Recent years have witnessed the development
of the correspondence school, an institution
which aims to supplement the meager education
its students obtained elsewhere and to increase
their earning capacity. While the courses of-
fered by these schools are all along practical
lines and deal largely with technical subjects,
there is no doubt that they are an important
factor in promoting general education.
In the presence of all these opportunities, it
is hard to comprehend the reason for the igno-
rance that still prevails. Perhaps the matter ^
partly explained by the slowness of change in
the customs and habits of the people in general,
partly by inherited lack of interest and capacity
of a portion of the population, and partly by

[256]



DEVELOPMENTS IN EDUCATION

the economic stress to which the poorer classes
are subjected. Whatever be the cause, all
students of society are agreed that it stands as
the principal bar to greater progress of the
race.
The outlook for the future in education was
never brighter. More thought and study are
being devoted to the subject than ever before.
A gain in method or theory in one city is widely
heralded, so that, in a comparatively short time,
the whole world projSts by the discoveries of
successful educators. Education is no longer
national in outlook and aim, but like music,
science and medicine, is international. Educa-
tors know no national boundaries in their ex-
change of ideas and methods. The aim of the
up-to-date school is to use the best methods re-
gardless of their origin, and to train young men
and women for world citizenship. Unfortu-
nately the schools of this type are not yet nu-
merous, but they are increasing.
