Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 6.djvu/134

 120 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

We learned that children may be happy, may love to go to school, may never have a prize, reward, or per cent., and still learn. In fact, the reason why students manage to escape knowledge is that knowledge and skill are made the sole aims and bribery the means of learning.

I might fill hours recalling the memories of Quincy and its schools, but to what end ? The apparent success of the movement is easily explained. There was the opportunity, a faith, a spirit of work, an enthusiasm, to find better things for God's little ones. The outcome cannot be explained by methods, devices, and systems, by tricks of the trade, or by particular ways of doing things. What we did in Quincy was nothing new ; it came directly from the great authorities in education. What we did is now well-nigh uni- versal ; but the mere following of authority, however good, does not always count for progress ; repetition of devices does not necessarily bring improve- ment.

We stand today at the beginning of an educational movement that means the salvation of the world, and its elements are faith, spirit, open-mindedness, and work. The teachers are not responsible for what wrong ideas may exist, nor can school committees be justly blamed. The common school was born of the people, it is supported by the people, and its faults are found in the people. The people must demand, and they will receive ; they must knock, and it shall be opened unto them. We are bound by tradition, by mediaeval ways, and deeply rooted prejudice. The good that has been done is simply a foretaste of what is to come. Our ideals are low. The future demands an education into free government, a strictly American education, an education to meet the demands of these times, with their world-problems that are weighing us down, and the ever-increasing duties of citizenship. I repeat, not by the guns of a Dewey or the battalions of Roberts or Kruger must these problems be worked out, but in the common school, where the quiet, devoted, studious, skillful teacher works out the nature and laws of life, complete living, and the righteousness that is to be.