Evening star., 1936-02-29

Building
Essential
vitality Important for
Progress and
Future.
BY ANGELO ~ATRI.

EDUCATION is a preparation for
- life. If we knew what pattern life
was to follow for the next quarter of a
century we could be educated better.
That is like the teacher who said to
the principal of the school: IF you
will come upstairs and make those
children behave I'll teach them some
thing"
Life has never been plotted for any
generation. It has never been easy
for anybody. Uncertainty is the
essence of all life. There is no need
to bewail the quality of our day and
the lack of information about the life
that is ahead of our youth. We never
had any information about any period
of life. All we could do was to guess.
If we based our guess on past expert
ences we came nearer solving the
problem to our satisfaction than If
we based the guess on our own wishes.
In the first scheme we managed to be
right to some degree; in the second we
failed to a great degree.
What are we to do to prepare the
school children for the life that is
ahead of them? Teach them to be
worthy characters, and by that I mean
worthy on the basis of accepted stand
ards Of character. Teach them to be
honest, first. Teach them to be thor
ough, to do whatever they do with
style and finish. Teach them to work.
Teach them to hope, to have faith in
the goodness of life. How? BY what
ever means lie at your hand.
Schools are poorly equipped for the
liberal yet individual education the
coming generation must have. There
are few schools in the country that
have a flexible program. a flexible
school day, an adjustable time sched-
ule. True, we need all this and we
need the equipment that permits it
new buildings, generously supplied with
all the materials needed and manned
by intelligent, well-trained teachers.
We cannot hope to have all that, not
for many years to come, but we can
do our best to accomplish the main
aims of the school with the equipment
we have. It is not so much the
changes in the educational scheme
that we need today as the vision OF
the education these children need.
without that vision no amount OF
money can buy the right school. The
real thing is above material limita-
tions. It is the spiritual vision OF the
class room teacher that will furnish
the right preparation, easily with the
right equipment, but, with or without
it, furnish 1t themselves.
without character the individual is
i'll prepared for living in any era.
Character building can 60 on with the
simplest of means, provided there is
leadership. If this were not so there
would be no educational leaders today
demanding a better preparation for
the children coming after them. The
farmhouse school room presided over
by mother, the tiny school house set
on the hill presided over by the
teacher Leader, the little brick academy
shaded by old NAPLES, sent out fine
men and women prepared to meet any
adventure. If this were not true there
would be no United States today.
Men and women of high character laid
its foundation. The same sort car
ried 1t on; the same sort will sustain
and maintain 1t.
Give us what we need for this work,
fully and freely, and we will achieve
our purposes sooner. But with or
without, the schools will carry on until
the community catches up. We need
character in the next generation more
than anything else.
(Copyright, 1860