Jasper County Democrat, Volume 18, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 June 1915 — Community Center School a Great Agency For Making Public Opinion [ARTICLE]

Community Center School a Great Agency For Making Public Opinion

By Dr. RAYMOND V. PHELAN,

University of Minnesota

IX literature and discussion much has been said of the idle school - house, the town meetings of long ago and the town problems of today. These things need to be said again, but the big community idea is THAT TIIE COMM UNITY CENTER StiIIOOLIIOTTSE IS ONE OF OUR GREATEST AGENCIES FOR MAKING NOT TIIE PUBLIC OPINION THAT I LAS BEEN CALLED PRIVATE INDOLENCE, BUT A TWENTIETH CENTURY PUBLIC OPINION, ALEUT. THINKING, FEELING, ACTING, FRATERNAL. Community center propaganda says among other things to the countryside: “Open up your school houses to public discussion. Be not afraid of the truth or the untruth. Take for your motto that maxim put by Sir Thomas More into the mouth of lltopus, ‘The native, force of truth will at last break forth and shine bright if supported only by the strength of argument and attended to with a gentle and unprejudiced mind.’ ” To be successful with the town and. the schoolhouse a university must itself have the community center spirit. THE UNIVERSITY THAT WOULD DO THE MOST SUCCESSFUL COMMUNITY CENTER WORK MUST FURTHERMORE BE FREE OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY SELFISH, INDIVIDUALISTIC ATTITUDE TOWARD HUMAN LIFE, AND ALWAYS IN ITS ACTS AND POLICIES IT MUST SHOW A FULL REALIZATION THAT DEMOCRACY IS NOT MERELY A BUNDLE OF HUMANELY SOUNDING WORDS.