The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1958-04-18
Education Today
BY H. NJ LANCASTER. JE-


GINA Education Association meet
mi last Friday and Saturday All
LongWOod College again focus pub
lie attention upon thc controversy
now raging over public education
These resolutions ep ore q the
acton 81 the General Assembly Ill
reducing requirements for tcaches
ccrtification a function normally
exercised by the State Board Of
Education Tho educators also en-
dorscd recent statement by Tim
Philosophy Of Education Society
condcmning an editorial III Life
magazine
At the risk Of muddling an Al
ready confused issue va would lke
to make the following observations
According % Article TX Section
l2a Of The Constitution Of Virginia
The General Assembly shall Az
tablSh and maintain All efficient
system N free public schools SIC
tipIl 49, VI wv SAINT III tltI ~ 4ttt#H
that the State Board of Education
shall have such authority To make
rules and regulations f0r the man
agcmcnt and conduct Of tho schools
as the General Assembly may pres
crbc This places the ultimate
responsibility for such matters al
teacher ccrtification sqiarely upon
the shoulders III the General A
Scmbly where It rightly belongs
However. the General Assembly N
accordance with the Constitution
has delegated authority ofr. cdu
canonal matters " thr State Board
81 Education This does not moan
that the General Assembly Ycllu
pushed iis anthority ~ sneh nlat.
ters When tiic General Assembly
sees III Il mas aS N ala HI iis last
session With regard to tcacher CERT
ficaton override ne state Board
Of Education and make ia own
rules
We agree Rith THE Department VT
Teacher Education that thc State
Board Of Education. because Of its
smallncSS. IT'S greater familiarity
With the problems of education, and
itS comparative free dom from
purely political considerations. is
better qualified 70 pass on such
matters an teacher ccrtltlcauon
than thu General Assembly Never
thcless. the members 81 the General
Assembly. because they are direct
representatives OF the pocplc. must
retain the ultimate authority.
Therefore. thc rcal question
raised by WE educators Ill ihcu
meeting al LonGwood is TINS Was
the General Assembly justified NJ
changing ccrtiflcalon requirements
for teachcrS2 WI believe that tiki
General Assembly acted III response
10 growing public sentiment
against education courses as OBJ
posed ID subject-matter courses
This IN turn Is due ~ current. Wide
spread criticism Of our public edu-
cation system. This criticism has
been around for some time. but IL
was given Its biggest impetus last
IAN when the U s. failed To launch
an earth satellite ahead Of Russia
Part OF the criticism now d.-
rectcd against modern education is
Que ID the failure Of the public To
understand i This IN turn may hc
the fault of some educators Who
have been so busy developing their
own methods and teaching them To
other educators that thcy forgot ta
Keep me general public Informed
What Is modern education? ii Is
about as hard 10 define as "Dcmoc-
racy Of the American NAV
Everyone has slightly different
idea 81 what these arc BIT should bc
and yet it is possible to describe
them m general terms upon which
nearly everyone Will agree. Let ,ls
say then that modern education ID
llcNes that subject matter alone il
not enough. Dr. Klaus Fuchs. The
brilliant British scientist is said to
DC a case in point He was one of
the world 4 top nuClcar physicists.
but he turned over his country s
atomic secrets to the Russians III
the sincere belief that he was pro
noting world peace. II he had
known more about political science.
international diplomacy. and Tie
inner workings OF communism. per
haps he would not have BETRAYED
his country.
Modern educators believe THE
CHILD brings to school not only hls
academic mind ready for reading.
writing, and arithmetic. but also his
growing body. his spiritual being,
his likes and dislikcS, his fears And
Illustrations Each Of these, and
many others, must be nurturcd or
guided. as the case may be. The
school can never take the place Of
the nome on the church. but some
times when both parents work Or
church attendance is lax it must
pcrforcc exert moral influence lust
as good teachers have done down
through the ages. Modern educators
believe that it is as important fol-
a child to develop a strong body as