"yes" and "no" were classified such answers as were conclusively affirmative and negative respectively. The third category "depends" was defined for answers which were in some cases negative and in others affirmative but always with reservations. War would or would not come depending upon circumstances. The following are examples of answers which were classified under "depends." "Yes, if the Philippines get their independence ," "No, not unless the jingos drive us into it," "I do not think that war is necessary if the Japanese are given more land", and "War with Japan would be tragic and useless; however, whether or not we have it depends on the attitude of newspapers." Cases in which there was no reply and in which the pupils wrote that they did not know, were included under the category "don't know." An examination of the data which are presented in Table II shows that 145 students, or 50 per cent of the entire group, believe that war is sure to come sooner or later. A larger percentage, (57 per cent) of the 137 boys, than of the girls believe this. Twenty-eight per cent of the entire group do not believe that war will come and ten per cent gave conditional answers. A slightly larger percentage of girls (13 per cent) than of boys gave answers of this type. When the "no" and "depends" answers are added it is found that 38 per cent of the entire group gave either negative or qualified answers. TABLE II. IS WAR BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND JAPAN INEVITABLE? The facts which are described in the paragraph above reveal an alarming situation. One half of the boys and girls who are about to complete their formal education and who will soon occupy places of influence in the community appear to have accepted the inevitability of war with the Japanese. They exhibit an attitude of resignation toward one of the most destructive scourges of mankind and a feeling of fatalistic apprehension which is strikingly similar to that which prevailed in Europe before 1914. Their minds are all too fertile soil for the ever present propaganda of race bigotry, narrow nationalism, ambitious imperialism and economic greed. One hesitates to draw inferences from expressions of opinion by high school boys and girls. It seems reasonable, however, to conclude that one of two conditions is true of the students who believe that war is inevitable. In the first place they may have accepted war as a natural and necessary evil. They may know that it is terrible, that well-meaning efforts are being made to prevent it, but believe that war always has been and always will be. A conflict of interest exists between the United States and Japan; it must be settled by force. They have looked upon the dream of ending war forever, one of the most inspiring hopes of a self conscious and self directing civilization, and have coldly and cynically turned their backs upon it. This condition, however, is not true to the nature of high school boys and girls. They are too susceptible to idealism and too far removed from the disillusionments and cynicisms of the adult world. The more plausible explanation of such a state of mind is that they have uncritically accepted attitudes and opinions which are commonly found in newspapers and popular discussion and have had advantage of very little careful training concerning international relations1 by more reliable educational agencies. The second alternative is that the seniors possess so little intelligence concerning war that their opinions are practically irresponsible. This would imply that they had read, studied, or been taught very little of the causes and consequences to 1 Terry and Greguson, Blind Spots in the High School Curriculum, Educational Review, June, 1923. nations, and to civilization itself, of the widespread death and destruction which is entailed in modern war. It would further imply that they were not informed or were indifferent to the courageous efforts to end war which the last few decades have witnessed. If this condition obtains, it is not because high school seniors are too immature to gain a significant understanding of the ideas and problems which are involved in war. Subsequent paragraphs show that some of them do possess such an understanding. The more probable explanation is that the high school has not yet definitely undertaken to train all of its students to think responsibly about problems of this kind. A more optimistic aspect of the situation is discernible in the fact that as many as 38 per cent of the pupils believe that war is either not inevitable or that its coming depends upon circumstances. Twenty-nine pupils wrote answers of the latter kind. They admit the possibility of such a war-and no one can deny that it is a possibility-but they proceed to point out that the disruption of friendly relations is dependent upon the behavior of the two nations toward each other. It is clearly implied that the nations can control their behavior in the interests of peace. These twenty-nine pupils appear to be better informed or more mature in their thinking than the others. They are not fatalistically resigned to the idea of war, and doubtless it would be more difficult to stampede them into unnecessary hostilities on a trivial international incident. The reader's attention should be called at this point to certain marked differences in the percentages of answers under the several categories which were returned from different schools. Three schools were included in the inquiry with approximately an equal number of pupils from each. Between Schools X and Y very significant differences were found. Sixty, twenty-one and three per cent of the pupils of School X answered "yes," "no," and "depends," respectively, whereas the corresponding percentages of School Y were thirty-nine, thirty-three and eighteen. Decidedly larger percentages of the pupils of School X believe war is inevitable and comparatively few of them believe it to be dependent upon circumstances. On the other hand slightly more than a majority of the pupils of School Y either reject the inevitability of the struggle or condition it upon the behavior of the two nations. An effort was made to account for the more optimistic attitudes of the pupils of School Y. A signicant explanation was found in the amount of attention which one of the teachers had been giving to the Washington Disarmament Conference during several weeks preceding distribution of the questionblanks. Many of the seniors were members of his classes. These classes on several occasions studied, read, and discussed the efforts which were made at the Conference to prevent war on the Pacific. The superior attitudes and information of these pupils show that high school seniors are able to develop a significant understanding of the problems of war, and, therefore, that teaching with that objective in view is feasible. Why War Is Inevitable or Not Inevitable. The reader will recall that the seniors were asked to give reasons for their opinions on the inevitability of war. The reasons which were recorded by those who consider war inevitable are presented in Table III. The most frequently mentioned reasons are those which relate to the presence of Japanese immigrants in the United States. Forty-seven pupils mentioned what may be called offensive attitudes on the part of the Japanese. Forty-four gave reasons which were classified under the category of race prejudice. Economic conflict was mentioned in 30 instances, and 27 reasons were classified as relating to mutual fear and distrust. TABLE III. REASONS FOR BELIEVING WAR WITH JAPAN IS INEVITABLE. REASONS 1. Difficulties arising out of immigration of Japanese to the United States, Social and economic evils due to presence of Japanese (low standard of living, American labor deprived of opportunity, dope problem, etc.)-(51); resentment of Japanese over American restriction of immigration (17); Japanese feel themselves unjustly discriminated against (2) 2. Offensive attitudes of Japanese: Desire to rule Asia and the Pacific (19); desire for Amer- 3. Race prejudice (28) and agitation conducted against the 4. International economic forces: Growing Japanese population and need for more land (21); 5. Suspicion and distrust between the two peoples: Total 218 A number of the sub-items under 1, 2 and 4, in Table III, are reasons which grow directly out of the conflict of economic interests. Such conflicts are difficult to adjust with satisfaction to both sides, and in the process of adjustment belligerent feelings are often aroused in both countries. On the other hand, many of the reasons do not spring from such obvious and tangible sources. There are the prejudices of race, distrust and suspicion of strangers, resentment against real or alleged offensive manners, indignation on the ground of national discrimination, and others which are listed under 2, 3 and 5. These are attitudes which proceed from fundamental human feelings. They reach far back into the primitive man. All men, whether conscious or unconscious of these feelings, are subject to them. A few enlightened individuals may understand the dangers which lie in yielding to their |