As to educational values there is a widespread misunderstanding.
Imagine a teacher taking his youngsters on a hike two or three times a
week all winter long! Every parent, _hoping for his children to escape
the necessity of work,_ would howl in stupid criticism "Is that what
I send my children to school for?" Or the School Superintendent might
have the point of view of the excessively teachy teacher, who, in a
recent discussion of the Boy Scout idea, admitted that cross-country
hikes would be a good thing, provided, something were associated with
them to justify them, and this something was understood to be bookish!
As to vocational training, on the other hand, we must reckon with the
manufacturer who will not train workmen for his competitors but who
expects his competitors to train workmen for him. And we must also
reckon with the ministerial member of the school-board who meets a
proposal for vocational training with the question "How then will you
educate for life?"
"Ich ging im Walde
So fuer mich hin,
Und nichts zu suchen
Das war mein Sinn."
The youngster who goes on a hike for nothing will get everything, and
to be fit for service is to be fit for life.
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