On the Firing Line in Education Part 7

Practically our only reliable statistics touching the matter are gathered from our biographical cyclopedias. A few years ago a very interesting study was made of the data found in the current issue of _Who's Who in America_. This book, you know, is made up of short biographies of such persons living at the time in the United States as have become real factors in the progress and achievement of the age, in other words, of men recognized as leaders in thought and action in the educational, political, military, and business realms.

Of the whole number mentioned in the issue studied educational data were given of 11,019. Of that number 1,111 had enjoyed only elementary school advantages; 1,966 had added to these only the advantages of secondary education, but 7,942 had come from the colleges and universities. In other words, more than 72% of these leaders are shown to have received their final preparations for leadership within college walls.

Figures as interesting have been gathered thru a use of _Appleton's Cyclopedia of Biography_. A few years ago careful study was made of an edition just then out and it was found that of the college graduates of America one out of every forty had gained sufficient distinction to merit recognition in that cyclopedia, whereas only one out of 10,000 non-graduates, the public at large, had received such distinction. In other words, the college graduate had 250 chances to the other man's one for achieving leadership.

Moreover, the higher inst.i.tutions of learning have furnished every one of the Chief Justices of our Supreme Court, 75% of our Presidents, 70% of the membership of our two highest courts, and more than 50% of all our Congressmen. The last state-men is very significant when one recalls our method of selecting Congressmen--our political machinery and its devious modes of working. I have no authentic data of other fields, but all that one needs to do to satisfy himself practically as to other details is to call to his service his own knowledge of the general situation. In the communities with which you are acquainted, among the people whom you know either personally or by reputation, what are the facts? Who are the leaders? Where college people are found, are they leaders or followers?

There are exceptions, of course. There come to you at once the names of men, a few of them, who, thru the exercise of their own inherent strength, unaided by college or university, have risen to deserved greatness. I have only to mention the names of our immortal Lincoln, or England's present David Lloyd George, in the field of statesmanship, or of Lord Strathcona or Sir William Van Horne, or James J. Hill, railroad kings and empire builders, in the business world, or of Luther Burbank, in the realm of science, to make the fact of exceptions perfectly clear.

But they _are_ exceptions--that's the point--and exceptions merely prove the rule.

And even as to the few it is scarcely necessary to say that their positions, tho of leadership, are, generally speaking, subordinate ones, they themselves even while leading in certain limited fields, are following the leadership of others in broader fields which include their own--and the ones followed are they of the broader training. This is especially true of men who have achieved success in the business world or in the political field. Their success, their leadership, is often more seeming than real,--depending as it does upon their advisers--broadly educated men. Take Lord Strathcona, for example, or Mr. Hill, as typical ill.u.s.trations; with all their far-sightedness and their recognized ability, what could they have done, even in their own field of activity, had it not been for the trained physicist, the skilled chemist, and the engineer--products of the university--who gave them their rails, built their bridges, designed their engines, and in many ways made it possible for them to realize their dreams? They would have been powerless. Tho leaders, they followed, and their kind always will follow, the university student. They may hire this student and pay him his wage, but they are still indebted to him for leading them onward and upward.

From a hasty survey, therefore, which, however, I am satisfied would yield the same fruitage no matter to what extent pushed, our statement seems to be justified.

But let us look at it from another point of view. How is the matter regarded by those of the present time most deeply interested in the future well-being of man and of the nations of the world? By those people and those forces who feel the responsibility of providing leadership for the next generation? What steps are being taken to reach the end--to provide the leaders? On any hypothesis other than the one a.s.sumed in my initial statement can you account for the lavish expenditure for the endowment and maintenance of higher inst.i.tutions of learning that so characterize our generation? From one side to the other of our broad land, aye, from distant lands and from the isles of the sea comes the same testimony: benevolent individuals seem to vie with one another in the munificence of their gifts for higher education. Even soveren states and great nations, under the guidance of far-seeing leaders, are planting these inst.i.tutions and, in a truly generous manner, providing for their present and future needs.

That the college is the only source from whence can come our supply of leaders is a real conviction in the minds of men the world over, is shown by a recent incident in war-stricken Europe. It was only a few months ago and during the terrible campaign in Eastern Poland, even while sh.e.l.ls were bursting and men were dying, that the Central Powers stopt, as it were, in the mad rush of wanton destruction, to re-establish and reorganize the old University of Warsaw. More than that, they added to the old inst.i.tution two new faculties, or colleges, as we would call them.

Strange, isn't it? In the incident I can see but this logic: a recognition of the fact that, with the forces of destruction reaping such an awful harvest, their civilization was doomed unless some step could be taken, not, primarily, to check the present war but rather to provide, at its close, an adequate supply of leaders. That seemed to them the only way to prevent a permanent impoverishment and a dropping back into a state of, at least, temporary semi-barbarism as was so common during the early Middle Ages under a.n.a.logous circ.u.mstances. And the step taken by those shrewd, coldly-calculating war lords was the strengthening of the forces of higher education. One reason why, during the Middle Ages, there was this frequent dropping back is the fact that this relationship between leadership and education was not recognized.

Under the powerful impulse of this conviction, namely, that the well-equipt college as a part of the broad university community is the only source of leadership, men and states and provinces and nations are sacrificing for higher education as never before. New inst.i.tutions are being founded and old ones strengthened. Magnificent buildings are being erected with seemingly little thought of cost provided only that they serve their purpose. Libraries so thoroly equipt as to leave nothing desired, laboratories unsurpast in completeness, vast gymnasiums containing every possible apparatus for bodily development, and other facilities of every kind and description, all irrespective of cost, are daily being added. And better than buildings and grounds, more vital than equipment and endowment, are the trained minds and pure hearts that, in ever increasing numbers, are being freely offered on the same shrine. Abilities, and training, and attainments that in the world of business would yield their possessors independent fortunes, or in the fields of authorship or politics result in honor and fame, are here freely offered. The material return rendered for such service is the merest pittance absolutely needed for family support, and the immaterial, but one's enshrinement in the heart of an occasional grateful student plus the consciousness of having done one's duty. Can such a generous outpouring of material and spiritual treasures be accounted for on any hypothesis other than a recognition of the great world's needs and a firm belief that those needs can be best satisfied thru an educated leadership? Nay, verily, all these things are being done because the best thought of the day feels, both instinctively and with reason, that only thus can the kingdom of G.o.d come among men.

What unique, important, and responsible position the State or Provincial University occupies among civic inst.i.tutions! What splendid opportunities for usefulness are his who is the executive head of such an inst.i.tution! Aye, and what weighty responsibilities rest upon him!

Fellow teachers, what manifold opportunities for usefulness are yours, and what weighty responsibilities rest upon you by virtue of the fact that you are teachers in such an inst.i.tution! And my message to you is the same as to the student body--_n.o.blesse Oblige!_ Freely have you received, freely must you give. Tho the state does not, nor ever can, adequately pay you for your best services, still you must not falter.

You must continue to live up to your own high ideals of your n.o.ble profession. The very acceptance of such positions in such an inst.i.tution carries with it the obligation of performance--_n.o.blesse Oblige!_

But who are these college and university students who have such a large and important future before them and for whose training and development, because of that future, such elaborate preparations are being made? The university man--who and what is he? Likewise the university woman? Let us answer the question simply and briefly by merely saying that, tho sometimes rude and crude because immature and undeveloped, they are yet the keenest, the brightest, the most far-seeing, the most promising young men and women of the land. They are the choice souls found, one here, another there, one in the hamlet and another on the farm, one in the city and another on the prairie, one in a palace, another in a sod house. They are a picked lot selected not only from the so-called upper ranks of thought and action, but as well from the highways and by-ways of our broad land, chosen because of intellectual strength and moral fiber, because of high ideals and lofty purposes; chosen by themselves, it may be true, but chosen nevertheless, thru their equipment of mind and heart. The very fact that you are here and others are not is testimony sufficient to your greater worth. Exceptions, to be true, there are, but none too many prove the rule. I am not saying these things in a spirit of flattery, not at all. I am merely stating facts, and thru these facts trying to help you catch the vision--to see your opportunity and accept the responsibilities. But note the significance--those already best equipt by the superior quality of their brain matter and of their mental fiber and of their moral nature and who therefore without further preparation would easily distance the others, are here giving themselves even better equipment. There can be no question as to the relative position of the two cla.s.ses in the years to come--the one cla.s.s is to furnish the leaders, the other the followers. The one is to form the ideals, to set the standards, to decide upon policies, to mark out courses, the other to try to reach the goals set. The two cla.s.ses may be equally good morally, equally worthy of respect and honor because equally faithful in the performance of duties suited to their tastes and abilities, but yet, from the very nature of things, the one going ahead, the other following behind. And in the years to come your compet.i.tors will be not from among the non-college men and women--you have already put yourself out of their reach--but from among those who, like yourselves, ambitious for better and greater things, are to-day, in this and other similar inst.i.tutions, using every means, straining every nerve, to attain the highest possible degree of efficiency for future service. You are not only to be leaders, but in some way you seem to know it instinctively and to be putting yourselves in a state of readiness.

But does some one raise the objection that this theory of leadership does not seem to be in harmony with the spirit and genius of our American inst.i.tutions; that under a democratic form of government all are equal; that all men, irrespective of intellectual attainment, share equally, not only before the law but in the very making of law; that in America all men are rulers? All this is true theoretically and, to a certain extent, practically, but it does not lessen the need of efficient leadership; it increases that need, or, at any rate, it makes it necessary that the number capable of efficient leadership be greatly increased. The very fact that all have a voice in the government, that all do share, consciously and potently, in its exercise and in its responsibilities, speaks more loudly than anything else can of the need of wise leadership. If the great ma.s.s of people were not factors, they would not have to be taken into account. They might need drivers but not leaders. But being factors and yet, in the main, not being capable of adequate a.n.a.lysis of our most complex and highly intricate problems, they must be provided with safe and efficient leaders. I believe in the honesty, in the good intentions, and in the good sense of the common people. But I do not believe in their ability to detect relations, to draw wise conclusions, and to formulate policies touching the complicated political, social, and economic conditions of our times.

It is a well-recognized fact that, as some one has said, "speaking broadly, the striking disadvantage under which a democracy labors, as contrasted, let us say, with certain types of autocracy, lies in its inability to plan effectively with reference to remote goals.... What we call 'far ahead' thinking is difficult for the individual, but it is vastly more difficult for the group, and its difficulty is intensified in both cases if it demands large measures of present sacrifice." No, democracy must be led. Leaders they must have. If honest and disinterested ones are not at hand, selfish and dishonest ones will be accepted. I grant that leadership is not the greatest need of democracy, that, of course, is a higher level of knowledge and intelligence, but I do claim that leadership is, and always will be, the greatest _present_ need of democracy, since it is only thru that leadership that the higher intelligence can be reached, without loss, and in the shortest possible time.

But again, do you point out certain great victories of the common people, so-called, when they have risen in the power of their might and, in the exercise of their right, have put down men who had a.s.sumed the right to lead them and were leading them astray? Do you point to the State of Missouri of a decade ago, and to New York City again and again, and to England a generation ago, as ill.u.s.trations? True, in all these cases and in many others, notable victories had been gained by and for the people. But is it not also true that in every such case the people won victories because wisely led? Think you that corruption and violation of law would have been so checked in Missouri a decade ago and the breakers of law been so thoroly punished, had it not been for the clear-headed work of that fearless, public-spirited Joseph W. Folk? Does not Charles S. Whitman come to your mind when the great struggle in New York City is mentioned? And Hiram W. Johnson in California? And when we recall the victories of the people in our own Motherland across the sea, do we not have at once a mental picture of the "Grand Old Man,"

William Ewart Gladstone? Had it not been for these leaders or others who might else have taken their places, half of the people whose votes helped win the victories would never have known that there were such victories to win. They would never have realized the extent to which they were being wronged and mis-ruled.

Certain conditions were not quite satisfactory. All people felt, half unconsciously, that rights were not being respected, that justice was not being done--that something was wrong somewhere--but that was about all, about as far as they went or could go. But these leaders, who, in years gone by, in the colleges and the universities, had been trained to search for causes, to see relations, and to draw conclusions, had scented danger from afar. And to the task of ferreting out the evil and of finding remedies they devoted the strength of their splendidly equipt minds and the purity of their strong hearts. Following up the lead of surface manifestations they finally unearthed corporate greed, political domination, and Satanic selfishness in such kinds and amounts as to be really appalling. But they did not stop there--they searched for remedies and then went before the people and told them a plain simple tale of what they had found--of how grossly the people were being wronged--and they outlined programs of reform. The people believed them; they rallied to their standards, accepted their leadership, and won the victories. And such victories, in greater or less degree, are being won all over the land, thank G.o.d! And back of every one of them you can find, if you search, a smaller or larger edition of Folk, Whitman, or Gladstone.

And how about the future? Are all the victories won? No more such work to do? Ah! the question does not need an answer. Then who are to be the leaders? Why not you? and you? and you? Depend upon it, they are going to be college men and college women, and who more capable or worthy than yourselves?

There are two ways in which I want you young people to look upon this matter; in the first place, from the point of view of your own personal interests. Here are opportunities for advancement, openings the filling of which will bring to you worldly success, and honor and fame. Both by natural endowment and by special training you are fitted for the work.

Seize, then, the opportunities and make the most of them, because the world and they that dwell therein belong to him who knows how to use them. From one point of view this is perfectly legitimate, and I urge it. It is not only one's right but one's duty to make the most of himself--to advance his own interests. The program becomes censurable only when it absorbs all else--when one's own interest is sought at the _expense_ of the interest of other people instead of in connection with it or as a step in its realization.

Now, the other way in which I want you to regard the matter is from the point of view of the interests of the people at large. Let me put it like this: here is your body politic, the people of North Dakota, 600,000 strong, or, better yet, the people of the United States, some hundred million in number, partners in ownership of our magnificent country, co-laborers in its administration, and sharers in the work of their own government and in the working out of their destinies--each with a share and an influence and each expected to partic.i.p.ate. But so complicated are the matters needing consideration, so difficult of solution many of the problems arising, and so infinitely vast the whole undertaking that the great majority of the people, thru either immaturity or lack of training, often do not know what is best to do.

And again, skilful manipulators, dishonest self-seekers, are ever at hand with plausible theories calculated to befog the untrained, deceive the unsuspecting, and to lead them all astray. Taking everything into consideration, the situation is extremely difficult. In a plain word, these untrained people, the product of the elementary schools, can not see far enough ahead to know that oftentimes the policy that seems most attractive is full of danger for the future. They are not qualified to weigh, and estimate, and decide. But there is a cla.s.s among them, college-bred men and women, a small cla.s.s, relatively, that is qualified. Thru long years of study, and investigation, and reflection, in inst.i.tutions freely provided and generously maintained by the people now in need, they have attained such a knowledge of affairs and such an ability to cope with intricate problems as to make them efficient leaders--leaders capable of guiding aright the n.o.ble ship of state thru difficult and tortuous channels beset, on every side, by dangerous rocks and calamitous whirlpools. And among that cla.s.s of efficient leaders you, young men and young women of the University of North Dakota, will soon be numbered. How shall you respond to the call of duty? Your State, by virtue of what she has done and is now doing for you, has a right to expect unselfishness and unstinted service in her own interests and in those of mankind. Shall she get it? Will you rise to the occasion and, even at a sacrifice of personal comfort, ease, esthetic enjoyment, money, give to her what is her due? Will you remember _n.o.blesse Oblige_? Of course you will. For there is a well-established principle, clearly stated in Holy Writ and sanctioned by the ages, that of those to whom much hath been given, much will also be required. _n.o.blesse Oblige_--your privileges compel you.

Because the theory of the old motto, "_Paucis vivat humanum genus_,"

"for the few live the many," is no longer maintained. The many do not live for the few. The reverse is true. The few live for the many. But yet, the service is not unrewarded--only a portion of the reward has come first. In your equipment you are being paid in advance. David Starr Jordan has happily clothed the thought in these words: "It is in the saving of the few who serve the many that the progress of civilization lies. In the march of the common man, and in the influence of the man uncommon who rises freely from the ranks, we have all of history that counts."

And here I might stop. But a general statement, more or less abstract, needs practical ill.u.s.tration: the "how," the "when," and the "where" are perfectly legitimate questions for you to ask. Let us then throw a hasty glance upon some of the great activities that claim men's attention, and discover some of the openings awaiting you.

_The teaching profession_ will draw heavily upon your ranks--that profession, full and rich in opportunities for usefulness beyond any and all others, is more and more looking for you, and waiting impatiently for your full equipment and thoro readiness. All of the higher positions must come to you and others like you. No others are, or will be, adequately prepared. In nearly all of our states the legal requirement for a high school teacher and, of course, for the high school princ.i.p.al and city superintendent is the completion of a full four-year college course including a certain specified amount of professional work. In some of the states, indeed, the requirement is of a full year beyond the undergraduate course, or the possession of a Master's degree, with the emphasis of this added year thrown upon the subjects to be taught and the manner of handling the same.

So the facts are borne upon us that the desk of the high school princ.i.p.al, the office of the city superintendent, the chair of the college professor, the position of college and university president, is soon to be offered you. Are you ready for it? ready in academic equipment? ready in professional attainment? And are you equally well prepared in that even finer element--the possession of your soul by the spirit of _n.o.blesse Oblige_?

I can not say, of course, to which of you here to-day a college presidency is to be offered, nor the professor's chair, nor any other specific position. Nor can I say just when the offer will come. But I can say, and with a.s.surance, that all these positions and all others of leadership in the educational field will be offered to college men and college women, and in all probability as soon as they are well ready for them. Moreover, it can doubtless be said that they will be apportioned fairly on the basis of merit and fitness. And then you will have in your hands the shaping of the destinies of a great free people with all the emoluments, the opportunities, and the responsibilities that should accompany a work of such moment.

And _the Gospel ministry_ can no longer look elsewhere. If it is to continue to wield its mighty influence for good, and to play its magnificent role of leadership in our developing civilization, especially among our rapidly increasing educated cla.s.ses, it must more and more come into its rightful inheritance, so long withheld, of that broader conception of brotherhood and Christianity that forgets the letter of the law in magnifying its spirit--that puts life before dogma and character before creed. And this, fellow students, can never be without the broad university equipment.

We have traveled far during these latter years. And no longer do we consider it sufficient that the minister of the Gospel know merely his Bible and his theology. In addition to these, aye, as a basis for these, it is now demanded (that is, if he be accorded a position of real leadership among thinking people) that he know as well his history and his sociology, his psychology and his biology, and indeed that he be acquainted with all the fields of human knowledge. Not only that, he must know life as it is lived to-day, and the thoughts and emotions of men as they are manifested in the give and take of actual life. And none of these can be obtained within the narrow confines of the old theological seminary. The modern university is the only inst.i.tution in which the minister of the future can get it all and get it in the right order and in the correct admixture. In the laboratories, the libraries, and the cla.s.srooms he will delve deeply into the realms of science, literature, and art, and there and on the campus, in its varied activities, touch hands and exchange thoughts with the future lawyer, teacher, physician, engineer, business man, what-not, and thus gain tolerance, humility, catholicity of spirit, and the spirit of true democracy.

Thus circ.u.mstanced during his preparatory years, he will go out capable of seeing things in their proper perspective. That's the kind of man that the ministry is calling to-day, and the call will be louder and more incessant as the years pa.s.s and the education of the people progresses. That's the kind of man we already have in some of our leading pulpits, and they are exerting a tremendous influence in all departments of life. But the supply is limited. There's not enough to go around. Many more are needed. Our universities must furnish them. Will this inst.i.tution do its share? Will some of you young men, with your well-trained bodies, with your finely-disciplined minds, with your highly-cultured natures, with that fine balance of powers that means so much and that can accomplish so much for the world if thus used--will you turn aside from the beaten path that would be sure to lead to fame and power and worldly success and enter the more difficult but more useful field of the Christian ministry for the simple purpose of serving mankind? You are the kind of men we want, and I am sure that you will not disappoint us.

And so I might go on, did time permit, and point out attractive and responsible openings in many different activities--the fields of engineering and journalism, the professions of medicine and law, the great world of business, even politics (should I not say, rather, and _especially_ politics?). It is not necessary to go farther into detail.

You catch my thought. In one and all of these, positions of leadership are calling loudly for men and women of large knowledge, of trained minds, of broad outlook, and of splendid visions; and these characteristics are the fruitage of nothing less than the broad and comprehensive foundations laid in the college and the university. And you who have them are, by the very fact of possession, under obligation to use them for the public weal. How is it, young man, young woman? Are you going to mesure up to the twentieth century standard? Will you carry with you from this hall when you leave to-day, and from this inst.i.tution when she honors you with her diploma, and out into the great activities of life,--will you carry with you, I ask, and make the basis of your actions in life, the thought of these two little words that have been engaging our attention this morning--_n.o.blesse Oblige_?

VII

IMPROVEMENTS IN OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS

_A Paper read before the Commercial Club of Grand Forks, North Dakota, January 24, 1911, and printed in the Grand Forks "Daily Herald," January 29, 1911_

In accepting an invitation to speak upon the topic a.s.signed, "Improvements in Our Public Schools," I come not as a hostile critic, not even as an impartial observer viewing and commenting upon something belonging to another. Rather, I come as a sympathetic friend to talk about an inst.i.tution in which I am vitally interested and of whose good work I am proud. Indeed, I am to discuss a great business industry, if you please, in which you and I are joint stockholders and for whose success we are alike responsible. And, too, I have been for so many years a teacher and so closely connected with educational work that I feel akin to every other man and woman engaged in that occupation.

Knowing how easy it is to make mistakes and thus fall short of attaining our high ideals in this most trying and most difficult work, I am temperamentally inclined to magnify the difficulties and to overlook the shortcomings of educational workers. To be sure, in speaking upon "Improvements," I am admitting that improvements are possible. But the best friend of a person or an inst.i.tution is one who talks frankly and honestly, admitting weaknesses, if such there be, and suggesting a.s.sistance. Such an att.i.tude can not well be interpreted as a criticism either of men or mesures.

A gentleman met me on the street a day or two ago and said, "I understand that you are going to find fault with our schools next Tuesday night. What for? I want you to understand that our schools are all right. Let well enough alone." A few days ago one of the local papers said of the schools, "The public schools of Grand Forks are recognized as the finest in the Northwest and the school system is up-to-date in every respect."

And that idea seems to be chronic. Such expressions are common in our papers and from many of our people. The impression sought to be given is doubtless that of "Let well enough alone," or "Hands off." Now, Mr.

Chairman, while this feeling clearly betokens a general confidence in the management of the schools of which those directly in charge may well take pride, nevertheless, it is not an altogether healthy condition of affairs.

While I believe in a wise conservatism as against an unthinking radicalism, I am in no sense of the term a "stand-patter." The individual who has earned this picturesque t.i.tle, I care not whether in the halls of Congress or in the ranks of the educators, is a foe to progress. A "stand-patter" is such because he is in a rut and either too lazy or too corrupt to get out.

Things ought not to remain long as they are in any business, in any enterprise, in any inst.i.tution. Civilization never stands still. The most dangerous att.i.tude of mind that a man can hold is that of complacency, that of perfect satisfaction with things as they are. The good is always a foe to the best.

No, gentlemen, our schools are not "up-to-date in every respect," not altogether the "finest" in the great Northwest. The Northwest, you know, is a pretty big place and has some pretty enterprising towns. But no individual town has, in all respects, the finest schools in the Northwest, or in any other place. Our schools are, like those of other cities, just a good strong average. Like every other system, it contains some good teachers and some not so good; some up-to-date methods of instruction are being used and some which should be improved; some features there are to be strongly commended and some, doubtless, that should be discontinued. And more than this, gentlemen, you have no right to demand, or expect, from your Superintendent and your Board of Education. They will be the very first to endorse all that I have admitted above. Indeed, that they do not hold that exaggerated opinion is clearly apparent from the fact that they are even now considering improvements. And may the day never dawn when we shall see no needed improvements for our public schools! Should such a time come, it would simply mean that in matters educational our eyes have become dimmed and that we are rapidly falling behind.

Had the men of this city been "stand-patters" touching the city, Grand Forks would not be to-day what it is--the surprise and the admiration of every intelligent visitor. Were you men here to-night, in your civic relationship, "stand-patters," the promise of the future would be less bright than it is. During my early connection with Grand Forks I often wondered as to the secret of its enterprise. I was not long in discovering, however, that it was found in the spirit of this Commercial Club; a spirit, it is, of hope, of civic pride, of optimism, yet a spirit of almost divine discontent. You have all the time been proud of your city, but yet not satisfied with it; not satisfied, because you saw visions of a finer city into which yours might grow. Your city was not up-to-date--to help make it so you needed a street railway system; what did you do? Worked for it and--got it. Not yet up-to-date? A great auditorium was needed; you put your hand into your hip-pocket and lo! it arises in, what was it, thirty days? The goal not even yet in sight? No, because better pavement was imperative--and it came. Still something lacking? An up-to-date street lighting system--you put some of your men to work on it and it is now our pride and our neighbors' despair. And so I might go on, I do not need to. Only let me say that it will be a sad day for Grand Forks when we shall think that we have really reached the goal--when there is not something toward which we are striving.

I am glad that, in this same spirit, you have now turned your gaze to the school house. Let us apply there the same principle of free, intelligent discussion and hearty, generous co-operation, each trying to outdo the other in loyalty and generous support, hoping, eventually, to make our schools the "finest in the Northwest," and "up-to-date in every respect."

But this is a pretty big subject for treatment in an after-dinner talk of from 15 to 20 minutes. It involves so much, embracing within its scope, as it may, everything from finance to theology. The very function of the school, in the large, might well be considered under such a topic, and scores of details. I might well talk upon the education of teachers as I do before my cla.s.ses, or upon educational psychology--vital subjects all, but scarcely appropriate here. It is, indeed, a large and interesting subject, lots of places to catch hold.

Manifestly, I can treat it only superficially. All that I can do is merely in the line of suggestion, trying to direct your attention to some of the general features, somewhat objective in character.

The first suggestion I have to make is along this very line--the greatness, the many-sidedness of the educational problem and the need of general community intelligence in regard to it. Indeed, there are many aspects of the school work, countless number of details touching books, courses of study, immediate and remote ends, as well as the larger philosophical bases, in which the public is deeply interested but imperfectly informed. Many a parent is ignorant as to what the schools are trying to do, and why? Not comprehending the end in view, unintelligent as to the means being used, and with little time or ability to investigate, friction often arises. The public and its educational system, the homes and the schools, the teachers and the parents, should in some way be brought closer together and an opportunity given for their mutual understanding. There are various ways in which this opportunity is given in different places: thru mothers'

meetings, in some; thru home and school societies, in others; thru the establishment of what some call "visiting days," in others, etc. Great good is sure to result from a systematic use of any one of them.