioper

becoming cant expression 1t is some
times used to cover the plan that is
claimed to enable one to converse
scintillatingly. perhaps in French,
through an occasional five minutes Of
study. or to learn how to get rich
quickly by the easy road Of following
system" But 1t Is also used to des-
ignate lifelong effort to achieve some
measure OF emancipation from herd
opinion, self-mastery. capacity for self
criticism. suspended Judgment and
urbanity'-to employ an attempt at
definition by Everett Dean Martin in
THE Meaning OF a Liberal Education
An interesting account of the various
preSent-day attempts of grown-ups to
become and TO keep educated is to be
found In Dorothy Garfield Fisher s
"Why Stop Learning?" This book Is
written in the spirit of President
Nicholas Murray Buffers statement:
I'VE must get the American people to
give up the notion that education Is
given by the school and that it stops
when school days are over. The empha-
sis must be put on the continued and
permanent education process, which
the individual must learn to carry on
through life
II
1t was big thing then when it was
decided that all Americans must be
taught to read and write, but, saws Dor
othy Garfield. look at the printed
pages they pick out to peruse!" We
are merely literate nation, not an
educated one. Schools, she says, have
given them schooling and schooling is
OF little value II the children on grow
ing up do not use their schooling to
get themselves an education" There
are two classes OF adult Americans who
have kept alive the ideal of real edu-
cation. which is self-education. They
are. first, the very few who have had
the most schooling, who are truly edu-
Gated and hence know that they know
little and must therefore incessantly
strive to know: and second, the very
many who have had the least schooling
but have ever been enlisted In the long
struggle to achieve schools for their
children and meanwhile have been
cropping for education for themselves.
Dorothy Garfield bases a prediction on
the signs OF the times that the next
battle in the campaign of democracy
Is going TO rage around the question of
SA@N AS0AsAoAASy aAt0 aObiSdDIit} Ol RSIl-
eraI education for the majority OF
grown-ups," and she has no doubt
that We are in for more universal
education rather than less"
*
Some OF the agencies now being
employed in the direction Of this
mass education and the results they
are achieving, as described by Doro-
my Garfield. include correspondence
schools. women's clubs. child study
clubs and parent-teacher associations.
lyceums and chautauquas. university ex-
tension. workers education. museums
and free public libraries. She believes
that IN the public library movement
adult education found natural
course. along which it has boldly poured.
shap!ne 1t into a deeper and cleaner
canal Tor the new idea than the found
efs OF libraries dreamed Of. turning il
INTO what is perhaps the most endur-
ing and most valuable form OF the ney
activity"
Some will doubtless sympathize heart
lly with the feeling. almost a prejudice
expressed by Dorothy Garfield in her
chapter on lyceums and c:lautauouas.
against education through the means
oi lectures. A book one can read if Il
Is interesting or put 1t aside If il is
ooi!- But II one ventures 10 attend q
lecture and finds that il is thin or
piatitudinouS or trite. one has 10 sit
stHn!y through to the bitter end no
matter how much he is bored and how
mUcn ne wishes he were back in a
comfortable armchair in the companion
snip OF master mind in the form of
BOOK. But Dorothy Garfield admits
III Is quite apparent that large ma
lorisy OF mankind do not agree with
me at all, but have great liking for
the spoken word and much prefer it,
10 the printed page. In. con, .
par'son. with books and honest study
from soundly thought -cut printed
pages. lectures and speeches seem to
me inadequate and vapid ss As 7
LOOK around me I canEot but see that
the spoken word is as dear as ever to
peoples hearts, that 1t has for them
some direct. personal note which they
miss IN cold print" She thinks this
Is because they do not understand the
ar OF reading and she hopes thew viii
some time learn 10 read. She con-
rlldes, Perhaps II is the social. gre
aarous element Of lec.ure-hails which
seems attractive. Reading is a solitary
business. after all"
The New Republic for February -
has supplement of 3, pages devoted
70 adult education. much OF ii by for
sign writers. showing that this Is q
world movement, Among the aitlcles
IRE the following: Adult Education; A
New Means for Liberals" by &. c.
World Aspects OF Adult Ed
lcation." by Albert Mansbridse.. "Adul.
III Modern Germany" nclud-
ng Free Folk Education" by Guen;cr
Neiser. and The IIbrary's Function"
~ Hans Hoffman,: Education and the
toiS-WayS by Joseph *. Hart;
Learning To Learn" by Helen ! May
Prs. and viii Workers Studyr" py
rom Tippett
ReformerS who contemplate ,tlesa,-
ng smoking Ia the same limbo with
alcohol should first read This SmoS-
ng World" by A. f. Hamilton. and
hen perhaps respond to the pathoS OF
he slang appeal. Have heart" Vet
Mr.. Hamilton Is no special pleader. He
Toes justice To the scientist who shows
NAT smoking results i'll rapid heart
'>'"'a' @AtN HilpAENlFlft ps ffllSSllkJI
'ontrol rs we'll as 10 the tobacco lovers
Who care nothing about laboratory
analyses and 'pooh-pooh' their results
smong the tobacco devoteeS are NELL
loned Fielding. Lamb ThaeSeray, Ten
lySon. Carlyle. Kingsley. Huxley, Oliver
Wendell Holmes "a doctor who WAS NOT
afraid OF the narcotic weed for himself
whatever he Thought about IL for pa
tents, and Barrie
The Nobel prize for literature WAS
'warded III 1927 10 0raxia Deledda n
sandman woman generally considered
me Of the leading Italian no,elistS TO-
lay, The nuvel receiving the prise Is
The Flight To Egyrt" Others of her
iovel> are 'Sard!nian Blood" "plain
souls and THE Secret " the SOLITARY
Man" She has written In all ah,ut
hiftv novels mast Of them dealing with
Sardin.an life. Her work Is realism
With especial Interest In women and
heir problems and in the customs of