There is something noble, important and vital in the American dream, way, or democracy. But two questions remain unanswered. What is the dream, way, or democracy at bottom and in the process of becoming? Whose dreams, way, and democracy? These must be disconcerting questions to any observer who does not feel as certain as the Almighty that he has boxed the compass, nailed the universal down in one formula, or closed history for all time.

I am much perplexed about the copy-book axioms that I learned in Economics A-l and A-2. To what extent are they now valid in practice? Do contemporary economists check their axioms against such practices as those revealed by the Wheeler subcommittee? If so, don't they find their beautiful structure of economic logic somewhat askew just now? And how are civics teachers going to make all this plain to youngsters preparing themselves for the duties of American citizenship? One more question: are addresses on Patriotism enough?

IT IS never helpful in a controversy over a public policy to call one another names. Everybody is entitled to his opinions, but opinions are not facts. In every debate it is important to separate opinions from facts, so before expressing my opinions, I am going to present certain facts which are beyond dispute. I believe that these are facts which everybody ought to take into account before making up his mind on President Roosevelt's plan for reorganizing the judiciary.

THE few freaks who are accustomed to take a long and wide view of things must now be rather impressed by the interest of professional educators in the social studies curriculum. Indeed, developments in this field may have a significance for the future of the United States that transcends street brawls and Hearst headlines. A long, long time ago, now remembered only by greyheads, the business of shaping up curricula was left largely to Subject Matter Specialists. And who were they?

THE American republic now tosses heavily amid the tempest of a crisis in its economy. No facts and figures are required to prove that statement. Stark evidences of the crisis lie all around us—in silent industries, in rusting machines, in the broken lives of men, women, and children. But deeper than these outward signs and entangled in them is another crisis, not visible to the eye—a crisis in American thought which springs from our quest for security through national action on a national scale. This is the phase of the present national dilemma which distinguishes it from previous panics and especially concerns the teachers of the land.

IN its Conclusions and Recommendations, the Commission on the Social Studies laid great emphasis upon certain features of teaching generally neglected by the mechanicians of pedagogy. These features are the integrity of scholarly devotion to the truth of matters selected for presentation in the classroom, freedom to present various sides of controversial questions with the utmost fairness and intellectual honesty, the protection of teachers in the discharge of their duties against the assaults of interested minorities, factions, and groups, and the organization of the teaching profession in a way to afford effective protection.

SEVERAL YEARS ago a distinguished college president enumerated the things that were fixed in American life and as far beyond debate as the multiplication table. Among these rocks of Gibraltar destined to stand forever he placed private property and freedom of contract. The good president thought, no doubt, that he was saying something positive and definite. In his view apparently private property was a clearly defined object like a stick or stone, immutable in its forms and known to everyone out of his rompers and bibs.

It is an interesting commentary on American political science that we should be setting out at this late hour to explore the relation of the state to education, but there is nothing astounding about it when we reflect upon the history of both the state and education in this country.