Woodward High School - Treasures Yearbook (Cincinnati, OH)

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decided that the masses must be enlightened. But the question now remaining is, HWhat sort of education shall it be that young people should receive in the public schools of our country in Order to best ht them for the functions of a human being? It was formerly thought that to be a factor in civilization one need have only a knowledge of the classics. Great men of the past have always written the classics of the present, and that the young people might-understand the words of present great men, it was deemed necessary that they be given a strictly academic training. But there was evidently something wrong with this system, for public education along these lines never prospered. The high school, which is the institution which really grounds out careers, had a place of little or no importance in the community. Nine of ten of the successful men of a city could boast of never having attended a high school. The boys who did graduate from this sort of a school had no better Opportunity than the fellow who knew Simply how to read and write. Education is to make individuals greater factors in the advancement of civilization. Hence, such an education as was given in our old-time high schools was a complete failure in a way. Of course, it led to a higher intellectual development, but the fact remains that because it did not lead to a higher industrial development. any good which the higher intellectual standard could have produced was pre- vented. But lately there has come over us the idea of the practical in education. Our schools are trying to help 10 in the attainment of a higher culture by putting men and women into the commercial world, all ready for their lifeis occupation. And to fit the pupils for their various professions we have instituted co-operative courses in which the pupils spend part Of the school year in direct employment in the trade they wish to learn and the rest of the school year on the learning of the principles of their trades under the guidance of carefully selected teachers. There are some so-calletl tiCommercial Courses'i that fit a boy 01- girl for a business life. The manual training department has regular wood-tnrning and machine shops. In these departments the boys apply themselves directly to work in anticipation of a career of a mechanic. But as 'a consequence of this vocational work in the school, the high school has risen from a position of insignihcance to the height of importance. Our busi- ness men of the present day no longer sneer at the high school training, but accept the high school grad- uates into high and trustworthy positions. Statistics prove that the boy 01' girl who has Spent four years under our present practical high school training has a far better chance for a good position than young people who have not received such an education. Our high schools are carrying out the idea of education, inasmuch as they are preparing our young people for a higher industrial civilization. But the one great fault of. the present day high school is that it has, in its rush toward practicaiisin, lost sight of the fact that an academic education is needed, Our industrial branches in high school have

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THE PROGRESS OF EDUCATION HERE is; no prospect more unfavorable to the human race, than the prospect of retrogression. Man will not have his present civilization de- teriorate, Coupled with this endeavor to sustain our culture of to-day, is the higher and nobler determina- tion to advance. Without this burning ambition for progress, without a deep desire for a higher moral, intellectual and industrial civilization, man is little or no better than a beast. Because of the blending of the fear of retrogression and the strife for progress, the human being stands as the emblem of mortal perfection of to-day. AS a natural consequence of this unique combination of two striking characteristics, mankind has taken special care in the education of its young. If we are to remain at our present status of civilization, those of the rising generation must know at least as much as their fathers, and if mankind is to advance the children must be trained with greater care than their parents. At various times in the existence of the human race there have been different ideas as to who should be educated, as to who are to be the banner bearers of civilization. Formerly the upper classes were revered by all and were regarded by all as those upon whom the future of mankind depended. So we find that in olden times, and, in fact, up to a short time ago, only the children of wealthy and opulent parents were educated. But gradually there has come to mankind a new spirit, the spirit of democracy. Wre have come to realize that the great strides in civilization are due, not to the efforts of the blueebloods and opulent, but that our civilization advances because the masses pro- gress. We have found that as long as the masses are mentally unable to follow their leaders, civilization does not move forward. Socrates preached about high forms of the Deity, but his contemporaries, being of an inferior education, could not grasp the idea. The prophets of ancient Israel advocated a state of society which even we to-tlay hold as ideali But the people Of those times were poorly educated and unable to realize the truth of the prophetic or Socratic doctrines, and what was the result? Civilization was held back and years were wasted before the common people reached that mental state where they realized the truth of the preachings of past reformers. We are now seeing how civilization has been retarded because the people have not been properly educated, and we have

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been inoculated at the expense of academic studies. The boys and girls who take the industrial courses do not receive the right amount of training in the fine arts. Bookkeeping is preferred to History and Applied Art is defeating Geometry in popularity. They are sending out into the world human machines and not the finest type of man or woman. Civilization is a blend of the intellectual, moral and practical. The fault of our old schools was that they paid all attentiOn to the intellectual and none to the practical. The growing fault of Our present high schools is that they are paying more and more attention to the practical and less and less to the intellectual. A human being. to be a real factor in civilization must he a combina- tion of that which is intellectual, moral and practical, and just as our old time high schools failed, because of their ultra-inteiiectualism, 50 our present schools are destined to failure if they carry this practical trend to an extreme. The educators who are controlling the courses at H-ioodward seem to have realized the true aim of edueav lion, and ate graduating individuals who can render their best services toward the advancement of. mankind. er have. in our schools, a delightful blending of the academic and the industriat There is, perhaps, too great a trace of the industrial, but that is overcome by the 01d academic standards of Woodward. The boys and girls who stepped from XVOOthi'atd into the world have the verezltile training which the real twentieth century man or woman needs. The graduates of Woodward are not human machines, nor are they bookwoirms. Wyooidward has made a name for itself in the community, a name which is indeed enviable. But there is a deep shadow resting over this school, as over all other large high schools, the dark shadow of ultrw practicaiismi Let us take the warning which we have received from the sad fate of our 0ch high schools, with their extremes in academic training, and let us keep XVoodward as an emblem of true education forever. 11