ADULT STERILITY

That subject of perennial attack, the American educational system, is assailed anew in a series of articles in the current New Republic, entitled "Adult Education", with a zeal so Menckenesque that it seems almost homesick away from the more familiar pages of the Mercury. Witness this description of the sad fate of the products of the present system: "Most Americans seem to have reached mental old age at the age of thirty. They reflect in stereotypes; they converse in slogans; their thinking is reiteration, and their action consequently--violence." The remedy, say these critics, lies in continuing the educational process throughout life, for "it is sheer folly to expect liberally educated children to grow into liberal adulthood in a society where anti-liberalism succeeds."

Such is the claim of the "liberals" but as is a frequent fault with reformers, they fail to consider that while they are busy making plans for a better world, the majority of mankind must meantime carry on the everyday affairs of life. It is inevitable that they settle into a more or less permanent and conservative mold, on which it would be exceedingly difficult for liberal crusaders to make much impression. And if the liberally educated youth cannot retain his liberalism in hostile surroundings, it is as least as much the fault of his instruction as of the environment.

It is not yet time to abandon all hope in the schools and colleges. The latter in particular have made much progress of late years. Rather than try to extend the scope of education, the advocates of liberalism would find it more worth their time to encourage its growth in the existing institutions.