Public education has also reacted in a way to give a certain mental attitude to the nation. As America has been a synonym for opportunity, and freedom for the development of the human spirit, public education has ab sorbed this spirit and emphasized methods of instruction which encourage individual initiative and independence of thought. This attitude tends to perpetuate the spirit of democracy and opposition to autocratic political systems.
The development and extension of the notion of public democratic education has been most important in its influence on national life. The reasons for, and justification of, the prin ciple are as follows: First, the basis of free institutions in any nation is the intelligence and integrity of its citizens. Our government in the last analysis is based on public opinion, and it is only through an enlightened public opinion that the permanency and success of the Repub lic are possible. The more universally the peo ple are educated, the less need there is of re straint, and the greater is the check against corruption or unwise legislation by representa tives.
Public education directly affects national de velopment, because through this agency national interests are best promoted. With the exten sion of the suffrage and the tendency to place the government more and more on the hands of the people, or their directly elected repre sentatives, both voters and leaders needed edu cation to act intelligently. Again, public edu cation promotes national well-being, because it leads to greater economic efficiency, and hence greater national wealth. It promotes industry because it awakens desires for more and better goods. It promotes discoveries and inventions. It leads to greater social efficiency because it reduces crime, and turns thought in the direc tion of social service. As patriotism is essen tial for the preservation of the nation, public schools become the principal means of teaching pupils their duties and obligations to the State, as well as their rights and liberties. Public education leads to more rapid progress, as civilization can advance permanently only as the mass advances. Public schools give oppor tunity to teach the masses to appreciate and desire the best in literature, art, and music. In
short national life as a whole could hardly be enriched to any great extent except through public education. Finally, education has as its chief aim the formation of character, and hence the national character can be best formed through the public school. It has for its aim the promotion of the educational and moral development of the masses — the ethical as well as the material aspects of life.
In spite of the many ways in which public education has influenced national development, it falls far short of what is possible. After all is said, the State systems' of public instruc tion, in their origin, development and present conditions, tend to express very largely the local or sectional needs of the communities in which they are placed. The educational poli cies adopted are not primarily national in char acter, nor in harmony with each other. There is too much variation in types of educational institutions, emphasis or lack of emphasis on various kinds of education, and attention paid to the problems of national life. This nation, like others, was developed through conflicts, three in particular; the American Revolution, the Mexican War, and the Civil War. Each left prejudices which have been perpetuated in our educational system, the first against England, the second against Mexico and Latin America in general, and the third the antago nism between the North and the South, still perceptible in certain features of the education in the two sections. The first two prejudices interfere with our international relations and intercourse, causing a lack of sympathetic knowledge of the progress and problems of England and Latin America. These.prejudices affect teaching of history in the public schools, as well as geography, and lead to provincialism from the standpoint of the relation of the United States to world conditions. The third prejudice affects particularly the teaching of his tory and tends to perpetuate the disintegrating force of the Civil War, because it interferes with national unity. All these difficulties are inherent in the State systems of public instruc tion, but could be remedied in large part through greater national control or by the plac ing of emphasis on problems of national life.