Abbeville press. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1860-1869, 1866-07-06
A EINIsHED EDucATIoH.:

If it be true that 20 little learning Is
dangerous thing" then is our cherished re-
public exposed 70 a widespread Intestine
peril than could ever be caused by the ne
farious plottiugs of foreign enemies or do
mestic traitors. Nowhere else is the Sag-
gregate popular diffusion Of superficial in,
formation so great as in America; nowhere
else, alas is individual concentration o.
knowledge so rare. - y.
It may, perhaps, be said that If a boy
be actuated by the desire to learn, ample
opportunities are afforded to- kim in all o.
our schools and colleges, and that If he
have neither .i-cfinaiion nor capacity to
profit by their course Of tuition the fault
is his. To which we reply, in the first
place, that ninety nine out OF every hun
dred boys naturally much prefer play to
study; and that, moreover, the exceptional
.hundredth plodder generally becomes a
stupid man; and, in the second place, that
even were the majority Of pupils such
monsters of precocious perseverance as
schoolmasters would have them be, the
routine pursued in most of our academies
docs not cultivate the understanding so
much as the memory, especially as regards
beginners; while some .branches Of exceed.
ing importance are either not taught at ALL
or else taught SO inadc9uaiely that they
might as we'll be omitted altogether. The
blame for this lies :fcst with the small
.pelants who write primary text books
crammed with technicalities quito incom.
prehensible 10 the little learner with the
teachers who are either unable or unwilling
to impart sufficient knowledge in IN intel
:ligible manner.
Imprimis-and Great Britain is nearly
.ss.nuch at fault as America in this respect
the English language is shamefully neg.
lected in nearly all educational institutions
not only as 10 its more refined clegauces,
but in its fundamental principles. Gram
mar is subdiyided into photography, ety.
mology, syntax, and prosody, aod of these
but the frat and last arc included to any
extent; etymology being so slurred over
that it is mattcr o: everyday occurrence
TO find in tue sayings and writings Of tue
best graduates Of our best colleges words
,misused in gross ignorance of their deriya-
tive meanings. Now, to ssy nothing of
the essential importance Of thorough con-
versance with the strict use Of words to
him who iu professional or PROFESSIONAL pur.
suits endeavqrs TO- transmit to others theo-
.ries of facts elected by his research, no
qualification for mere social intercourse is
more desirable than the ability to express
ones thapghts ever SO comm onplaco,
with auency and elegance; yet we meet,
even among the uPpermost class of our 80:
cial scale, mea who do credit to their tail
ors oftener than those who reflect honor
upon their instrpctors. This may be part
.}y owing to tue business exigencies of our
commercial community, which frequently
transplant a lad whose education;is scarce.
ly more thap; begun from desk at school
to desk in the .counting.house; but to a
vast number Of instances this excuse can
not be applied, and we must refer the er-
FOR to ineflciency of collegiate discipline.
We will not insist that an exhaustive
8 stpdy Of all the languages whcreon our
own is based should be made compulsory
on every STUDENT but surely something be-.
sides Greek and Latin should be comprised
in An genealogical course. Nearly four
fifths Of the English words in commonest
use are derived from the Anglo-Saxon, and
yet, so far az our experience goes, It is not
even pretended to teach this latter. in any
OF our leading colleges. - ;-.s-
The vicious training Of our common
schools is sufficiently manifested in the
gross misapplication of f<words- pot. only by
their pupils but, in the majority of. cases,
by the teachers also. An absurd afecta-
ton of elegance has. .supplsnted correctness
of diction, and We daily hear tho most II
dicuious verbal, peryersions. Few, of tie
great middle class are :sati.6sd 10 .4go 10
bed" at nighsaiks iinsaligible .saxons; no,
they mpst asretire re-whither or for what
purpose is left 10 the: imagination: One
kindly makes 7inqliries concerning ths
health Of 4your5 5laay,"' not thinking that
by conferring that title exclusively; upon