Page 188 - The Legacy of Abraham Rothstein - text

The First World War and after

expect to hear that answer from a person of Mexican or Japanese or
German descent. Do they study their languages just to become
priests or preachers? Does our literature contain only priestly
formulas and ceremonies? Like other literatures, it has a certain
amount of religious teachings, because we, like all nations, had first to
go through our priests with their sayings and teachings and laws
transferred by word of mouth from one generation to another, until
they were finally written down, first on papyrus and later on
parchment. Some nations, who progressed on their own soil, had
time to assert their history and classify it into different books. We had
no time, we had to wander constantly, and our knowledge is bound
in one long book of history, containing a great literature, including
religion, science, and human conduct.
There are several methods of bringing up children of school age.
Some believe in being severe in discipline, and force or drill the
fundamentals of education—but sometimes that backfires, and the
child disgorges all that has been stuffed into his mind. Others are
negligent with the fundamentals and liberal with play and games, but
that robs the child of intelligence. I have tried to teach my
grandchildren and influence them with the little education and
experience I possess, but the play and pleasure this rich country
offers exceeds all bounds, and they lose the best time in life to learn.
A few years ago we had the ball, then the bicycle and the radio, and
now an invention to rob a man of his time and his eyesight, the
television. They tell you that television is a great means for education,
but how can a thing like a profit machine—advertising harmful drugs
and dog food, and showing all those sex and murder stories—serve
education? Education is a tool to inquire, to question, and to judge,
and those who advertise do not like that: it is against their interest.

184