carney] SCHOOL AS NEIGHBORHOOD CENTRE 295 



young is not in making them write compositions on Unselfishness 

 with all the capitals and punctuation marks in their right places, 

 but in getting them out in the playground and teaching them games 

 in which they practice unselfishness. It is a well known theory 

 of pedagogy that the practice of a virtue must precede its realiza- 

 tion. You cannot make a child understand Honesty until you 

 make him do the honest thing, and scorn the dishonest. Children 

 through play learn to practice every one of the virtues which the 

 human race has, so far, evolved. The understanding of them is 

 swift to follow. 



But it is not alone the children who should play ; every man and 

 woman in the community should play too. Moreover, it is 

 better far for the children to have their fathers and mothers, 

 grandfathers and grandmothers too, finding new life and happiness 

 playing with them. 



Horace Greeley once said, "To be conscious of a need is to be far 

 on the way to its fulfilment." The great thing for us is a realiza- 

 tion of the fact that rural communities are suffering through 

 having no adequate provision for the cultivation and development 

 of the social side of their natures, for lack of community ideals, for 

 lack of a center about which the life of the whole neighborhood 

 might revolve. 



Unique Position of the School 

 The position occupied by the school is unique. All are sup- 

 porters of it, all have an equal right in it. It is undenominational 

 and hence free from the weakening effects of division . It is centrally 

 located. It is a permanent institution. Its future is assured. 

 Children are required to attend there regularly during certain 

 prescribed years, and for this reason they will readily gather there 

 for recreation and cooperation in social undertakings, after they 

 have graduated from the school. These considerations make the 

 public school a suitable center for the neighborhood life. 



Teachers as Leaders 

 The next and perhaps most important consideration is to find 

 leaders in this movement ; and it is to the Teachers that we must 

 look for these. It should appeal to them as a great opportunity 

 for service. To lead in sports, not for the development of athletic 

 stars, for this means that a few experts or eccentrics are doing 



