Litchfield enquirer., 1832-04-12
THE MANUAL LABOR SYSTEM.

AhG hANOAL LAbOkS SHSNEhAs
 We havedbeen favored with the perusaI of the +e- port of the GrsenviITe SIass.) Boarding School for young men, conducted on the seIfsupportikg system Of education and believe we cannot the cause of education beYsr tha" by giving an extract.
 Western Rec.
 The 0dvantdges of this system can here be only briefly indicated.
 Among these, one of the most obvious, is the economy of the system.
 Assuming the correctness of information we have received, and which we have rea- son to rely upon, and also of data fhrnisI- ed by experiment, the assertion seems war rsnted, that for the interest of eight thou sand dollars, a sum which at the utmost will hardly delray the expense ofboard for ninc scholars, fifty young men, under the most favorable conditions of the self-sup- porting system, can entirely deray this expense. Or, to take another view of the subject, a sum which would hardly be suf- Gcient to dciray the expense of board for fifty young men in fitting for college, would, by being invested in the establish ment of self-supporting school, create, permanently, the means of enabling the same number in succession to derive sup- port. Or, to view the topic in still anoth- CT light. A parent has several sons. To fit one of them for college, would require, at the lowest estimate an expense of a hum dred and fifty or two hundred dollars. But for the sane sum invested in q self-support- ing school, he could educate aU his sons in succession, provided they used their 1,n ol> toned. And atthe ond, the stock would be worth as much and perhaps more to him than at first.
 If then, other things being equal, econo- my and cheapness in education be an im- portant consideration, the self-supporting system is specially deserving of public pat ronage. ,.....
 Bat it has other claims. It wiU tend greatly to elsvatc the Standard of common education.
 In the full conviction that the general diffusion of knowledge is indispensable to the capacity of a wise and successful self government, our laws endeavor to bring the means of education within the reach of all. And surely in political view, to say nothing of other considerations, an attempt to elevate the standard ofgeneral intelli- gence, to place within the reach of all, the means of higher knowledge than our com mon schools afford, must be regarded with appreciation.
 The plan now under consideration most perfectly accomplishes this object. It en- abes those who may not be intended for an university course, and the learned pro- iessions, to attain the advantages of an el- evated education without any expense oth- CT than their time. And few parents, it is believed, would hesitate to give their sons a superior education, by which their hap piness, responsibility and usefulness in life would be greatly increased, and at the same time without losing tho habit, or uniting them for the labors, of manual occupations.
 Again there is no reason to doubt tha. more soould be accomplished in study under tke manua! labor system.
 We have testimony to this effect from schools where the system has been adopt ed. And it is not difficult to sec that it should be so. The time spent in labor is no more than students ought to devote to some kind of active exercise, under any sys- tem. And the advantage of this system is, that the exercise is taken, and taken reg ulariy, and without those exceptions and that waste of time which it is almost im- possible to avoid under any other system. And experience also has shown that as a necessary recreation from mental oxcrtion, in regard to tho interest and pleasure with which it is followed, this kind of exercise is preferable to any system of artificial gymnastics. And it is obvious that the scholar returning from the healthful labors of tho field, is prepared 10 pursue his stud- ies with more vigor and clearer head, and consequently with moro success. This system, then, it is believed, is pre-eminent- y calculated to fulfil the conditions of the great problem of education to combine the proportionable derelopement and cul- tiUation of thc mental and physical powers.
 On this subject very much might be said, but the limits oflhis report permit us only to glance at it.
 It obviously removes young men, in a great degree, from the numerous tempta- tions to idleness, dissipation and vice which beset them in the ordinary institutions of learning. l. tends to form and cherish habits of industry and fore-thought, of en- ergy and self reliance, and proper spi,t of independence in feeling and acting.
 We mentioned the moral influence of this system upon community. We have already shown that it will tend greatly to \ | 4