The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1942-05-14
DEFENSE MEASURES
IN THE HOME
BY LUCIA MALLORY

is a local privilege. Most communities
are very Jealous of it and very resent
ful of any Infringement This attitude
| Sibility. which always accompanies any
| such privilege, is realized and fully
met. But how much that includes
First of all it necessitates a knowl-
tices. We need to know what the best
| schools provide and why. Then we must
know what provisions are being made
| for our children and whether or not
those are the best that could be made.
The latter is often Il stumbling block
to the meeting of our responsibility.
! We say, I'VE are doing the best we
can" when what we mean is, 1--WE
don't want to spend the money for
anything better" or I'VE cant get our
fellow citizens to spend money for any
thing better" But how hard do we try? q?
The money we are spending on this
war shows how much we can and will
sacrifice when we are convinced that
| we must in order to protect those
| things that are of the greatest i'm
portance to us-Onr honor, our free
dom, our democratic way of life. We
are not spending il for ourselves mere
| ly, but for our children and for all
| children. Our boys are riSiing their
| lives, not for their own liberty but
| for their country'S liberty and for
those principles for which their coun-
try stands. The price is demanded and
it is paid willingly.
But education n?-Only the best air
planes we can make, our best bOmbcrS,
our best tanks, out best weaponS-and
alas! our best bOyS-are sent TO the
| front We are willing to trust our
liberties, in war, only to the best. But,
again. what about education? Well,
though our attitude toward it Is 50
different, the underlying primary pur-
pose of education is the same as that
for which we are fighting this war
to protect those things that are of the
greatest importance to uS-Our honor,
| our freedom, our democratic way of
plOyment of any but the best methods
the best teachers? Just as with regard
to war equipment, how relatively un-
important is the cost
One Of our most serious mistakes has
been To ignore the educational value of
the imprcSSionable, pregrndc years.
These years ar our best opportunity to
develop the true American spirit In
the coming generation. 1t is done by
giving actual experiences in the demo
cratic way Of life and this is tn" func-
tion of the home and the American
kindergarten. But the average home
sadly nrgleclS il, and we have provided
kindcrgartcnS for only one child in
eight, though it has been proved that
| the value of these experiences is of
lifelong duration. BESIDES this only IN
exceedingly limited number of our
grade schools are of really high or
der. Some others are fair, some are
poor and some are very poor Thou
sands of them are quite unable 10 meet
the prescnt-day needs Of the boys and
4 XII - w lllt'li lll'lll
What shall we do? 1t is senselcsS, if
not barbaric, To sacrifice the lives OF
our finest young men and spend bill
lions of dollars to destroy an enemy
on the outside and allow another enemy
to destroy us from within. The methods
of warfare of the internal enemy ar,
different but they are no less deadly
To our institutions and ideals. We
should insist ON the best schools oh,
lainable, on the engagement of only
well-trained teachers who understand
| and are true to the principles fOi
which we are fighting and who know
how To bring about their highest de
yclopmcnt in our children.
Washington realize how far-rcaching
will be the results of today'S education
al program. \ Rill has been introduced
known rs the Educational Finance
Act of l9l2" S.l313 Amended. IT.
purpose is 10 help each state, financial!
ly, I" assist communities, in proportion
10 their need, to improve their schools
That Bin should be passed II is tn,
duty of each of us to make sure ihu
ii is. If we don't, are we worth,
Americans? What part have we il
General MacArthurS irumphs, if, sit
ting quietly at home, we do nothin!
to save his little sons fellow citizen,
of tomorrow?
No. the passage of the Bill will no
bring federal control Of education. An,
intimation that it will is propaganda
This is what the Bill says: mo de
partment, agency or officer of tin
United States shall exercise any super
vision or control over amy school witt
respect to which any funds are cNpend
ed pursuant to this act" Plain, isn't il
We really must either secure tn
passage of this Bill or raise a grea
deal more school money, locally. w
are beQueathing to the Americans q
the future some StupendouS peace-tim
tasks. TO fail to equip them for thei
work is To imperil again, those trea
, SureS of ours, to save which we co,lI
/