The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1929-05-17
THE SCHOOLS AND THE PRESS.

j. w. Crabtree, secretary of the Ma
tional Education Association has sent
us the following letter from Wash
ington, D. c., and we are going to
print it to show that the press is ap-
preciated in high educational circles.
1t says:
I'VE have been instructed by MI.
Uel W. Lamkin, President of the Ma
tional Education Association to call
your attention to the data in the
hands Of your local school authorities
on the schools, their achievements,
needs and costs. He is also calling the
attention of superintendent to the
Importance of helping to make this
material available to the press. He
recognizes the tremendous educational
service rendered year after year by the
newspapers of the United States and
what this means to education and to
citizenship.
Neither the school nor the press can
oVerestimate the value Of the cordial
relationship which exists between these
two agencies in nearly every locality
in the nation. In democracy such as
ours, the success Of the schools must
always depend on public opinion. The
greatest service of the teacher is to
make the points of contact between
the work Of the school and the life,
work, and needs Of the home and COM
munity. An equally great service OF
the presses to interpret the work of
the schools to the public. Where both
do their part well, there you will find
a healthful school sentiment, teachers
appreciative Of the people and the peo-
pie taking honest pride in the schools.
The hearthStone of the home has
almost entirely disappeared. The
children are at the movies, in the
parks, in the automobile and engaged
in other outside social activities more
OF the waking hours than in the home
itself. This places much heavier re-
Sponsibility on the schools for char
acter training than ever before. The
safety Of civilization demands that the
schools and other cooperative agencies
meet this responsibility. BY far the
most important of all phases of educa-
ton is character education because it
affects the child's entire future both
in his personal relations and as a
citizen. No other influence can take
the place Of the home but other agen-
cles can, in part at least, make up the
loss which world Of new conditions
Aleso DIOuSAI uPou Us.
In connection with the above letter
we will give the abstract of an editor
ial written by Glen Frank, president
Of the University of Wisconsin and
formerly editor Of the Century Maya
zine in his talk on "the responsibility
of the press in interpreting the schools
to the public" President Frank says:
If this subject, The Responsibility
Of the Press in Interpreting the
Schools to the Public, is supposed to
place upon me the duty of merely ex-
horttng newspaper and magazine edi-
tors to devote more space to news
about schools and to publish larger
number OF articles about educational
institutions, I must refuse to obey
orders
Before we can think straight about
the relation Of the press to the school,
we must recognize two very plain facts
about the press: Cd 1t Is the func-
ton of newspaper to handle news,
not to convert itself into a preaching
agency in behalf of even the best
cause, and 90 newspaper and the
press in general is business inStitu-
ton with a legitimate desire to show
a handsome profit at the end of the
year.
81 am not suggesting the many
things that reformers would like to
have the press be; am trying hon.
estly to recognize what the press is
And, personally, think 1t will do
little good to quarrel with these two
facts that characterize the press.
"If the press is to do more towards
interpreting the schools to the public
the primary responsibility for bringing
that happy event about will rest, in
the practical working out of things,
not with the press, but with the
schools. IF school men want more mat
ter about schools in the press, school
men must do more things that have
legitimate news value In the minds OF
the editors.
Personally I should like to see the
American press develop more than 1t
has up to date q technique for ex-