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Show EDUCATION The school season is in full swing again all over the United States. More boys and girls are getting an education educa-tion at public expense in this country than there are in all the rest of the world, so far as we know anything about it. There is nothing to compare anywhere with the public pub-lic school system of America, both in the number of young people that it serves and in general excellence of the instruction given. We sometimes wonder whether our school systems might not be better adapted than they are to the needs of the youth of America. It occurs to us at times that a good many of the subjects to which considerable attention is given might be left out or mtodified in favor of other things which would be of more practical help when these children have left school and have their way in the world to make. But there has been a great deal of progress in exactly that direction in the past few years, and we imagine imag-ine that, on the whole, the schools are doing as well by the pupils as could be expected, in view of the limited amount of money which the taxpayers can provide for education. What we have in mind, mainly, in suggesting that the schools might give a better preparation for real life, is not that they ought to teach trades or professions to enable folks to earn a living, but that there are certain fundamental funda-mental principles, which never change, on which more emphasis em-phasis might be laid.. The habit of work has to be learned young if it is ever learned at all. The child who gets through high school age without understanding that truth and honor are of more importance than algebra and football foot-ball is off to a poor start in the world. And we are. genuinely sorry for any boy or girl who goes out into the world expecting to get something for nothing or who takes it for granted that the world owes him, or her a living. A really sound education would include a course in human hu-man nature and human conduct. The next time you pass a school pause a moment to think what that school means to humanity. Recall the long dark centuries when the masses were kept in ignorance ignor-ance when greed and oppression ruled the world with an iron hand. From: the very beginning of man's struggle for knowledge, selfrespect, and the recognition of his inalienable inalien-able rights, the school has been his greatest ally. We refer to the school as "common" because it belongs to us all ; it is ourselves working together in the education of our children. But it is a most uncommon institution. It is relatively new. It is democracy's greatest gift to civilization. civiliza-tion. Throughout the world, among upward i struggling peoples, wherever parents share in the aspirations of their children, the American common school is being copied. Let us cherish and improve our schools. |