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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 17, 1901)
W,4fj , fs MWpSfv * - v > * " * * * i ui Che Conservative * 11 the matter of education and profes sional training than they are , but I do not think it fair to the masses that the public schools bo turned into a more or less imperfect training class for teach ers. The majority of the pupils do not expect to teach school , and cer tainly all of them could not be teach ers even if they did wish it. The students of the State University are a numerous and influential body. Men have gone out from the State University that have reflected ci'edit on their state and her University. But they also are a class less numerous than the teachers , and if elementary education is to be fitted for their snecial convenience. I think it is time the rights of the majority be in sisted upon. The elementary and secondary schools should have in mind the in terests of the great majority of their pupils who will never be either teachers or students at a higher in stitution of learning. The instruction they give should reach a fitting con clusion of its own. These schools have their special problems to solve , their special duties to fulfil. They should have an individuality of their own and not bo considered a sort of an abridged edition of the State Uni versity. We shall never be able to settle the question of the curriculum fairly un less we go back to the fundamental principles that underlie our system of free public schools. They are for the masses and their duty is to train for good citizenship. Acting upon these principles , we should take into account , first of all the nature and needs of the child in order that the schools might help him to a normal , healthy develop ment. Good citizenship demands strong , healthy bodies. In select ing the subject matter , we would choose primarily that knowledge of most worth to the masses , stud the training would be such that the pupils were better able to control their environment and earn a living than they would have been without it. The school would take into account - count its duty to the state and train the future citizens in habits of indus try and self-reliance. A school system that takes into con sideration the nature and needs of the child will not ignore his environment and will make suitable provision for his industrial training , unless the conditions of his homo life make ample provision for it. The conditions of life in a rural community afford ample physical exercise and manual training for the children. In such cases , for the present at least , the main business of the school is to corre late the school-room work with the life outside. The knowledge of most worth to an agricultural community is agri culture , but agriculture has an edu cational worth of its own quite apart from its economic value . It is worth while because of its effect on luimair character. The care and culture of the soil was one of the first great sources of uplift to the human soul. To plant and rear a tree is an ethical thing and beautifies the character quite as much as the landscape. I would have the common schools of Nebraska adopt the spirit of Arbor Day as well as observe it. The school buildings are many of them shabby ; very few have any architectural beauty. The people are poor and school funds are limited. But Nebras ka has inontv of laud , and the neonlo might be taught to make a better use of it. The schools might become centers of growth for a civic conscience. It would be a worthy work for any rural teacher to set the example by begin ning to beautify the school grounds. This could be done in many ways , by planting and caring for trees , and these would bo for the generations yet to come. The immediate effect might bo obtained by planting flowers. There is abundant and unused opportunity for the school garden in Nebraska. The school garden has many possibili ties and lends itself to a number of excellent educational exercises. It will teach nature study actively and furnish first hand experimental knowl edge. The effect on children is some thing extremely beautiful. This is not the dream of an idealist. School gardens are not only a possi bility , they are a.realization. . . They have been used successfully as an ad junct to literary work in the school room. There are a great many school gardens successfully used in the differ ent states at the present time and in Europe there are over eighty thous and school gardens. I know of this work and I have tried it with a fair measure of suc cess. There are practical difficulties in the way , but results justify the amount of effort called forth , and it helps to destroy that very popular de lusion that an education is something you must get sitting down and quite at your ease. This leads me to some popular con ceptions of what an education is and what it should do for the possessor. Our school system is an inheritance and a development. It is a system of eduation essentially aristocratic in spirit , adopted by a democratic people for their free public schools. In the early days education was thought to be entirely literary and al together a matter of books. Modern experimental methods in science have modified this opinion considerably , but the spirit is not greatly changed. There is still a pretty general belief that an education is something that will enable a person to make a good living without hard work. It is a 'training that makes for some sort of fQJutcol employment. A young man gotC-an education that will enable himo' get aSvay from the farm , not a training1 tliat will hell ) him to con trol higenvironment and develop its possibilities. Education as applied to the rural ijohools is a way of escape and not a fining that makes for special adaptation. , The duty of the 'school to the state , what is it ? To trainmen and women for good citizenship. And will the . * schools do their duty to the state by giving a purely literary education that fits the pupils for non-produtivc employment ? Will they do it by in culcating ideals of life that are away from agriculture , industrial pursuits and commerce ? Does a state need more producers or consumers ? The schools cost money. Somebody pays the bills. Who is it ? The producers , primarily , for they create the wealth. Wealth is created. It does not exist and legislation can not produce it , al though it may succeed in giving an unfair division. These are truisms ? Quite true , but they are truths not always acted upon. When funda mental truths are no longer a deter mining factor in the conduct of affairs , it is time they be emphasized and brought back into view. The first duty of the common schools is to give such training to the pupils as will fit them for the funda mental callings of life. They will teach thoroughly the fundamental branches , not attempting to teach all useful information but aiming rather to make the pupil able to acquire such information for himself when he may need to use it. Trained to habits of industry and self-reliance , the specially gifted boyer or girl may seek for -higher calling and larger possibilities. They have a sure foiindation on which to build. The great majority have then received an education that fits them for their environment and interests them in it. All ways or lire nave their drawbacks - backs and their compensations. The farmer's life is not ideal. It has its limitations and its hardships - ships , but there arc many compensa tions , and there are many possible compensations never utilized. There is room for much improvement in the ideals of life that dominate the public mind and heroin the public schools may do a worthy work , for the char acter of the education determines largely the character of the pupil. There are many tilings worth the do ing that call forth little comment and the real benefactors of the race arc often forgotten , but not always. "Who plants and rears a tree where shade is none , , Who plows a furrow in a soil untamed , Is fit in song heroic to bo named. Nor scanter praise bo his whoso force Gives to an arid land its water course , Gradual and grateful as the water broke Truth from the ledge that felt the Prophot's stroke. " Fort Lewis Indian School , Brcen , Colo. ,