Whom Shall We Teach?
BARZUN, JACQUES
Whom Shall We Teach? The Meaning of "Democracy in Education" By Jacques Barzun SINCE- the days when Macaulay reported th* Ma of a commercial venture to teach ail subjects to all comers, it has...
...Walt Whitman—another unquestioned democrat—hat a line which defines equality once for all with great accuracy: "By God...
...How should I be greeted if I demanded a place en next year's All-American football team because I am a citisen and therefore the equal of any candidate for a place...
...It has been estimated that for every youth attending college there is one equally capable who cannot afford it...
...We must teaeh thee* who can learn, having first found them wherever they may he ami cleared the path that lead* to th* campus...
...In practice, this come* down to appropriating enough 'public money so that the college population shall represent the best young brains of the country and not a haphazard mixture of brains and bank accounts...
...And would anyone claim as a right the direction of the hospital in which he It a patient...
...Is Asked WASHINGTON (LPA).—International cartels ham , repeatedly obstructed the nation's war effort, according to the Justice Department...
...Protest against it, however, is checked at its source by th* belief that the truth about inequality of brains is unpalatable, nay undemocratic...
...They are not so much hopeless for teaching as themselves without hope of learning, and if no fairness of form or skill of hand redeems them in their own eyes, they are indeed the dispirited...
...Legalize Cartels, Congress...
...Payments ranged as high as $80, representing two weeks' wages, and ran from $25 to th* 180 figure, hit survey showed...
...Originally, under a contract between the Mexican and U.S...
...This was not "democratic...
...Millions were being given the vote...
...In on* state, and perhaps in others, it is stipulated that the Freshman Class at the university most be drawn equally from all th* percentiles of the high school contingents— that is, if on* hundred are taken from the highest ranking 10 percent, then one hundred must slso be taken from the barely pasting group, and similarly for the intermediate grade...
...Mexicans Pay $80 For U. S. War Jobs WASHINGTON (LPA).— Verification of charges that Mexican officials were accepting bribes from workers sent to the U.S...
...so that if it were mentioned and acted upon, we should be in contradiction with our cherished form of government...
...Moreover, by good instruction, qualities cutting across th* main line can be pointed out: quickness and depth and accuracy aad elegance of thought do not necessarily go together, nor is th* coupling of any of them fixed by rule...
...We are all rubbish in relation to some demand or other, and if it is true that intelligence is a power that takes many forms, there is no disgrace in being a duffer at book' larnin', or in being pure rubbish in any of the many arts which human intelligence has created...
...That is why handicaps are given to horses in racing and to men in playing golf...
...Recently, blank certificates had been provided for state governors and members of the Mexican congress, and political preferment in many cotes haa been the basis of choice of workers...
...Th* Mexican Chamber of Deputies has unseated three members charged with, , taking part in the racket, and they must now stand trial in the courts...
...Al-l'l.IKI> to college training, this meant: I cannot expect to get free of charge and without good work or real interest on my part what others are getting by the expenditure of both...
...In a normal class, the break cornea somewhat below the median...
...Born ia France, ho la a prsdaapit af history at Columbia University...
...One consequence, seen during the war, was that some people felt outraged at the fact that certain young men were being taught snd trained and withheld from active service while other* were sent to the front...
...Both can hence deduce a scale ef merit between genius and normal porta...
...I will accept nothing which all cannot have their counterpart of on the tame terms...
...Democracy in education is something very precise to uphold and work for, It does not mean "Everybody in college" or "One man—one A.B...
...to work on railroads and in agriculture waa obtained this week...
...Again, in the mood of natural gratitude for the returned veterans, one hears on all sides the plea that they be given a free college education, and this goes with the hope that the faculty will not be too hard on them,' but give them the degree for what they have already done snd suffered...
...Since teachers, time, space, and money are limited, competition ensues snd selection is inevitable...
...For learning, howevdr diverse in detail aad appeal, is one...
...BlIT how dose subordination of^functiont impair equality of persons...
...Every conscientious instructor tries to keep a class ' together...
...The true notion of equality is not identity, but equivalence of treatment...
...But beyond the line that separates the educable from the rest lice a wasteland that would require vast irrigation and incubator nursing of each weakly plant to turn into a flowering plant...
...To sum ap, there should be ia college only on* sort ef student—quite obviously, the coltege ¦Indent...
...Nevertheless, Congress is now being asked by tht National Foreign Trade Council to legalize cartels as* keep the international agreement* secret from tht public...
...In Jefferson's flan for education in Virginia, he makes the provision that "the twenty best geniuses be raked from the rubbish annually" and sent to the university...
...If every college were in a position to replace the lower half of its student body with a group equal in caliber to its present upper half, one of the great dilemmas of college teaching would vanish...
...Hence there should be no tampering with either it* ingredients or it* standards •f qaality...
...A resolution passed by the Council's board of directors and being sent to Congressmen proposes that cartel contracts be fijed with the State Department which could disapprove providing it coald be shown that the agreements were in restraint of U.S...
...The schoolmaster is abroad," said th* nineteenth centory in its youth, and "I wish to goodness he were," added Oscar Wild* at the end of a period of unparalleled^ "Extension...
...The examples suggest abaurdity her cans* they relate to concrete activities where disaster weald follow a eenfulon of rank* and duties...
...A student of "('" grade is either a good man not working or a really poor bet...
...However, ant i-truit action could be taken not on th* cartel's violation of the law prior to th* three months probation but only during that period...
...Th* layman may think at first that this is an artificial division...
...If the State Department found, after a contract wu in operation, that it restrained trad* the cartel would be given three months to comply...
...This article is a chapter from hi* new vehwae, "Teacher be America," just published...
...At the end of the first term, th* mortality i* very high and an enormous loss through wast* has been sustained...
...s What create* bitter feeling* about th* sifting out of those worth a college training ia that people both admire and despise the degree...
...More than 100,000 workers have worked in the UJ> during the two year* the labor contract has been i« effort...
...others want to run ahead and have to be gently kept from running out of sight...
...For among teachers, there is a professional meaning to the question...
...Still, th* principle of choice must not b* damaged or destroyed by this generosity and th* right to education mutt remain on an equal footing with every other right, namely, the footing ef being available in •o far as the claimant shows th* power to deserve jt...
...The rejected applicants are "rubbish" only with reference to collegiate work, just an Jefferson was rubbish for the boxing ring...
...The Meaning of "Democracy in Education" By Jacques Barzun SINCE- the days when Macaulay reported th* Ma of a commercial venture to teach ail subjects to all comers, it has ceased to b* a joke by becoming a reality...
...Every cititen of this country understands th* true principle perfectly well when it applies to Big League Baseball, the Army, science, or business organisation...
...This would mean untwisting every kink put into them »before eighteen by unhappy circumstances reaching back to the cradle...
...by very consciously wanting it for themselves, their children, and their employees...
...They despise it unconsciously by believing that any good-natured youth who aits through four years of class work has done enough for a diploma, and they admire the A.B...
...No one can accuse Jefferson of harboring undemocratic or snobbish feelings, although here I am ready to stand with the mob and object to the hasty expression of "rubbish...
...To be sure, there ware good reasons why th* nineteenth century went in for it, and with fervor...
...If we compare its demands upon intellect with, those of, let OS say, survival in th* jungle, we caa see that study is something sepsrat* and homogeneous...
...Does the enlisted man get hia tarn at playing Commander •f th* force* ia tap field...
...Whom shall we teach?* That meaning is: Shall I work upon the top students in'the group before me or spend most of my time whipping up the laggards...
...In no way And the ladder of learning is no different from the ladder of promotion and power in an army, a hospital, or an athletic organisation...
...It means, every man or woman freely endowed with the right to a college education if he or she it previously endowed with the ability to profit by it...
...government*, the Mexican Department, of Labor had issued certificates of availability...
...He estimates that at least 75 percent of th* men in these camps had paid the grafting officials for th* certificates which entitled them to com* to th* U.S...
...Some students have to march in the rear ranks and must be cheered along...
...But the group is a unit, and it is excellent for both its extremes to see how the other half thinks: the more gifted learn to appreciate other men's difficulties...
...His book*, oath aa "Of Human Freedom" and "Romanticism aad the Modern Ego," are shot through with a racy radicalism...
...But in taking this necessary step, the words "democracy in education" and "equal right*" (as against distinction of data, wealth, or sex) were used so loosely that after seventy-five years we are still asking ourselves the question, "Whom shall we teach and how much...
...This is a false belief, which goes hack to a double jeeafeilen involving1 the nature of education and the meaning af equality...
...Th* sluggish minds are stunted, timid, rooted in resentments, and paralyzed by a laziness which is not of the body merely, but of the emotions...
...Th* task began on a universal scale when enough money was appropriated, in the seventies, to establish fro* public schooling in almost every country...
...Meanwhile, an authority on Latin-American labor here has just returned from visits to several camps to* Mexican nationals in the middle west...
...Let us grant that in education a greater freedom of opportunity than elsewhere ia desirable, both because it affects young, unformed people and becaus* the risk of error cost* lest for a possibly greater gain...
...The resolution declared that "such agreements should be regarded as confidential, accessible only to interested government agencies...
...democracy was supplying the new matters of the state and in Robert Lowe's phrase, "we must educate our masters...
...This I* th* man I should prefer to call "subav*rage," in th* belief that If we really tapped the best talents in the country, the average would be of astonishingly good quality...
...This fact defines with blinding clearness and simplicity what a democratic nation mutt do to provide a democratic education: pay the way of its most valuable natural resource—the intelligence of its youth...
...Cartels are th* most potest influence to force small business out of existence and set prices unreasonably high for both the government and private consumers, according to Henry Wallace and other government officials...
...This is sufficiently recognised whenever a "screening" for putting student* on probation takes place...
...JACQUES BARZUN is th* happiest heretic among American intellectual...
...All this is in keeping with an attitude prevalent in states that maintain their own universities, where admission ns open to all high school graduates...
...Ideally, I suppose, it would be possible to bring the great majority of boys and girls to the point where college would profit them...
...The truth is that the existence of superior brains does not touch in the slightest the theoretical bases of democratic government...
...Now it may be indiscreet -to tell people that they squint, but if they distort the situation, . they must be told the truth...
...Instead of emerging early in practice, th* decision—especially in this country of vast resources— remains srbitrary and gives rise to shrill rerimination and the bitter feelings of disappointed hope...
...In short, let us give every intending student the benefit of the doubt...
...the less, to gauge other men's powers...
...Rightly understood, there i« nothing unpalatable about the facts of intellectual aptitude and nothing undemocratic or iniquitous about selecting the best for th* highest training...
...trade...
...In all these activities it i* possible to make wrong choice* and to put forward incompetent men, but tht mistakes do not alter the fact that a fair ratio mutt obtain between ability and responsibility, otherwise th* system .breaks down...
...Now to ensure genuine equality of treatment in selecting, the needful thing is to keep an eye on edu-cability and disregard irrelevant considerations...
...I b*g him to believe that it ia a tangible fert— like the waterline of a floating ship...
...and in pedagogical literature, the "average" student forms the subject of innumerable attempts to raise or rouse him...
Vol. 28 • February 1945 • No. 8
