RESPONSIBILITIES

The world today is undergoing a period of profound self-analysis and education is coming in for its share of the general scrutiny of accepted values. Henry Suzzalo, President of the Carnegie Foundation, in putting secondary education on trial has stated a problem confronting both school and college. The purpose, as he sees it, of the education of tomorrow is to prepare a social man for a social system. The ideal of the individual triumphing personally in rigorous competition must be abandoned and in its place must come the altruistic citizen whose concern is to further the group of which he is a member.

In order to realize this ideal, Mr. Suzzalo wishes to "democratize" the process of education and to develop the "whole personality of little men and women." If, by "democratize," he means to make no distinction between individuals but to give each scholar the opportunities offered his neighbor, then the principle is full of danger. The success which the generation now in schools and colleges is to have in the ordering of a chaotic world largely depends on the ability of this educational system to produce leaders. It is not enough to offer all men a mediocre training, those with ability must have the opportunity of complete development. Democracy, if it is to find a solution for modern problems, must allow equal opportunity but must also allow merit to seek its own level.

Education today, must prepare men for a complicated and close-meshed social existence, but only through the development of the individual is this possible. Competition, in some form, is probably inevitable to the race. If it is not controlled by a recognition of man's responsibilities to his fellow men, then it becomes an agent of destruction to all concerned. It is the business of school and college to force recognition of social responsibilities upon every member of the system.