The Soul of Democracy: The Philosophy of the World War in Relation to Human LibertyGriggs, Edward Howard
Philosophy
The Soul of Democracy: The Philosophy of the World War in Relation to Human Liberty
Griggs, Edward Howard
Democracy; World War, 1914-1918 -- Influence
Now if it is not possible to serve equally the needs of both groups,
would it not be better to neglect the one tenth of the students, going
on to college, even assuming they are the pick of the flock, which they
are not always? They have four more years to correct their mistakes and
round out their culture. If any one must be subordinated, it would be
better to neglect them, and focus upon the needs of the nine out of ten,
who go directly from the high school into life and have not another
chance; yet there are states in the Union, where it is possible for a
committee of the state university at the top to say to every high school
teacher in the state, "Conform to our requirements, or leave the state,
or get out of the profession." The threat, moreover, has been carried
out more than once.
That situation is utterly wrong. We want organization of the
educational system, with each unit cooperating with the next higher, but
if education is to solve the problem of democracy and furnish moral
leadership for American life, we want each unit to be free, first of
all, to serve its own constituency to the best of its power. The
problem is not serious for the big city high school, with its multiplied
elective courses, but for the small rural or town high school, with its
limited corps of teachers and its necessarily fixed courses, the burden
is onerous indeed.
Is the American college and university doing all that it might do in
cultivating moral leadership for American democracy? The last decades
have seen an astounding and unparalleled development of higher education
in America. In the old days, the college was usually on a
denominational foundation. It was supported by the dollars and pennies
of earnest religionists who believed that education was necessary to
religion and morality. The president was generally a clergyman of the
denomination; he taught the ethics course, and all students were
required to take it. There was compulsory chapel attendance, and once a
day the entire student body gathered together to listen to some moral
and religious thought.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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