These efforts of the teachers and the pupils respond to our President's appeal that each of us must do his share in making the world safe for democracy.
At present, to be sure, we center our thoughts on how to make the world safe for democracy. But what of the future? What of the contribution of the schools after the war? Should not the schools then center their aims and methods on making _democracy safe for the world_? If the people themselves are to be masters, must they not be provided with an education making for mastership? Is it not well for us to examine our present schools to determine whether they are making a democracy which will be safe for the world? Have we a system of education which actually gives an opportunity for every child to make the most of himself? Have we a liberalized course of study which actually stimulates and develops intellectual and aesthetic interests in music, art, literature, science, travel, and history? Have we evolved a socialized education developing moral habits, civic incentives, possession and use of ethical ideals and standards for a successful group life? Has our formative process been able to bring about refinements of social behavior beyond the point required for group participation? Have we arrived at the point where we can say that our people have even the common culture which it is expected all members of a democracy shall possess, to say nothing about the development of individual culture, which is a possession of the interested individual and his congenial fellows? How far have we gone in recognizing that "by-education" which comes through a child's self-direction of his natural or spontaneous learning instincts and impulses?
How much have we accomplished in giving educational and vocational guidance to children between the ages of 12 and 16? What has been done in the way of fulfilling the national obligation to teach the strangers within our gates our language and the principles and forms of our civic life? What has been our program for subnormals in order that they may be prepared for independent living in the competitive social order? Have we established clear-cut distinctions between subnormal and crippled cases that must remain custodial and those that can be prepared for independent existence? What are we doing in the way of education for delinquents? To what extent have we utilized the discovery that these antisocial manifestations of youth are results of heredity, or of inferior homes, or of a lack of playgrounds, or of poor schools?