Abstract
After twenty years of experience in Catholic rural institutions of learning the writer has concluded that a false philosophy has been taught in the rural secondary schools. The ideas that labor is "degrading and disgraceful" and that money is the end of education have been the bane of educators. It is not only the task of the rural teacher to inculcate in the students the dignity of labor, but it is the task of every educator in every field. Man is not mere intellect, nor is making a livelihood the same as seeking the fabulous rainbow treasure. Monsignor Luigi Ligutti and Reverend John Rawe state it thus:|"In our present educational system, some very faulty philosophy of life is taught, The first, and perhaps the most damaging, is that manual labor is degrading and disgraceful. Such expressions as, "go to school so you won't have to work," is heard in many classrooms, and tends to develop in the child the idea that work is only for those of low mentality. From this we get a group of educated and "uneducated" misfits in the world. Again, money is held up to the child as the goal of life. We honor those of great wealth rather than those having achieved great things in this world. Because of this many boys and girls leave honest labor and try their hand at some quick money making scheme. Only the words and actions of the teachers can change this."