Show I n 8 1 I S n at S To Maintain Free World k I Ir r f h f Economics and Geography Amon Among Studies c i Required to Ground Students in the R. R i Problems at Home and Abroad it 0 1 By BAUKHAGE News j Analyst and Commentator Service 1616 Eye Street NW Washington D. D C. C This Is Is the first of two articles on the subject of the new sion In the last two months the public has learned a lot about the Importance importance tance of industrial For ForI I r. r I many more months business men I J with the help of ot the best technical advice they could obtain have been preparing to shift shUt from rom wartime to peacetime production Government has shared the knowledge of its experts experts ex ex- parts and proffered its co Labor has contributed its All three know what they want Together they hope to obtain a successful synthesis But what many people do not realize realize real real- ize is that the nation the whole world for that matter is facing another another an nn- other problem equally as difficult to solve equally as important important im Jm- to achieve It is the recon recon- version of our whole educational system system tem tern and upon its success depends the political future of democracy and its economic future as well as embodied in the theory and outworking outI out out- I working of free enterprise 5 It is no exaggeration to say that our current educational system which along with our wartime industrial in- in industrial industrial in in- system made Allied victory possible is no more adapted to meet the new and startling problems of the postwar world than the Japanese defense could meet the atomic bomb Enlightened educators everywhere realize this In a short time experts will meet in London to work out a program outlined In San Francisco by the men and women who planned the educational and cultural council council coun coun- cil of ot the United Nations Here at home borne and in other democratic countries countries coun coun- tries domestic educational policies are being reshaped to meet the new z conditions r Education for world freedom is an Important objective education for tor F freedom in the land of ot the free Is equally important for it is the foundation foun toun- foundation dation stone tone of ot world democracy 4 We have the task of reconverting I our own antiquated machinery so soS so S that it will be geared to produce 5 and maintain freedom The United Nations' Nations task is to build new maH machinery machinery ma- ma H chinery which will evolve a product product product prod prod- r which must displace the Nazir Nazi- Nazi i IT Fascist teachings which still have I their hold on a large segment of the 1 3 population Our own product must must be both a weapon of ot offense and of I. I t defense 1 t We have a powerful example in inthe the need for this in the demonstrated r ed strength of the Nazi ideology and Ij the w weakness akness of what we have so far produced to combat it Nazi Propaganda Remains Strong A report made public only a week or two ago reveals how at its blackest as the report describes t it is being kept alive i in 1 a series of resistance clubs in hi Germany scattered scattered scattered scat scat- from the North sea to the Bavarian Bavarian Ba Ba- varian mountains Allied investigators tors have pieced together an appalling appalling appalling appal appal- ling picture of a widespread activity based upon race hatred and other Nazi principles with which the German German German Ger Ger- man youth has been so thoroughly Indoctrinated in a manner pointed out in these columns some time tune la ago o and which I then said must be dealt with eventually Tho ThA ense is powerful and the thew w weakness of ot our defense is illustrate illustrated ed in recent dispatches telling tolling us how bow Nazi propaganda is viewpoint of the American army of occupation A major is reported as doubting the truth of the atrocity stories in the concentration camp of Dachau located only a few miles from where he was stationed American American American Amer Amer- ican soldiers are heard parroting the familiar Goebbels Goebbels' fabrication that Germany was forced into the war that Hitler had his faults but was really great in many respects or i if Hitler's HiUer's glory is found to be too strong a goat he is used as a scapegoat scapegoat scapegoat goat to excuse German war guilt I have just come from a long talk with one of Americas America's great educators educators tors John Studebaker United States Commissioner of Education It was he who introduced me to the phrase the new Our democratic system Is Js threatened threatened threatened threat threat- ened from within and without h he said to me earnestly The Amer Amer- lean ican school gave our polyglot nation the solidarity to carry on the war successfully But he added we have severe tests ahead We must educate for freedom and educate for existence in a newly integrated world of which we are an Integral part We must understand our own problem and the problems of ot oth oth- ers tt 1 I couldn't help applying this theory theory theory the the- ory to the stories from Germany I A thorough understanding of ot democracy democracy racy is proof against Nazi I da An understanding of ot other peoples peoples peoples peo peo- ples and events beyond our borders which affect us us-as us as the rise of ot Hitler and Mussolini affected us would us-would would make us deaf to German prevarications and an excuses In order to meet the threats against democracy from within and from rom without Mr Studebaker believes believes believes be be- with most of ot his colleagues that our present educational system will wW have to be thoroughly renovated ed Both the plant and the product must be remodeled he says He chose two subjects subjects geography geography and economics economics-as as examples of ot how the product must be altered Knowledge of Conditions Vital Geography is important because It Itis Itis itIs is a study of the world in which we live It is a study of the peoples who live in the world world world-of of our very near thanks to jet propulsion and atomic energy 1 if not always very dear neighbors Geography is also the study of the pursuits the industries industrIes industries indus indus- tries of ot the people of the world Its grasp is essential if il we are to bring intelligent thought to judgment of ot events and the conditions at home and abroad and their effect upon each other and upon usAnd usAnd usAnd us And yet geography was never taught to our people Mr Studebaker er says We stop teaching it at the eighth grade The younger children from three to eight are taught by teachers who themselves never had more than eighth grade instruction in the subject And his second example of ot one of our educational products which must be strengthened economics belongs still less to the people Only 5 per cent of ot the high school pupils ever studied economics he informed informed informed in in- formed me and only 5 per cent of these ever learned anything about international trade How can can we possibly meet the problems arising now 1 if we do not understand this subject How can we possibly maintain free ree enterprise if we cannot pass a considered judgment judgment judgment judg judg- ment on the questions that the papers papers papers pa pa- pers are full of ot every day How can cana a person say whether a wage increase increase increase in in- crease is fair if he has never studied the simplest theories of ot supply and demand or the more complicated I relations of wages costs profits And in hi the international field he continued how could a person who had never learned the fundamentals I of international trade know whether a tariff was justified whether a cartel cartel cartel car car- tel was dangerous whether certain foreign business activities the people as a whole whether free competition or government subsidy was a better policy How could they advise advise their congressman to vote on the Bretton Woods agreement agreement agreement agree agree- ment or the policy of ot foreign loans Just as geography suffers because its teaching ends before maturity is reached maturity in this sense is the 16 15 year group roughly high school age economics is begun too late It is offered as a year one-year high school course and boiled down into such a concentrated potion that not only are vital elements omitted such as international trade but it becomes a dry and highly abstruse subject Furthermore since it is often an elective a subject Ill I'll touch on in fn a later article it may be omitted omitted omitted omit omit- ted entirely because it is hard These two subjects are only two examples of those which should in Mr f Studebaker's opinion make up upa a solid core of education available available available avail avail- able to all This core It he says is essential 1 If we are to build solidarity in hi a democratic society A certain group of vital basic subjects which will help us understand the problems that threaten democracy the down dawn earth to-earth facts necessary to give ive us the basis for tor a sound faith in our way of life |