The Farmville Herald

The Sleepy-Eye (Minn.) Herald Dispatch
Shall We Teach Science Today Or Speak Russian Tomorrow?

There is a tendency in modern education to 'make things too easy' and to 'let the pupils determine the standards.' Dr. Gould, president of Carleton college, Northfield, told a group in Minneapolis last week.

'One of the 'dismal results,'' he said, 'is that nearly half the high schools in the United States teach neither physics nor chemistry.'

'If today's children do not learn to like mathematics and science, their children may have to speak Russian,' he warned.

'We have become too occupied with group values and with surrender to the average-led fear one should make a person restless, not tranquil,' he said.

Dr. Gould is right. One of the disturbing bits of information brought back from China by newsmen who went to the country without state department approval is that the Chinese ARE WORKING, working hard; that they are looking toward a better day, a better day which only hard work can bring.

Meantime we are cutting the work week, cutting the production per hour even for the hours worked. Many educators explain the let-down in schools with the statement, 'so many wouldn't be able to finish high school if they had to take subjects which required real thinking.'

We have a better form of government than Communist China and Russia and we have the Christian religion which is responsible for most of the world's improvement, but if their children--and adults--work we don't, Gould's assertion that our children's children 'may have to speak Russian' may well come true.