Evening star., 1929-07-28

petition within the professions ana
crafts. There are factors down some
where near the roots of education which
require attention.
sixty years ago the complemental re-
lationship between the home and the
school turned out graduates who had
far more reverence for the law than Is
possessed by the average products of a
modern high school, with all its facili-
ties and appurtenances. Moreover, this
happy result seems to have been
achieved without imposing very serious
Faudicaps upon initiative or individual
ism.
The home was by far the more i'm
rortant contributor to the education of
s,nses and impaired much knowledge
Of practical value, but it supplied a
fealthy emotional accompaniment to
the learning of that day which greatly
influenced personal conduct. Unchopped
wood then meant more than in these
days of push buttons and janitors; the
forgotten item at the general store
could stir up more domestic woe than
in these days Of motors, telephones and
delivery services. It mattered not a
great deal how arithmetic was taught
or acquired in the little red school.
The educational force of daily life did
metic in dishonest practices. Causes
and effects were naturally and con-
spicuously placed. The corruptions Of
diplomatic living were not yet invented.
Today the school has vastly greater
educational burden. With the modern
apartment house lad. how to teach
arithmetic becomes a much more vital
matter. The problem is not so much
one of imparting the subject skillfully
- ~,3k ,x,tt1 al
other subjects healthy emotional
complement affecting personal conduct.
The incidentals, the suggestive at
mosphere in which education proceeds,
character. personality-these things be-
come prime factors. The retarded boy
whose dif1dence, hunger for praise or
fear Of failure develops cheating hah-
it's: the clever young sanguine who,
bored at normal class progress, be-
comes plausible buffer or a good
guesser. These lads have lost more IN
school than a good foundation in
arithmetic.
Under the crowded, pushing and
compromising methods of modern in
struction it IS not dificult to turn out
large numbers of expert accountants
where yesterday we had mere book
keepers. It is also easy to develop a
fearsome percentage of cheats and bud
ding embeZzlers.
The ignoramus has always been an
object of scorn in America. We haze
worshiped knowledge, and the pur-
veyors of facts have held our esteem
in increasing measure as we passed
from the simple fundamentals to the
sciences, the arts and to philosophy.
Now there appears suspicion abroad
at least the President enterta1ns it
that knowledge without healthy social
impulses becomes a liability, If not
real danger And we are moved to
examine our educational yardsticks ana
dividends.
We may have to revise our estimates
of the relative Importance OF primary
school teachers and of university pro-
fessors. The former deal during forma-
tive periods with human factors Wtally
affecting our impulses, our behaviour
and our eventual attitude toward law
observance. The university doctors 90
not exercise nearly so much influence,
even with the lesser numbers with
which they have contact. So long as
they remain straight In their facts and
conclusions, so long as their philosophy
Is sound and their stimulation OF the
Imagination healthy. they can contrib
ute little that is fundamentally harm
full. BY the time human material
reaches them basic habits have been
formed, capacities enlarged or con,
stricted. They can produce lnteLectuai
they may nurture crimina'
tendencies, but in the latter instance
they only build upon a. foundation pre-
viously laid.
Our schools and colleges are not alone
involved in the processes OF conven-
tional education. Such relatively new
American institutions as the radio and
the motion picture have an mescapable
responsibility in public education. The
press long ago recognized such respon-
sibility. However, these modern COM
mercial bonanzas, exulting over new
domains of science subjugated-not-
their hired moral men.
tors-seem at the moment preoccupied
with the human thrills of popularity,
applause, profits. Their civic RESPONSE
bilities are temporarily submerged. But.
in one way or another, 1t appears 1nevl-
table that they must give heed to pub
lie obligations.
The church and It's many allied So
cial service institutions have been prac-
ticing self-examination, and are still
at it. Thoughtful and observant
churchmen generally concede that reli-'
zion has not vet integrated itself into
modern life in an effective manner.
They search for ways and means to 1e-
vitalize religion and to adapt its work.
ing technique to modern conditions.
The so-called life adjustment center"
conducted by a washington church Is
a laboratory experiment in this direc-
ton. Other churchmen, Influenced by
the current urge to motion, speed, re-
with no less commemorate
novel methods ranging
from enticement to coercion-free en-
blue laws.
Many essentially religious people re-
gard morality and spirituality|as differ
ing only in degree. However. to dis
cuss with any frankness the church
aspect of our educational problem re-
ouires a good deal Of discretionless
valor. We criticize the churchman for
his detachment, his isolation, and by
our own polite refrainments we make
that isolation more complete.
But there is some friendly genius OF
indirection in prewar quotation. Let
us 20 back 16 years. In June, 1918,
this writer discussed in the Pedagogical
Seminary, q journal devoted to the
technique of education, some phases of
the educational responsibility OF the
church. BY special permission of tie
publishers, The Star Is able to repro
duce excerpts from this copyrighted ar
ticle, which was edited by the late DR..
G.. Stanley Hall, then president OF
Clark University and leader in tlle
educational thought OF the country.
"Dr. Faunce (then president Of
Brown University has said: The men
who sit at the head of the pew en-
Sunday morning are probably beyond
the period when great changes are
possible. Why should they wish to le-
model nfe-if 1t were possible for
them to do so-remodel a life which
the world has honored, or reconstruct
a society which has given them wealth.