Dallas herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1849-1873, 1865-01-12

OF the legislature TO bring the appropriation
into the most direct contact with the Object
We believe more good can he done in an
other way, and that now is peculiarly tho
time 10 talk about II. Our State bns twen-
fy.fye or thirty, more or less, universities,
colleges, aud other high. titled institutions,
none Of which are justified in ranking lhem-
selves ahoye high schools and academies
We believe, IN fact, all OF Them put together
would fail TO make mp one such school rs
RUanY .ersE,roS, We design for the vari-
I osspmdliiss no disrespect in this remark,
autsinfpSs6 state u truth which Is neces-
sary, to be told = Besides these we have
academies, institutes. etc.. etc. same of which
are very worthy, but the minority If which
require improvement TO make them equal
TO n Carolina old Field School. The teach
ers in far too many of these institutions are
ignorant, unenlcrprising, unfit for any 9th
er pursuit. and by consequence Dery, VERY
unfit for the noble profession of teaching.
These reflections lend ~ to the point we
desire to ser forth to-day, 10 wits The first
step toward building up education in this
Stare, is TO provide competent instructors,
and these must he men aud women belong
ing to oar ow~ peopl', accustomed to our
own atmosphere, and believing in our own
institutions.
T"chng il n profession. II is n. moro
usef ! profession than Medicine, nobler
profession than Law, and more ilnen-
tial profession Than Divinity Yet people
who hugh N nm ignoran, clergyman, who
will ave nothing to do with an ignorant
lawyer, and who scoin an ignorant doctor,
will int u't the training nf their children,
at an age when The twiv is most easily bent,
to stupid .nornni and ovcrvwny unworthy
Instructors What folly! Nay, what u les
son TO our State is TO br found in the tact,
that such teachers alone are TO he found for
large portion of the schools
Now let the State en,low n professional
school for teachers, for admission TO which
certain rigid examination is required,
equivalent we will say To that Of admission
to the Virginia Universitv; let the endow-
ment be equal 10 the support of fifty Young
men and women. whilst they are pursuing
n two years professional course. Let their
engagement, in consideration Of the benefit
of this school, b to devote five wears 10
teaching, aud within five years we will have
foundation for substantial education, SUI
perior TO that of any State in America.
We cannot pursue the subject further. II
is suggestive, and we trust the patriotic
mind of the State will work over il till We
have something evolved of permanent ad-
vantage.
For raising the standard of Higher Ehu-
cation. we mnst have n University, able to
sustain the highest rank Of professors, we'll
endowed, under State patronage, anu ac-
mission to which will require all that an
ordinary how can learn at any OF our pres
ent schools in fonr wears.
For all Of thes' things we must first bear
in mini that whatever is worth doing nj al
IL worth doing well, and that nothing ID
better worth being well done than 'dnca-
ton. That there is no royal rond nor ra'i
roai to learning; that so long as our yonng
men hurry into the business of life at II,
and onr Young women get married at IN,
they must of necessity. exist in scale OK
being far. very far from that ofenlightmen',
or of intelligence; and that the average OF
educated men and women only become ready
for life after from seven to ten years OF ap.
plicntion to the pursuit Of knowledge, and
TO the mental discipline only 10 be obtained
from study.
Willthe tenchers of Texas set the stand
ard of their endenvors above the valleys In
which they are now lettering?