Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1863-10-03
COUNTY conxrrrEEs.
.naaaL lo From the New York independent.
The Educational Problen,. sr.,ag
nv HORACE cRkELEr.

fE9 All difference implies misconception :
men dispute and thrive because they do not
| clearly or fully see. It were blindness 10
ignore the prevalence of a wide divergence
| Of ideas and inculcations with regard to
4 education, and especially the education of
the masses. Men aud women as honest
and we-meaniug, If not as wise and far.
seeing, as those who mainly direct the eda-
cational machinery OF our time. profoundly y
| feel that great Improvement h therein might
readily be made--improvement with regard
not merely to me thods but to ends. b / am
zone 'ofcthe cayiers, the fault fnders,u the
radicals "a L think our. children now at
school might not merely be better taught
they might be taught what is better worth
| their knowing the labor and expense
which their. education now costs. Let me
Illustrate: ~ aearayo1 sassiT pebuo.l saf
o1,I drop into the common school of any
district 10 which / happen to find, myself
the happy possessor of spare hour, and
am uniformly received with kind of cour.
tesy, for which / trust / am duly grateful.
/ ask the teacher TO ignore my presence and
Fgo on with his regular round Of exercises.
Very soon my attention is fixed by class
exhibiting the proficiency of its members
respectively in algebra. 10 Now, being my
self unskilled in Algebra, ! may well be
pronounced poor judge Of its value; but
know something of arithmetic and of
shorthand, anti that algebra is short.
hand arithmetic OF course 4 perceive
that there, are large classes to whom its
uses are palpable and its value immense.
But here before me are boys destined to-
succeed their fathers Us tiers of the soil,
and girls who are probably to become the,
wives and mothers of farmers and me
! chancs-to cook and sew and darn, to
wash and starch and make butter and
cheese-snd / ask myself. not whether al
zebra may or may not be Of some use to
| them in after, life, but whether the time
they devote to the study Of algebra might
not be employed more proftubiy iy-whet her
learning this does not preclude, in their
case, the study Of something else which
they more urgently need to know. If it
were Russian or Sanscrit that they were
studying, and you asked me- is, not this
worth knowng?' must answer, Most
certainly; all knowledge is desirable; but
! all is uot equally important NOT. alike iads
pensable; snd [ think these children can
only acquire any competent knowledge Of
Russian, Sanscrit, or even algebra, by neg
lectng and leaving school ignorant of
something else which would prove far more
useful TO them in the career which opens
before them ra. 9i aHs1 i8" iHel oIs.'s
Bear with me 10 further illustration Of
my general idea: o 400 slI1o ..4'.s3.' q
There are n this city never less than a
thousand, often many thousands, of ,edu
Gated, refoed, energetic, virtuous women,
who must depend for any but a pauper's
livelihood on their own uniided exerlions.
They wish to live respectable and respected;
they crave compauiopship above the coarse
and brutal throng whose aspirations con
template only selfish, sensual enjoyment.
Each Of them would gladly find work, and
home as teacher, governess, or in some
kindred vocation. Bat the demand for
! these is limited far within or below, the
supply: where ten are needed, hundred
Offer Some Of these have invalid or In
efficient parents to support; Others would
subsst and educate each q young brother
or sister, if she could There is no more
deserving class; and they are usually will.
| ing, rs they say. to do any thing" that il,
any thing they can that wonld not degrade
or shame them Some desperately seek
copying Of lawyers, or clerkships in stores
or iu public offces--in short, each Of them
does the best she knows, and perhaps the
best she can. l profoundly pity the noble
! and hapless thousands whose untiring, fear.
less, resotute exertions, result only in dis
appointment and bitterness Of sonl-wbose
fruitless daily struggle is daily exposure
| to singing insult aud loathed humiliation
whose youth is without joy aud whose
future is without hope-aud l protest
against the false ideas aud false training
which are rearing up thousands more such
to push these int. unmarked and untmsly
graves. - .t.f-..t..- -.b.t.
But what would you do, or have donei
How is this crying evil to be arrested2
81 answer briefy-By fixing in the gene.
raj mind the truth that all useful work Is
honorable, and by so transforming our cur.
rent education that ssery person shall be
trained and qualified to. do several useful
things. whereof oneor more shall be always
in demand .sioo7 4 baa I
expensvely educated women, yainly seek.
ling enploytnenC u our cry; YET VI every
one Of them was skilltsl.l able. scientific
eooks--a genuine 'artiste' in the prepsra,-
tion Of food-she could Aud a good place
10 three days. and very soon command
liberal wages. Our cooking is mainly de-
volved on very ignorant. undeveloped
class, and the results are simply abomiua-
BILE, This city pays over $50. .0O0. 900 per
annum for its food. whereof not less than
/ 10 OO0, 900 Is squaudered by bad cookery.
not TO speak Of The consequent sacrifice Of
health aad comfort Paris Is better fed
than New York on three fourths the quau
tity of raw food-the difference inhering
} wholly in the cookery. But in Paris the
J art Of preparing food isalaost = liberal
profession. High salaries are paid TO its
masser,spirits; while men Of rank. power,
Il aud fame, do not despise the reputation d