Here should come in the twin forces of education and religion. Enlightenment will be of no avail without a moral basis. The fundamentals of the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule must have a place in our great educational system which should teach men that there is a higher element in life than the facts of science and material things.
This new social adjustment, if it is to come peaceably and not through anarchy, must find new and able leadership which does not resort to loud protestations of devotion to one class combined with denunciation of another, or to vague cries of “social justice,” or to illusory schemes for levelling inequalities that are imbedded in human nature itself. What is needed is a leadership founded in a love for mankind, wide as the race, broad-minded, hopeful, strong and sane, to help the new generation forward in progress that shall also be peace.
Joseph D. Holmes.
New York.
MOTHERHOOD AND TEACHING
To the Editor:
“Motherhood and teaching”[[4]] was an issue in Minneapolis not long ago, and the school board decided against the employment of married women. The board was influenced according to report, by the fact that there were poor teachers who married and this was a comfortable way to dispose of them, regardless of the injustice to the good ones. I understand that in Kansas there is a state law prohibiting the employment of married women. Were this policy applied to men teachers it would be ridiculed. Marriage is a strong factor in developing permanence of interest in the vocation and in blending vocational interest with community interest.
[4]. See The Survey, April 19, page 101.
The ability to teach is dependent upon qualities which are mental and temperamental. The hours and the character of the work of a teacher are such as are peculiarly adapted to the woman who may marry and who may have children; and her fuller experience in life should make possible a fuller understanding of the needs of childhood.
It is generally recognized that our schools have deteriorated. Would not a very simple remedy be the employment of mothers as well as fathers? Would not they understand better than others what the children need?