i22 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



mancled in society at large is that its members shall help each other to 

 the utmost. The only places where mutual helpfulness is not recog- 

 nized as being in every way worthy is in school and in prison; in this 

 particular the teacher behind the desk and the guard mounted on the 

 walls have something in common. It is most unfortunate that this 

 tendency toward mutual assistance is treated as though it were an 

 iniquity — as an especial brand of original sin; while, in fact, it is the 

 latest dawning and most lovable, civilizing trait in human character. 



The proposition to transform the school into a well-organized social 

 institution is not merely a matter of abstract theory or pure science. It 

 is a definite expression of a movement to make the schools in common 

 with other agencies a positive force in bettering the conditions of life. 



This proposition rests upon the foundation stone in human charac- 

 ter that up to date has been rejected by the educational builders — 

 namely, the natural tendency of children toward helpfulness. The 

 spirit of consideration and helpfulness is what we most need in human 

 life and the schools must cherish it in the children and train directly 

 for it. The kindergarten, here as ever, is the best type of what we want 

 in school life clear through the university. Go into any good kinder- 

 garten and note how gladly the children participate in the many op- 

 portunities for cooperation in living their simple and beautiful life. 

 Go then into the upper grades, and into the high school, and into the 

 university and observe how one by one those opportunities for partici- 

 pation in the upbuilding of the public weal have been withdrawn and 

 mark the degenerative effect of this loss of opportunity upon the social 

 qualities of the pupils ! 



There are in this country many universities that number from 

 1,000 to 5,000 students each year. These young people represent a 

 virile period of human life, when hope is young, aspirations are keen 

 and the will is dominant. But when taken in their totality, in their 

 power or in their desire to organize as an influence upon any phase 

 whatever of human affairs, they are as innocuous and as ineffective as 

 a flock of sheep on a sunny hillside in April. There is not a university 

 president, nor a professor, nor a university department of sociology, to 

 my knowledge, that has ever yet organized the splendid native force 

 of a great student body towards any public end that is worth the atten- 

 tion of an intelligent man. Nor does the student body itself show any 

 such disposition to organize. The highest watermark that has yet been 

 touched in fusing together the community forces in the great universi- 

 ties is represented by the college yell for the foot-ball team ! No other 

 state institution could so completely withdraw these thousands of young 

 people from a consideration of the interests of public welfare. 



Even in darkest Eussia, with every influence against them, with 

 no public school system, where blackest ignorance is the rule with the 



