The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1948-08-20

And please don't teach h1Story-th'
most exciting story of all-the stor.
Iof mankind please be a waitress in ;
restaurant or go into a factory, bu
don't teach children. And if it il
science you teach, and you don't care
about the world and its peoples, ther
please stop-for it is most dangerous
of all to teach science without caring
what science can do to people.
had rather see my sons Iliterate
peasants in China, their daily life the
tiIing of soil and reaping of harvests,
than to see them taught science in our
schooIrooms without caring how sci
ence is to be used. They will be hap
pier as iliterate peasants and the
world will be happier if they are H.
iterate peasants.
The cold young scientist today with
all his supreme skilIs and his magic
know-how is doomed to be either un-
happy or depraved. If he has any
humanity he is secretly terrified, for
he does not know how to stop the
internal machine of science or how to
insist that its ends be used for, good.
If he has scared his heart so deeply
that he does not care how science is
used, then he is depraved, even as
Hitler was depraved.
The first step for reform in our
schools would be the separation of
the school from community politics
and prejudices. | know I am saying
which will sound impossi
BILE to you on first thought. You will !
tell me that a group of local men |
make up the school board, and iii their /
hands lies the choice of teachers ana, |
perhaps, even of schoolbooks. If they |
are narrow and bigoted-as they often
are-if they see no meaning in educa-
ion except the mere ability to read
md write and figure, what can the
eachers do?
Better Not To Teachl
They can. stop teachingl Better not
o teach at all than to teach what
uits narrow bigoted local group of
Id men. Better to let children grow
p illiterate than to teach them the
yrong things = wrong, if you know
hey are wrong and go on teaching
hem in order to hold your job.
How soon the minds and hearts of
ne young know when their teachers
Ill them, How meaningless is what
hey learn there, in terms of character !
nd personality and growth! The !;
nds of education fail because the !
leans are wrong
Only the brave should teach-only c
le men and women whose integrity =
annot be shaken, whose minds are
heightened enough to understand the G
Ugh calling of the teacher, whose n
carts are unshakeably loyal to the +
Dung, whatever the threats of the old 6
no are in power. There is no hope =
II our world unless we can educate -
different kind of man and woman n
put the teacher higher than any !.
her person today in world society n
responsibility and in opportunity n
The true teacher leads the child be-
md his immediate environment. He In,
aches the child that the town is his &
'me, not just the four walls under w
hose roof he sleeps and eats, and is
the town, then the nation and the n
orld, because the problems and in
rests which are his are human, and :
e shared with him by all humanity. ,
lie end of such education is the man :
ID woman Eat home in the world ,
,thng less than the world view can ,
tisfy the man and woman of today, \
: it is only the world view which r
n give depth and content and mean :
J to modern life. r
Machines have made all parts of the =
rid accessible to our bodies, and a u,;
W and revivified education must ~,
Ike mind and heart ready for world III
ing, world understanding, and world ~,
the world citizen. e.,
den the horizons. you who are true
chers of the young, and you will in,
d no more boredom in your class en-
ms-or in your own hearts. ar
Two Faults so
lay stress on the two fundamental tn,
It's in our system which more than VIC
: others hamper real education al,
,oO1c f1111ct bo conarofa FROM, 1ooaI -