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AHO NG THE WORKERS
Compiled by J. L. *D. Hillyer
Dr. and Mrs. John Roach Straton with their
three boys have gone to Los Angeles for their sum
mer vacation. Dr. Straton will supply for Bob
Burdett’s church and engage in chautauqua work
on the Western slope.
I noticed among the plate matter of one of our
exchanges a day or two ago the abstract of a lec
ture delivered in Columbia University, by a dis
tinguished professor of biology, in which he attempts
to discredit the doctrine of the soul in animal
organisms. He seems to believe in what is called
the mechanical theory, that is, that the living organ
ism is a machine complete and wound up like a
clock and it goes on running until it is run down
and steps. He is disposed to make little or no dis
tinction between the soul and what other scientists
call the vital principle. There is a sense in which
all living organism may be understood to have
souls, but man alone has an immortal soul. Our
wise professor, however, seems to regard the whole
subject of the vital principle as unscientific. On
the contrary he adopts this old, exposed and ex
ploded theory which Dr. Tucker showed our class
in 1569 to be absolutely illogical. Yet our pro
fessor contends that vital organisms are mere
machines with no life in them in fact except their
chemical forces.
Can’t these foolish students of biology learn
wisdom? Here they blunder along in the dark
trying to find out the origin of life and spend a
lifetime beating away at theories invented by
fools who have said in their hearts, “There is no
God.” Instead of following the example of such
men as Lannaeus and Agassiz, who took the Bible
The Practical in Education
By A die I J. Moncrief
N the last number of the Literary
Digest but one appeared some very
interesting extracts from a paper read
by Prof. Willard Pyle, of New York,
before the Physics Club of that city,
in which he discusses the widespread
ignorance concerning natural laws, and
serious defects in the prevailing mode
of teaching the natural sciences.
" “'i
He draws his illustrations from the science of
Physics as taught in high schools and colleges
because he is writing for a Physics Club, but what
he says is applicable with just as much force to
some of the other sciences, and to the curriculi of
these schools in general.
The contention of Prof. Pyle is summed up in
a brief paragraph in which he says: “Nothing
should be retained in the Physics course solely on
the ground of mental discipline. If a topic is of no
practical use, or of small practical use, and at the
same time does not furnish information that an
intelligent citizen should possess, let us cut it
entirely out of our teaching.”
It is our humble opinion that the New York
teacher has laid down a rule that should be ap
plied to the entire curricula of all educational
institutions, especially those under the university,
and that the institutions that apply this rule will
draw patronage more and more, while those which
do not are sure to dwindle.
This is a practical age and the demand of the
times is for a practical training. And why not?
If the study of subjects that are practical and use
ful serves the two-fold purpose of training the nind
and supplying useful information, is not the time
thus spent of more value than that spent in the
study of subjects which have no value, or little
value, except for mental discipline?
The contention is sometimes made that the
abstract and dead subjects have a superior value
The Golden Age for July 16, 1908.
as true and gave to the world their unmeasured
treasures of biological facts that they searched for,
these fellows exhaust themselves to find out
how far right or wrong Darwin was about “natural
selection” and “the survival of the fittest,” and
arrogate to themselves the distinction of being
classed as true scientists. Their claim is scarcely
worth considering.
The editor of the Baptist Commonwealth in an
article about a visit to his old Southern home,
among other good things, said:
“One would expect any city bearing the name of
Athens to have a classic air. Athens, Georgia, does
not disappoint its prophetic name. It is a city of
19,000 population, beautiful for situation, with
spacious streets, overshadowing shrubbery, magni
ficent homes of airy proportions, and a discrimi
nating people. The last judgment is given not
solely on the basis of, but as substantial by, an
elderly man, of uncouth appearance but of courtly
bearing, coming to the preacher of the morning
and saying, in a somewhat piping if sincere voice:
“I thank you, brother, for your message.” How
much happier than to be congratulated upon your
effort! Selah! Athens is a city of schools. Besides
the State Normal and other fine schools it is the
seat of the University of Georgia, a college that is
easily among the first institutions of learning in
the South. Its campus extends over acres, iaiid the
whole area of its property covers about four miles.
About $300,000 is now being spent on new build
ings and improvements, and it is expected that
SOO students will be in attendance next session.”
as mind trainers, but this would be very hard to
prove. On the other hand the success of mental
discipline depends in large measure upon the
interest and concentration, and it stands to reason
that these are secured more easily on subjects of
vital nature and general use. Indeed, Mr. Pyle
says: “It is generally admitted that the best
trained minds in the country today are the men
who have been graduated from our engineering
schools and schools of applied science; they are no
longer the classical men.”
One of the influences set in operation by 'he
Romantic movement in Europe more than a hun
dred years ago was a tendency in education toward
the liberal and practical. That tendency is more
marked today than ever. One evidence of this is
the fact that the technical, industrial, scientific,
professional and commercial schools are drawing
more patronage than the purely classical schools.
Another evidence is that the classical schools them
selves are cutting the requirements in the dead
languages and abstract sciences and putting more
emphasis upon the modern languages and the
practical and natural sciences.
One of the educational problems with which
teachers and parents alike have had and still have
to deal is to keep the interest (of the boy especially)
from lagging before the college is reached, and
certainly before it is passed. The average boy,
eager for the activities, is violently opposed to
prolonging his years of study when he can see no
practical value in the subjects he is set to study.
If the commercial world is to be the Held of his
endeavors he is willing, even anxious, for business
training; or if he has mechanical talent the techni
cal or industrial schools easily appeal to him; or
if he has a profession in view he thinks that the
common school training is sufficient preparation
for the professional school and that time is saved
rather than lost by going immediately there.
This problem will disappear, in part at least,
when Prof. Pyle’s theory is put into practice and
the advanced high-schools ftitd colleges make ft
material change in their courses of study and mode
of teaching and place the emphasis oil the useful
and practical, cutting entirely out of their teaching
every subject that is not of practical use.
The dead languages have a usefulness, but that
usefulness is by no means proportionate to the
emphasis that has been placed uporl them in the
average high-sclio'ol and college course. The ab
stract sciences, ancient history, mythology and like
subjects have a cultural value which should not be
overlooked entirely, but such subjects do not
deserve to be made the major courses in a modern
’curriculum to the exclusion or subordiantion of
more vital and useful subjects. Yet in the cur
ricula of many schools these are the major studies,
whereas the modern languages, the practical sci
ences and the useful arts are the minors.
If Prof. Pyle has experienced the surprise he
expresses at “the ignorance of the average boy or
girl, indeed, the average mail,” of the simplest
“physical laws” he must have experienced ft like
surprise at the same degree of ignorance of the
simplest chemical aiid biological processes, and even
more palpable ignorance of the simplest principles
of social and political sciences. We venture the
assertion that at least fifty per cent of the high
school and college students of Georgia, if called
upon to give a simple outline of the structure of
our government, or even to tell how the various
officials are elected, would be unable to do so. It
would be amusing if if were not so pathetic Io see
how many men there are exercising the right of
franchise who do not know the difference between
a primary and a general election.
The average woman —even the college trained,
unless from an industrial school —knows almost
nothing of dietetics, and Cannot tell what foods are
most wholesome, and why; or how they Would best
be prepared, or even explain the simple process of
bread-raising. She is woefully ignorant of the
simple chemical processes that are involved in the
preparation and digestion of foods. Many a woman
can translate Latin readily, or solve problems in
analytics, or execute sonatas with ease, who cannot
apply the simplest test of purity to the water her
household must use, or tell why acid foods become
poisonous when allowed to stand in tin vessels.
She has spent years of study on the classics and
the ornamental arts while her ignorance of the
simple laws of health and hygiene is a menace to
her family. She may be able to write several
degrees after her name and yet not be able to
explain the process of respiration, or the functions
of the vital organs of the body; or tell why it
rains, or how the dew is formed; or tell what the
elemental colyrs are, or how they are combined to
make other shades.
Let every endorsement and encouragement be
given to such teachers as Prof. Pyle, and by every
means possible let us hasten the tendency toward
the liberal, the practical and the useful in educa
tion. Many of our schools need a revision of
curriculum, a change of emphasis and improvement
of methods. Indeed, the educational ideals of today
are eminently utilitarian, and there must be on
the part of the schools of the old and purely
classical order either a readjustment to the ideals
or all abandonment of the field.
Casting Pearls.
Pete Browning, the baseball player, was very
popular in Louisville when a member of that club,
and his admirers there bought a handsome watch
for him. A committee went around to his house,
and the spokesman made a speech and handed him
the timepiece.
Browning listened attentively, though he was
deaf as an adder, according to Brother P. H. Calla
han of Louisville Council, who was one of the
party, and did not understand a word that was
said. When the watch was offered to him he took
it in his hand, turned it over, and looked at it in
tently, and then asked:
“Where is the chain?”
