The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-04-20
Liberal Viewpoint
by DIR. HARRY ELMER BARNES

THERE is . real educational crisis in the
United S.stes today Perhaps never before
in our history we're our educators so sharply
separated 1rCo two divergent camps.
On the one side we have the timid and docile
gooSe-steppers Who consciously or unconscious
ly. would prevent education from coming to
grirs with the realities of our present age. They
thus make revolution the only available and
practical mode of achieving social advance. In
the other camp led by men like Counts, Beard,
Rugg, Dewey, Fitzpatrick ard others, We find
those who are working for better day through
enlightened progress. They would avert revolu-
ton through making 1t unnecessary as means
Of achieving a civilized social order.
Al intelligent perspective Cor viewing and
assessing the present educational crisis can be
obtained only by proper acquaintance with
the social ideals Of the great American educa-
tors Of the past. This information has just been
made available in admirable book by Pro-
fessor Merle E. Curt Of Smith College, entitled
| The Social Ideas Of American Educa ors"
(Scribner's). Professor Curt surveys the Aneri-
can educational scene from Horace Mann to
John Dewey and indicates the dominant no.
tons which influenced the outstanding Aneri-
can educators
HORACE MANN, in the first half of the nine
l. l. tenth century, was deeply affected by the
democratic ideals and optimism of Jacksonian
democracy. He desired to open up educational
procedure as to eliminate the evils of the grow
ing industrialiSm. Even more StrenuouSly and
consistently devoted to universal education was
his contemporary, Henry Barnard. The respon-
s1bity of education in training for adequate cit-
zenship under democracy was later aggresSively
urged by Francis Wayland Parker. Parker also
attempted to regenerate and invigorate the whole
spirit Of American education.
In adapting mass education to the urban and
industrial age and the ethics of capitalism, the
leading role played by William T. Harris
who was as profoundly influenced by Hegel as
he was by the facts of the machine age and the
profit system. He eXerted a dominant inf1u-
ence over the structure and organization of
mass education in the latter part of the nine
teenth century
The leavening and dynamic spirit of evoll1-
ton was brought into American education by
G. Stanley Hall of Clark University 1t is indica-
i've OF educational progress in the last rs years
that Hail. when student at Williams College
about the time Of the American Civil War; had
to sneak off the college campus and read Darwin
by a barn lantern in the COW stable of a friendly
farmer. Hall laid emphasis upon the fact that
the mind as well as the body must be studied
in the light of evolution. He thus founded SCI
entltIc child study in this country. More than
any one else in his generation, he linked up
education and scientific psychology.
NTuLIAM JAMES was the first American to
SHHCendClze existing psychological knOWl-
edge, but his educational theory was mainly
dlgnif1ed naturalization of the American indi
vldualism and competitive spirit of the close of
the nineteenth century. This naturalization was
carried en- in much more technical and sophisti-
Gated form by Edward Lee Thorndike of Co.
lumbla University. Thorndike in particular in
olcated the value of psychology and education to
american business enterprise. But his emphasis
upon the Importance of educational measure
mentS AND upon differences in mental capacitv
in relation to education was Of real and last
ing value.
Most influential of all personalities on Ameri-
can educational reform of the twentieth century
Is John Dewey, who gathered up the best in
the democratic educational tradition in the past
and reStated 1t in the light of modern psychology
and educational science. To him we owe special
emphasis upon the notion of education as a lit
eral preparation for life and upon the value of
daring experimentation in educational procedure
Other current works of value in the field of
education are: Young Wards Diary" edited bv
Bernhard j. Stern Putnam), the personal record
OF Lester F. Ward, who might well have been
treated by Professor Curti, since he emphasized
more than any other man of his period ths
poSSlbllltleS OF progress through education
Guiding Your Child through the Formative
Years, by Wlnlfred de Koh emerson Books
PSychoanalysis for Teachers and Parents" bv
anna Freud Emerson Books, and New Minds1
Tor Old" by ESme Wingf1eld-Stratford (MacMi1
lan).