THE AGRICULTURAL PHASE 83 



shall have systems of common schools that are 

 built upon the fundamental idea of serving the 

 people in the very lives that the people are to 

 lead. In many places there are strong protests 

 against the old order ; in other places there are 

 distinct beginnings of the new order. The 

 following protest is by John J. McMahan, State 

 Superintendent of Education for South Carolina: 

 " The old-time high school prepares for the 

 exceptional life. There is little room for Latin 

 and Greek and fancy learning in the system of 

 education that looks to the future lives of the 

 great body of breadwinners and home-builders. 

 We must abandon the pleasing delusion that all 

 go to school with expectation of afterward going 

 to college. We know that hardly one in a 

 hundred will ever go to college. We define 

 education as a preparation for complete living. 

 Have we not adapted our preparation to the 

 unusual and improbable life, and largely neglected 

 preparing the average man for the duties almost 

 certain to be upon him ? We should recognize 

 that complete living is a relative term, and that 

 the complete life which is the ideal of the 

 philosopher, and of the statesman as well, is not 

 the complete life that can be realized at this 

 stage of human development by any great number 

 of our citizens. In holding up a high standard 

 of education as the ultimate right of every citizen, 

 let us not be so unmindful of the present as to 

 deny to nearly all that education which could be 

 given them to their great benefit and happiness.'^ 



