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Show Connecting the School with Daily Life The school Is tho placo that should train for community llfo, and It, therefore, should glvo tho training that la most like community life. Can this bo done? Tho school Is an Institution In-stitution of ancient dato, and ono that was built up for tho favored tow. Tho training was Incorporated In It that tho favored few needed. It has been handed down from generation to generation, from tho lelsuro class avlth all of the sacred traditions that were given to It 'by tho sacred groves and temples in which tho select ones ussembled for their Instruction. Hero and there, through violent agony, modifications and mutilations were made, but the general form was preserved. In modem times men from tho lower walks of llfo have broken Into school nnd college and have demonstrated tho fact beyond a doubt that there are just as good minds among families of humble birth as there are In tho nobility. These individuals who have arisen hao resented tho notion of tho divine di-vine right that a certain few rulers who probably would be paupers wero It not for their supposed high birth wero tho only ones entitled to pre-sido pre-sido over tho destinies of men and havo advocated tho doctrino that a'l men aro created equal and should havo an equal opportunity to rule, or servo and that all should havo freo access to public education with as much attention given to the son of tho widow who tolls, as to tho child of tho wealthy. This grand democratic Idea Is tho basis of our American education All classes meet on tho same level and they may rise or fall according to tho ability and persoveranco they may apply in their education. No one is doomed to a certain class of work because his father through accident or choice adopted that line, and no child should ho doomed to n certain kind of education, regardless of his fitness for It, just to fit the notion of someone elso. Aro our schools exactly fitted for tills Hboral training? Is taking a bookish school and handing it over to a largo percentage per-centage of children who aro not bookish book-ish tho best thing for thoso chil drcn? Tho school of yesterday was organized organ-ized for tho classes. Today tho school of tho classes has been given to tho masses. The school of tomorrow tomor-row will be a school for tho masses that will fit tho masses and tho aim will bo to fit tho boys and girls for service. Today1 a school Is a place where boys and girls between six and eighteen asserablo botwedn tho hours of nine and three thirty to tako instruction from books. When they finish they are given diplomas and degrees and nro regarded as educated educat-ed whether thoy aro or not. Tomorrow Tomor-row tho school will be a placo that Is regarded only as a center whero men and children may assemblo day or evening and learn things that aro worth while to them. They will apply what they learn dally In tho real world and thoy will learn moro from their books as a result of this application. Their activities will be-properly be-properly proportioned among work, play and study. Ono who follows cither cith-er ono of these three lines exclusively, exclus-ively, becomes an Inolllclent ruombor of society while ono who follows them all develops his sympathy, his judgment, judg-ment, his breadth of thought and his ability to do things. Every boy and girl Is getting training train-ing from about soven o'clock In tho morning until nine or ten o'clock In tho ovenlng from tho cradlo to tho gravo. Sometimes this training Is good and It is sometimes tho opposite. oppo-site. Tho school could well extend Its day, If tho day were properly apportioned ap-portioned to various activities, without with-out any detrimental cfTect to tho academic ac-ademic training, and not nil of this tlmo need bo spent at tho school headquarters. It is my opinion that a pupil would get a better education and bo better fitted for Hfo, if ho wero to dovoto three and a half or four hours each day to academic work and tho rost of tho tlmo to well directed and well supervised activities In tho lino of play or work, whether It oo In tho school building or not. Tho school building should ho headquarters for all of theso activities but tho vvho'o city may bo tho campus of tho school. Of course, this vvork Bhould bo adapted to each child. Great caro should bo taken that ho Is not exploited by greedy and grasping parents for moro financial gain. Tho welfare of tho child should always bo safeguarded. Ho should not bo allowed to participate In work that Is dangerous either to his body, mind or morals. Ho should not overdo tho taBk of work any moro than ho should overdo tho task of study or play. Tho high school and collego glvo many examples of boys and girls woso fathers nnd mothers do tholr thinking for them, putting no" handicaps handi-caps on them under the mistaken Idea that they are developing Persons Per-sons who will bo bettor fitted to tako, their places In llfo. A wise parent would much prefer to havo his son I learn to swim by getting In tho wa-l ter than to learn to swim by going through a book on swimming. Tho ono Is still wiser who will havo his son get In tho water and havo tho book on thd bank whero ho may consult con-sult It at frequent lnterva's. Tho boy who takes his diploma from high school should know how to go to work tho following Monday and do that work successfully. Tho school of tomorrow will bring to Its aid all tho people nnd nil these things will be used in supremo effort to build up and make Ideal homes. Supt. J. M. Mills, In Educational Revlovv. |