Our Schools in War Time—and AfterDean, Arthur D. (Arthur Davis)
History
Our Schools in War Time—and After
Dean, Arthur D. (Arthur Davis)
Education -- United States; World War, 1914-1918 -- War work -- Schools
At present, to be sure, we center our thoughts on how to make the world
safe for democracy. But what of the future? What of the contribution
of the schools after the war? Should not the schools then center their
aims and methods on making _democracy safe for the world_? If the
people themselves are to be masters, must they not be provided with
an education making for mastership? Is it not well for us to examine
our present schools to determine whether they are making a democracy
which will be safe for the world? Have we a system of education
which actually gives an opportunity for every child to make the most
of himself? Have we a liberalized course of study which actually
stimulates and develops intellectual and aesthetic interests in
music, art, literature, science, travel, and history? Have we evolved
a socialized education developing moral habits, civic incentives,
possession and use of ethical ideals and standards for a successful
group life? Has our formative process been able to bring about
refinements of social behavior beyond the point required for group
participation? Have we arrived at the point where we can say that our
people have even the common culture which it is expected all members
of a democracy shall possess, to say nothing about the development of
individual culture, which is a possession of the interested individual
and his congenial fellows? How far have we gone in recognizing that
"by-education" which comes through a child's self-direction of his
natural or spontaneous learning instincts and impulses?
How much have we accomplished in giving educational and vocational
guidance to children between the ages of 12 and 16? What has been
done in the way of fulfilling the national obligation to teach the
strangers within our gates our language and the principles and forms
of our civic life? What has been our program for subnormals in order
that they may be prepared for independent living in the competitive
social order? Have we established clear-cut distinctions between
subnormal and crippled cases that must remain custodial and those that
can be prepared for independent existence? What are we doing in the
way of education for delinquents? To what extent have we utilized the
discovery that these antisocial manifestations of youth are results of
heredity, or of inferior homes, or of a lack of playgrounds, or of poor
schools?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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