THE LITTLE RED SCHOOLHOUSE

The national system of secondary school education is to undergo examination by a recently appointed committee composed of professors, state school commissioners and teachers gathered from all parts of the country.

If these men expect to accomplish anything, they have before them a difficult task. Free education to all is admittedly a commendable idea, but the present method of carrying it out is of dubious merit. Formulated by men of democratic principles, the present system is an example of democracy carried too far. Proceeding on the assumption that all men are created equal, and should therefore receive equal doses of education, the founders of American public schools are necessarily constrained to keep scholastic standards down to the level of the lowly, but unfortunately ample, ranks of the barren-witted. And as a result, those students whose mental capacity is greater are virtually invited to coast through their school years on their inherent superiority.

Should the newly created committee devise some method to remedy this evil in the system, it would render a great service. This problem however is greater than that of giving a better education to those capable of receiving it: they must show that any reorganization they may suggest is consistent with the usual misintorpretation of the opening lines of the Declaration of Independence.