Children Are Educable

After editing the Bulletin of the Council for Basic Education for nearly two decades, and being executive director of that Council in recent years, Mr. Mortimer Smith recently retired. In his final report as executive director, Mr. Smith described what the vast majority of American parents desire from the American educational apparatus:

“They want children to read, not only because reading is the basis of most learning and is essential for vocation, but because it is a source of pleasure and consolation for a lifetime. They want them to learn to use the native language, in speech and writing, with at least a modicum of ease and accuracy, and they believe that many students can benefit from learning a foreign language or languages. They hope that all of them will achieve some facility in the fundamental arithmetical operations, and that many will achieve a facility in the topics of the higher mathematics and an understanding of mathematical thinking. They hope that they will learn the facts of their country’s history, have a chronological picture of that history, be acquainted with the political and philosophical principles underlying the American system of government, and eventually gain similar knowledge of other countries. They want them to have some notion of geographical location and a general knowledge of the science of the earth and its life and characteristics.”

RK

About the Author

Russell Kirk

After editing the Bulletin of the Council for Basic Education for nearly two decades, and being executive director of that Council in recent years, Mr. Mortimer Smith recently retired. In his final report as executive director, Mr. Smith described what the vast majority of American parents desire from the American educational apparatus:

“They want children to read, not only because reading is the basis of most learning and is essential for vocation, but because it is a source of pleasure and consolation for a lifetime. They want them to learn to use the native language, in speech and writing, with at least a modicum of ease and accuracy, and they believe that many students can benefit from learning a foreign language or languages. They hope that all of them will achieve some facility in the fundamental arithmetical operations, and that many will achieve a facility in the topics of the higher mathematics and an understanding of mathematical thinking. They hope that they will learn the facts of their country’s history, have a chronological picture of that history, be acquainted with the political and philosophical principles underlying the American system of government, and eventually gain similar knowledge of other countries. They want them to have some notion of geographical location and a general knowledge of the science of the earth and its life and characteristics.”