Therefore  the  public  school  labors  to  open  the
doors  of  culture  to  every  child  within  its  juris-
diction. Equality  of  worldly  goods  we  cannot
have;  but  at  least  in  the  schools  we  shall  have
democracy  of  training.  An  ideal  type  is  held
before  us  as  the  goal  of  study  —  the  "  all-round
man."  No  undemocratic  limitations  must  be  put

24


THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL

upon  the  growing  boy.  His  education  must  be
fitted  to  the  highest  as  well  as  to  the  lowest  circle
in  which  it  can  be  his  lot  to  move.  Therefore
early  decision  upon  a  future  calling  is  discour-
aged, lest  perchance  a  Shakespeare  should  tie
himself  to  carpentry  before  his  genius  comes  to
light.  And  so,  having  insecurely  bagged  that
slippery  eel,  general  intelligence,  the  high  school
graduate  sallies  forth  upon  the  world  in  search
of  what  fate  sends  his  way  to  do.  Unawares  that
"insecurely"  slipped  into  the  sentence.  Just  as
unexpectedly  an  undemocratic  element  has  crept
into  education  through  the  would-be  democratic
effort  to  keep  it  the  same  for  all.
Naturally  enough,  when  men  first  struggled
for  freedom,  it  was  in  the  realm  of  abstract  know-
ledge that  they  found  themselves  least  bound  by
the  limitations  of  everyday  life.  Rich  and  poor
could  multiply  with  the  same  accuracy  and,  when
polished  to  the  proper  brightness,  read  literature
with  the  same  fervor.  On  this  wide  common,
they  could  disport  themselves  untrammeled
by  the  economic  facts  that  sent  one  to  schoal
in  broadcloth  and  the  other  in  shoddy  woolen.
