Great Falls High School - Roundup Yearbook (Great Falls, MT)

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Published at Great Falls, Montana by the Great Falls High School Sixth Year JUNE, 1913 Number Two The Log, The Boy and Mark Hopkins DUCATION was defined years ago as a log with a Ijo) ' on one end and Mark Hopkins on the Hy o t h e r. Perhaps the ■ p same definition holds i ood today, hut that the relation of the lioy to his teacher and even to the log has changed, no one can deny. The change in his relation to the log is the most important of all. If the boy of yesterday with his fiat chest and over-developed head had been asked which of this trio is the most important he would have answered in parrot like tones, Mark Hopkins. But ask the boy of today in which he sees the greatest chances of development and he would probab- ly cause the great Mark no little un- easiness in his grave by answering in a stentorian voice, The log. Per- haps there is much truth in the form- er and only a germ of truth in the latter answer, yet the difference of these two truthfully portrays the change in our ideas of education then and now. The aim of education heretofore has been to build up girls and boys. especially boys, without any particu- lar motive. Up to a comparatively recent time the experience and judg- ment of educators led them to the conclusion that school education should not be very definitely correl- ated with the practical affairs of life; that it should be general in its char- acter, aiming primarily at mental dis- cipline and the development of in- tellectual and spiritual qualities, that the things taught and the methods of teaching should promote culture. It is not so many years ago that even those who were to enter the profes- sions had no special school training for their work. Education for the purpose of increasing efficiency was regarded as unworthy of the free man — only the now industrial occupations were worthy. One of the first causes of agitation along t he lines of industrial education was the increase in industrial activ- ities. As these interests grew, the de- mand for workers grew, and we find boys of fourteen and younger in the apprentice shops receiving little or no recompense, in the way of skill, for their slow, laborious task of learning a trade.

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Donald Suhr, President

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K O L ' X 1) L ' 1 Another important cause of tlic rise of the industrial question was the prolilem of the immigrant. Whether he shall prove a unit of strength or a center of infectious degeneration de- pends simply upon the education he is given. It is sound public policy to give him industrial training so that he will he capable of self-support — the basis of good citzenship. The world owes no man a living except he earns it. With such problems as those star- ing us in the face, we have finally awakened to a realization of the great need of industrial education; and. as a result, American schools are be- coming essentially industrial. Our colleges were the first to adapt themselves to this new trend by the introduction of special courses which should train the mind as well as the mind. Then technical schools have fallen into line with the advance of industrialism and the child, almost from the time he enters school, is de- veloped along practical lines. We no longer merely talk about things — we let the pupils do them. School is not only a preparation for life, it is life itself. To be sure, per- fection has not yet I)ecn attained in our methods, l)ut the amount that has been accomplished is marvelous and augurs great things for the future. Furthermore, the boy of today is more fitted to an industrial education than the boy of yesterday. He no longer thinks that to be a gentle- man he has to wear fine clothes and be idle. When a mother waits on her boy, prides herself that he is to lie a gentleman, and urges the self-made father to hire a gardener to mow the small lawn in order that her boy may have time to loaf physically or browse intellectually, she little rea- lizes that she is doing the very thing tliat may prcvtMit liiin from following in tlie f(Misteps of tliat husband of whom she is so justly proud. She fails to grasp that habits of order, industry, obedience, and right think- ing can come only out of practice and that thought is valuable only as it is translated into action. In the school of tomorrow, it will I)e boys more than ])ooks and living more than let- ters. The problem of industrial education requires a cireful survey — supervis- ion with the super vision out of sight, discipline that is not in evidence, and opportunities for actual productive work. These things no military school can supply. The average boarding school, founded on the English idea, is pur- gatory, and, as Dickens asserted, out of line with nature. We succeed in education just as we succeed in any- thing — if we succeed at all — through following nature. The future of each ])oy is determ- ined by the eflfect upon him of the education which he receives. Ten per cent of our entire population are degenerates and inefTioients. and most of these ten jjcr cent are not ignor- ant. They are those who have l)een over educated or wrongly educated. Tliey were supplied with things they had not earn-jd and .consequently, they have no appreciation of the efforts of others, nor have they gratitude for anything done for them. Predi- ge sted educ ' ition and printers ' jink will not prodrce successful and irile men. if tlie boy is to ])ecome the skilled workman which tlie industrial world demands today, he must re- ceive, in his early life, education that will be of i)ractical use to him. He must be made to understand that all knowled.ye is useful, and all work well done is honorable, and. as Car- ■16—