Article October 6, 1917 Issue

Educational Influence of the Monitor

CARLOTTA S. SIGNOR

Whenever human aspiration is externalized in some achievement far beyond all previous accomplishment in that line, again is the divine dictum heard, "I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it." The door to a truer, purer, happier outlook upon the world has opened. None of us really means to refuse to take the broader view, or to deprive himself of a true record of human activities, a fuller knowledge of the manifest operation of good among men, a deeper insight into the tendencies of events, an acquaintance with our neighbors in other lands, far and near, which alone can establish an intelligent understanding of their needs and aims. With understanding, how quickly prejudice and harsh judgment—archenemies to education—vanish !

In a recent address a man prominent in national affairs said: "Common understanding and community of action are the product of communication. In modern civilized states this means the ability to read newspapers. The product of such communication is what the sociologists term 'like mindedness ; ' it is the quality which makes it possible for men to act together in a common cause." The educational value of The Christian Science Monitor is one that to be fully appreciated must be realized by actual experience. To the unschooled the daily reading of the Monitor is a liberal education; to the college bred it is not only an adequate presentation of the progress of the world, but a constant whetting of the pleasures of past studies by a style enriched with illustrations drawn from the treasures of literature, history, and art.

It is no one-sided education which is gained in the reading of this great daily. On the first page we get the important events of the day, stated without surmise or exaggeration in careful English. Some knowledge of current events is necessary to every well-informed person, and an acquaintance with significant movements is even more important and much more interesting than the passing event. Proceeding in our paper we find absorbing articles on public measures in our country and in the countries of the six continents, to say nothing of the islands of the sea. There are also interviews and accounts which make us acquainted with the great personages of the time, or with the still picturesque villager of some remote corner. We find new and comparative studies in educational methods; we can keep abreast with music and musicians, and be informed on the drama.

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