406
THE INDIAN ADVOCATE
struct and guide thoe who have been placed in its charge,
so that when that future has arrived they do not find them
selves out of harmony and sympathy with their own times.
No one can be expected to conttibute aught toward. his own
time and generation who is not in the best sense a child of
his age; and hence education must equip the stu
dent with that broad sympathy which prepares man for the
favorable rece ption of a proper development of history. ,
Living as we do, in that modern complex life, in an age
when democratic tendencies are more and more pushing to ,
the forefront and becoming predominant, education must pre
pare its subjects and to enable them to deal with the great
political, social and scientific subjects which are sure to meet
them, and to demand a substantial contribution toward their
solution at their hands.
The assertion that education makes good citizens is a mere
shallow phrase and at the best superficially ambiguous. Edu
cation can only in a very slight degreelceep men out of pri
son, or induce them to cast an honest ballot; but in this,,de
mocratic age the State is entitled to expect of those who have
enjoyed a liberal education and have participated in the fruits
of modern civilization, to aid her in the solution of the great
problems which daily confront her in her struggle for the
maintenance of law and order and the advancement of civili
zation. That system of education which has truly an eye to
the future can accomplish that purpose and be instrumental
in the production of much good, and deserve immortal honor
at the hands of future generations.
I have only dealt thus far with education, but I have indi
rectly had in mind him who stands back of the system the
educator. It is the educator who must be a modern peda
gog; a child of his age; a true and almost prophetic interpre
ter of history; a sound psychologist; alive to every great
question of the day; responsive to every demand and in full
sympathy with his own times and anticipating the great influ
ences of the future for the good of those whofe lives and de
stinies are placed in his care.
Such an educator only could stand back of education and
represent it with an eye to the future.
L. A. Delurcy., O. S. A.
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