To Educate the Educators.

Friends of mine tell me that long ago they despaired of restoring intellect and imagination to the American school and the American college. Certainly the task is staggering. Yet some courageous souls are fighting the good fight for the mind—among them, here and there, an earnest school administrator. Mr. Siegel describes one such in a well-written novel, which contains several admirable sketches of character. Most of the teachers with whom this principal must work are dull tools.

Here is one of them, a Miss Pomeroy, addressing Principal Evans: “An ability to analyze is extremely important in order to enhance appreciation. That is perfectly obvious. Have you, for example, seen the section on our treatment of Silas Marner? Why, that has been our most successful approach to the study of George Eliot. We separate the students into groups, and they put together a newspaper. Individual students for each situation. For example, one does a report on the trial of Marner asifitis happening somewhere in the world today. Then we have a Better Homes and Gardens type of article by Nancy Cass in which she discusses preparing a dinner for her guests. An article on handloom weaving. And so on.”

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Russell Kirk

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Friends of mine tell me that long ago they despaired of restoring intellect and imagination to the American school and the American college. Certainly the task is staggering. Yet some courageous souls are fighting the good fight for the mind—among them, here and there, an earnest school administrator. Mr. Siegel describes one such in a well-written novel, which contains several admirable sketches of character. Most of the teachers with whom this principal must work are dull tools.

Here is one of them, a Miss Pomeroy, addressing Principal Evans: “An ability to analyze is extremely important in order to enhance appreciation. That is perfectly obvious. Have you, for example, seen the section on our treatment of Silas Marner? Why, that has been our most successful approach to the study of George Eliot. We separate the students into groups, and they put together a newspaper. Individual students for each situation. For example, one does a report on the trial of Marner asifitis happening somewhere in the world today. Then we have a Better Homes and Gardens type of article by Nancy Cass in which she discusses preparing a dinner for her guests. An article on handloom weaving. And so on.”