Evening star., 1935-11-16
Takes Bright
Light to Set
Life Course
Academic Training
Should Cater to
Child's Talent.
nOODS.
BY ANGELO PATRI.

TT IS possible for a child to go
through school, become high
school student ready for training for
his lifework without finding the reason
for his education, without discovering
his motive power. He is the one who
says. I'm going to college. haven't
decided yet what I am going to be,
SO I'm taking a general course"
That means a tragic waste. Most
Of the children who graduate from
elementary and high school are intelli-
gent above the majority. Most OF
them long for work that they feel
to be their peculiar expression. But
search as they may they do not find
it. Why Is it that boys and girls have
such difficulty?
I think that it Is mostly the fault
of the schools. Grown people are har-
ried by cares and anXietieS. They
cannot attend to what goes on in
schools. Tradition settles heavily on
institutions that are set apart from
the life Of the people as schools are
set apart. There are schools that
are teaching the same courses of study
they used in the beginning Of the
nineteenth century. Changing them
meant trouble for somebody. and as
long as trouble could be avoided, why
not avoid 1t? This Is true all over the
world.
Now teaching reading and writing
and arithmetic with the elements of
composition and q trace Of history
with a dash OF geography is q rote
task. 1t can be taken into the memory,
checked with a passing mark, be
considered an education and q quail
f1cation for the next step in the course
and still leave the pupil precisely
where he was when he started as far
as the growth Of personal power.
personal purpose and self-will are
concerned. The spark that sets them
cracking into flaming life has not
been set off. The creative self Of the
child has not been touched. Until that
self is reached and set aflre, there
Is no worthy growth.
The basic subjects are essential.
They must be taught SO thoroughly
that they become second nature to
the pupil before he enters secondary
school. But along with the funda-
mentals, the other essential. the crea-
tive power Of the pupil, must be re-
leased. You cannot teach creative
force as you can teach tables and
lists. This all-important force is re-
leased, not imposed. 1t Is never i'm
posed, never bestowed. It Is innate
in the pupil and Is waiting for the
touch that sets it free.
There must be provision for this
release or the school does not func-
ton. Art, music. crafts, experiments.
the enjoyment of dramaticS, the feel
of the orchestra as it sings ideas OF
unutterable beauty, the reverence that
fills the soul in communication with
the stars. the sea and the sky. Any
every-experience that touches the
inner being should be offered by a
school to its pupils in the hope of
reaching that hidden spring which
controls the. creative spirit.
A child Is a complex creature. He
can leave his body on the school
bench and take flight across the
universe. His tongue may reply to
you, but it was only his tongue. He
was riding a winged steed. or scaling
Everest, or sleeping on a lotus leaf.
Before you can start the creative
life in q child you must catch him.
Is there enough bait in the course
you are using?
(CopyriRht, 1889