Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1852-01-21
WHAT is USEFUL EDUCATTONf

We put the question in reference to the
great body of American youth, who are to
earn their bread by the sweat Of their brows,
and, under Providence, to WELD the future
destlnles of our country. Two principles
should govern Teach them to provide for
themselves bonorably, under any ordinary
contingency,-and qualify them to become
useful to society. The times, as well as uni
yersal experience, ~abundantly admonish US,
that however the children Of wealth may in,
dulge in Incidence and dissipation-while
their means last,-the great mass of Amer
lean youth must, and ought, to depend upon
their labor for their fortunes and their use
fulness. Fortune is at best precarious /; pat
rimonial dependence is uncertain, and reli-
ance upon the friendship or charity of the
world, or upon Office, is frail and often deba-
sing. Selfdependence is the only sure stay.
We are ever most willing to help those who
help themselves. Productive labor is the
Legitimate source Of all our wealth, indiyidu-
al and national and this labor is profitable
to the individual and to the nation, in pro-
portion to the measure of intelligence and
scientific knowledge which guide and direct
ITS operations. Hence it is of primary i'm
portance, that our youth should be efficient
ly taught to labor, and hat their minds
should be early imbued with that kind Of
knowledge which will instruct them in the
principles of their business, render it horora-
ble, and make them independent in conduct
and in fortune.
We have, to be sure, colleges and acade.
mics in abundance. But these are in a meas.
ure consecrated to the learned professions
to the privileged few-for they are privileg.
ed, inasmuch as they are the exclusive re-
cipients of the higher branches of learning
Productive labor derives little or no advan
tage from their teachings. Few of the you'll
who enter their halls ever seek for a iveli
hood in the laboring arts. They learn t.
look upon labor, as servile and demeaning
and to seek their level in what they cQnsid
err the higher classes of society. They d.
not 90 to these schools to learn to work, O
10 learn to live by work,-in the common
meaning Of these terms-but to learn to liv,
without work-above work. They are viz
tually withdrawn from the producing classes
These young aspirants flock to the learned
professions, and the genteel empIoyments
as the avenues to honors and to Office an,
Notwithstanding that labor is taxed heavily
in one way or another, to supply their req
or imaginary wants, yet the genteel profes
sions have become so overstocked, and tn
threshold of power so thronged with suppl
cants, that hundreds and thousands ar
thrown back, as parasites, upon society, e,
hibiting the melancholy spectacle of mel
born to be useful, but unable, or unwilling
from the bias ofa wrong education, to b.
:, come So. Had these men been taught
f look upon work as it truly is, a necessar
healthful, independent, and honorable en-
ployment, and been instructed in its prime
I pies and itspractice, while young, they woul
:. have cherished its interests, respected its vi
n tues, and cheerfnlly shared in its tolls an
q its pleasures. We seek not, by these +
. marks, to pull down that which is, but
build up that which is not. It. is not tn;
! we love a part less, but the whole more
We would raise the standard oflabor, wit
out depressing that Of literature.