ing devices. In order to keep our social order
abreast of the industrial world, mass production is
copied. Belts carrying articles in the process of
manufacture pass by specialists who in turn con-
tribute their bits by adding a bolt, screwing a nut,
or adjusting a brake until at the end of the rounds
a material thing—perhaps an automobile—has
been made. Similarly all children are sent along
belts of grades and departments for each “special-
ized” teacher to mechanically “turn her few hun-
dred nuts” each day, with no extra time for one
not perfectly made or properly set. All “slicked
up” in evening clothes, or in cap and gown, at
the end of the tour (commencement) we admire
these children, the beautiful or comely specimens
of educationally milled humanity.

The test of the machine is the way it functions
on the road. The road for the child is Life. When
his veritable test comes, should his motor balk at
a life task, or his brakes slip on a dangerous
temptation grade, some life may be marred if not
ruined. The manufacturer (education) was at
fault. Might educators not better emulate Stradi-
varius producing perfect violins, than the sweat
shops producing thousands of gaudy articles with
little value or lasting quality? When trained,
conscientious teachers are given unhampered con-
trols, and a free hand at trying to make perfect
lives, we shall approach a solution for the prob-
lems of prisons, world peace, and others.

The system I am advocating may be un-Ameri-
can. America has done things in a big way.
America scorned the tree and wasted the forest;
bestowed a township and lost the public domain;
disregarded the buffalo and slaughtered the herds;
and picked the columbine and denuded the moun-
tainsides. Because of this improvident attitude,
future American generations are deprived of their
rightful heritage. The founders of this nation,
on the other hand, thought in terms of individuals
when they declared, “We hold these truths to be
self-evident: That all men are created equal; that
they are endowed by their Creator with certain
inalienable Rights; that among these are Life,
Liberty and pursuit of Happiness.”
glomerated production of our factory type of
school, the individual is lost sight of. The average
children fare best, but the genius and dull child
suffer much injustice to themselves and to the
society of which they are a part. For a general
view of a whole, the observer must be at a distance,
but to effectively improve that unit, or save it,
close individual attention is imperative.

Those in remote control term education a
science, an art, or life. Classroom teachers call

SDEA JOURNAL e@ November, 1935

In the ag- ~

it a real job, requiring inspiration, perspiration,
patience, and love. Children positively do not
react according to the orderly laws of science,
especially when they are put into large heterogen-
eous groups. Art and life are too indefinite; they
may mean anything or nothing. Such general-
izations, however, are typical of the philosophy
and suggestions given by outside educators. When
a teacher seeks help from them, she usually is
offered such a broad solution that it cannot pos-
sibly fit the specific case. Teachers are warned
against trying to fit square pegs into round holes
when dealing with children, yet the pegs of those
in control of the teaching profession require much
whittling (on the sly) before they will fit into
the intended holes. Classroom teachers are happy
in their work and they want an opportunity to
make their efforts count for the most as they
serve.

Administrators, supervisors, and even educa-
tional theorists have very important niches to fill
in our educational scheme, but the Kingdom of
Education is within. When master teachers have
the free control of the teaching profession as it
touches real boys and girls, instead of statistical
substitutes for them, Education will no longer
need to be proved or justified. It will fulfill its
rightful function and occupy a place of honor
among the social agencies that promote individual
happiness, and train for proper relationships of
one man with another.

 

 

 

 

 

SUPT. J. C. LINDSEY, Mitchell
Past President of the SDEA
Mitchell Convention Committee Chairman

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