On the Firing Line in Education | Page 7

the educational forces of the country have been
engaged in a nation-wide educational campaign designed to make clear
to the homes of the country and to the voters of the country the growing
seriousness of the situation. On the lecture platform and from the
Gospel pulpit, in the educational press and in the popular magazine,
aye, in the daily newspaper, in private conversation and in public
discussion, in season and out of season, they have labored unceasingly
to acquaint the public with the facts and to urge preventive and
remedial action. To the unselfish work of these leaders of educational
thought and action, supplemented by the generous assistance of the
medical profession, is due the fact of our present-day intelligence in
regard to the matter. Educators have been deeply interested, thoroly
alive, and intelligently at work. How they have agitated the matter of
better ventilation and better lighting of schoolhouses! How they have
pleaded for medical inspection and appropriate medical treatment of
school children! How they have urged the employment of the school
nurse! How they have workt for the playground and the gymnasium
and for sane methods of handling the same!
But they do not form the court of last appeal. They have no authority.
They all stand in about the same anomalous position as does the man
nominally at the head of the educational activities of the country--the
United States Commissioner of Education. They may gather statistics,

make reports, and suggest action. But that is all. Tho possessing full
knowledge of the situation, tho knowing just how to proceed to usher in
a better day, they are not permitted to take any action. Responsible? Of
course they are not responsible. "Redeem" themselves? From what,
pray? "Laughing stock"? How long, oh! how long, will our great army
of teachers, three-fourths of a million strong, be unappreciated, belittled,
and maligned!
Who, then, is responsible? In the last analysis there is but one
answer--the public itself. Since the community at large as well as the
individual afflicted is, in the final outcome, a sufferer in every case of
physical disability, as also in that of illiteracy, it is its duty, as a mesure
of self-protection, at least, to assume direction. Adequate information is
at hand as to desirable methods of procedure. Demonstrations a-plenty
have been given to prove that the program suggested is feasible,
inexpensive, and beneficial. This has been brought about thru the action
of a few small groups who have thus presented clear and convincing
object lessons. But why must we say "a few"? Why is not such work
nation-wide? That is a longer story. It follows.
The United States of America is a Republic--a representative
democracy--a government in which all the people participate. And the
government of the United States is a Federal government. It is made up
of a group of States, each one exercising supervision and control over
its local matters. And education has thus far been considered a local
matter. And in many ways that soverenty has been still further divided.
We have as a smaller unit of school organization the county, and a
smaller one yet, the township, and, in many states, a still smaller one,
the school district, containing, in many instances, only a few square
miles of territory and, of course, a very limited population. But in some
respects, within certain limits, each of these small units is a law unto
itself, having much to say as to the length of the school term, the
character of the teaching, and many other phases including such as the
one under consideration.
For these reasons it frequently happens that side by side are school
districts, or townships, or counties, with widely differing educational

programs. Here is one with attractive buildings, well ventilated and
well lighted, well equipt in every way, in the hands of competent
teachers, with physician and nurses subject to call. But just over the
imaginary line is another with nothing quite satisfactory. They are just
living up to the strict letter of the State's requirement and that is all. Not
one dollar is being spent that represents the community's voluntary
contribution to the welfare of its child life or to the future well-being of
humanity.
And why? Just because we are a Democracy. Just because our action
must be the united action of many, representing the average intelligence
of the entire governmental unit and not that of its most intelligent
members. For this reason a democracy is always slow to act along new
lines. The majority of the people have to be convinced of the wisdom
of the new mesure. And education is itself always a slow process.
People change their minds slowly. Slowness of action is one of the
prices we have to pay for our democracy. On the other hand, an