But someone may interpose to ask this embarrassing question: If education helps to make people more intelligent in political matters, why is it that well-educated and intelligent people are often found among corrupt and selfish politicians, and that even college graduates sometimes become notorious political bosses? The answer is that in this, as in other things, a general truth does not cease to be a general truth because there are exceptions to it. Many well-educated men are unable to earn a living, but would any sensible person argue that education, as a general rule, renders no aid toward the gaining of a livelihood? As well might one urge that newspapers render no service in disseminating the truth because some of them occasionally print lies. It is quite true that men are not politically wise in exact proportion to the extent of their education. The man or woman who is only a grammar school graduate may have more political wisdom than the most finished scholar in the land. But this does not impair the fundamental truth that knowledge is preferable to ignorance in all countries, at all times, and in every field of human activity.
The general purpose of education.
Education and Personal Efficiency.—To make men and women intelligent in matters of government is not, however, the only purpose of education. The general prosperity of the country depends, in the long run, upon the individual ability of its citizens. Every individual who proves able to earn his own living, establish a home, bring up a family, and by his savings add something to the nation’s capital is a contributor to the national prosperity. Every individual who fails to make his own way and becomes dependent, either in whole or in part, upon the efforts of others, is a drag upon the community. In its own interest, therefore, it is the duty of the whole people to see that everyone is not only enabled but encouraged to become personally efficient, able to make his own way in the world, and capable of pulling his own weight in that many-oared boat which carries the progress of society along.
The specific purposes of education:
The Purpose and Value of Education.—The purpose of education therefore is three-fold. |1. Economic.| First, it aims to give young men and women the sort of training which will enable them to earn a living. This is a primary and fundamental purpose, because earning a living is one of life’s great problems. But it is not the only purpose of education; an educational system would be very defective if it confined itself to this and nothing more. |2. Personal.| The second purpose of education is to develop the personality of the individual, his own resources and mentality, so that he may enjoy those durable satisfactions of life which are not directly connected with the work of earning a livelihood. The enjoyment which men and women derive from life is not entirely dependent upon the amount of their incomes; one need only to look about the community to realize that this is so. Even a large fortune does not of itself guarantee happiness. To live a full and contented life it is necessary to know what is going on in the world, to appreciate its significance, and to understand the many things which, to the uneducated man or woman, are hidden mysteries. Education helps an individual to know himself, to know what is going on around him, to understand the motives which govern the actions of his fellow-men, and to adjust himself to the environment in which he lives. Knowledge is power. It is power in the hands of everyone who possesses it. |3. Social.| The third purpose of education, the social purpose, is also of great importance. Education aims to train the individual so that he may better serve his fellow-men. Democracy, as has been said, rests upon the intelligence of the people. A democratic government exacts from its citizens a sort of service which education alone can teach them to give.[[242]]
The illiteracy of bygone days.
The Growth of Public Education.—For many centuries in the history of the world the masses of the people were afforded no opportunity for even the elements of education. Not one person in ten thousand could read or write. Even kings on the throne were illiterate. There is a well-known picture of King John, with a crown on his head and a quill pen in his hand, signing the Great Charter. It is an altogether fanciful picture, because John Plantagenet could not write a single word, not even his own name. No copy of Magna Carta or any other document has ever been found with his signature on it. The only persons who could read or write in those days were the monks and other officers of the Church together with a very few laymen who were educated by them. Even after the invention of printing, education spread slowly and it was not until the nineteenth century that the desirability of providing free schools for the masses of the people came to be generally recognized. Prior to that time education was almost everywhere regarded as a luxury to be bought and paid for by the relatively few individuals who could afford it.
The first American schools.
In the United States free education goes back to colonial days. As early as 1647 the colony of Massachusetts Bay provided that a schoolmaster should be appointed and paid out of the taxes in every town of more than fifty families and that this schoolmaster should teach all the children “to write and reade”; but this example was not generally followed in the other colonies. It has been estimated that not more than half the population in the colonial days could read and write. The proportion of illiteracy among women was especially large because very little provision was made for educating girls. Even after the Revolution the system of free, public schools spread slowly and not until the middle of the nineteenth century did it cover the greater portion of the country. Since the Civil War, however, the policy of making education not only free but compulsory has been adopted in virtually every part of the United States. The total enrolment in the public schools is now more than twenty-two millions, and the cost of educating the vast array of young citizens is considerably over a billion dollars a year.
The function of the state in education.