| Show BILL OF DOLI ra balt L LT T 1 IER E R FOR t DUC ill AMERICAN beitle ceil ie are spending about ta a year on public school education one q tartar of state aid local taxes go for schools bilk in 1810 1910 we pent spent that dicuns an increase of per cent in 17 years some ol 01 this increase wa due to rising price prices school equipment sal arim aries etc also school attendance Is much gresteri thus makine making nev ney buildings and equipment teacher teachers etc necessary T if ie question however Is not TO so much whether we ne are spending too much on public education but whether we a are getting returns proportionate to the investment the people have a right to expect dividend dividends nn tills this huge investment dividend in the form of better citizenship and of stronger chara ter as nel c I 1 as the raising of general wl i telli gence standards are they getting them it WL IAL want to know kno whether a coi on 1 ei 4 i its it way we examine its profit and loss statement and balance sheet appl applying ing the same methods in a rough way to public education here Is what we find on the credit side practical I elimination of illiteracy during the past twenty years and raising general level i i gi ie te 2 supervision of pupil pupils physical health and safety to a much greater degree than ever cier belury 3 americanization work ork had it not been for this america could not riot have absorbed the great flood of immigration 4 Vali work done in vocational education I 1 e preparing veiling beope e tor for specific ti ades 5 increased earning poh power er ot of educated ON oer er uneducated men 6 advance I 1 n i riat natverlal nater erial lal pio prosperity cin can be ascribed at least in part to higher educational jevel of the mown these the item items are all tine fine they justify tor for the future liot Ilov ver vcr there Is a debit or failure side ot of ed leaf icat on s profit and loe loss statement which Is on the debit sade we e find I 1 lack of real character bulliung bul bui liing luing as evidenced by the fact that crime costa this country 16 a year of which Is h t ane amount spent on pubic public school education the school may argue that char iier er bui ding 14 primarily the function of the home and the church yet let it is also very cry greatly me ine duncson ol 01 the public school one halt of cur children a making aking life is spent in school rooms roams J failure to keep pace with ith the rapid ad af vance nance in industrial and business progress there Is much in the school curriculum today that could well be dispensed with ith to make place tor for other things that bear more directly direct li on the business busine of making a living failure of i any of our secondary schools to properly prepare students who intend to go to allege this Is a source ot of complaint on the art p jt of many prominent and results in toba to the individual and to the college 4 tendency to spread out too thin by ir hat that Is meant ment tring to ing to crowd in too man subject subjects some ot of which arc are inconsequential with the result that no one thing is learned well and the child cornea comes out with his mind conf ased ed q the crying need of today is not more cultural and scientific knowledge but more spiritual knowledge our will sill collapse ot of its own weight unless our spiritual gueth catches up with our material growth groath the old AW aw L fashioned qualities of reverence obedience fillingness illin gness to do hard and unpleasant tasks reX et lor for law integrity and loyalty must be taught our own impression of public educations profit and loss report Is 13 that there Is much room tor for improvement the public who art the stockholders have a right to demand it too many educators have a false idea ot of what business really wants tr ir n the college Bu Busl nees men ai aai not asking that colleges materially change their courses or throw out cultural lUl tural subjects or teach bookkeeping typewriting or bushi esa topics the hufines men ot of the country are demanding merely that the colleges train men in the fundamentals of life by developing proper habits habits of thrift of concentration hard work of integrity and initiative mere knI knowledge edge can alfaye be purchased for 3 a year a business busl nesa man can get an expert on almost any technical subject habit and character however cannot be purchased the young man who went to college 40 vears cars aeo aio had learned when he entered college to do tle tte tl e thing that he did not want to do when hen he did not want ant to do it but with a large number of the young men who go tor college today Is a lost art we bellve bell ve in scle busina busin A education for those who intend to enter business the recent establishment of many new colleges of business administration Is s a line thing however a diploma from one ohe of these institutions does not mean anything to the business man unless it Is accompanied by character he ila knows that while education makes skill it takes souls to make men president kenneth sills of bowdoin college made one of the most trenchant and prophetic statements possible when ahen he said at the opening exercises of the national educational convention just closed no teacher who Is a scoffer or irreverent about spiritual things has any place in the public schools of america it we vie bring up a generation without religion we must leap the whirlwind the right fort sort of education has a tremendous bearing on the future of businda and investments est ments the ethical factor cannot be ignored think of the large sums of money that aro are being spent to purge bu stress of dishonest practices it if character cliar acter building were ere 80 per cent efficient in our educational system we would not need blue sky commissions better business bureaus or other agencies whose hose work Is to uncover the fraudulent and dishonest companies valuable work Is being done by within industries and financial r rips to clean out the undesirable elements how much more S effective this work would be it if it had its beginning i th the school end pact home training of the young people who will in future conduct ae nation nations s lin financial ancial and business affairs |
