Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1866-11-06
The Education Needed Now.

The following admirable article we find in an
exchange, credited to New Orleans paper
We commend it to the careful consideration of
our readers:
The people of our State are in like predica
ment with the man who has the house destroyed
from over his head. We have to rebuild a
home for ourselves and families. The old home
was a mighty comfortable one Its low, hipped
roof large airy rooms and extensive plastered
portlcoes, gave 1t a quaint, and yet comfortable
appearance, as well as reality
The comforts and luxuries of the past are
henceforth only the wealth of the imagination.
Memory may linger with fond retrospective
glance, and reyel in localities no longer to be
realized But the stern realities Of the present
arouse us to actual life, and bid us lay aside all
fond imaginings,' and deal with the necessi-
ties of the hour.
Circumstances have entirely altered our con-
dition. Times change and we must change
with them. The past must be buried in the
past. The present and the future is all that
Ices to Us. Let us no longer linger round the
grave m Of buried hopes Having paid the nee
essary tribute Of the heart to the loved and
lost, !" let us now turn to the realities of life
For many years to come at least, luxury, ease
and Incidence must give way to energy and la
bor Yes labor, protracted, perseverlng labor,
| must be our lot and the sooner we get to work
in good earnest the better We must, our
selves, take hold of the plough, the anvil and
the loom. We must cultivate our long neglect
ed muscle, and fBd, in vigorous exercise, not
only wealth, but heretofore unknown health and
happiness.
But while we, who are now arrived at the age
of manhood, may do much-while we may re-
build our long enervated systems upon a mus
cle-deyeloping basis-While we can do much to
| repair our shattered hopes. and regain our lost
wealth and influence it is to the rising genera
| tion that the South look for that full develop
ment Of all her resources, and that complete and
full regeneration that shall lead to her econom-
ical success, and her ultimate, relative and COM
| plete independence. G-a
This must be the great industrial power Of
| the South. This is the practical lever by which
national greatness. Upon the muscle and mind
Of the youth Of our land we must rely for help.
But here the laws Of necessity follow us as per-
sistently as in any other of nature S domains. =
! Ends must be accomplished by means. In Or
der to accomplish successfully these great ends,
! the preparatory means must be used. The
muscles as we'll as minds Of these important
workers out Of our destiny must be cultivated
And they must be cultivated on practical prin-
ciples in order to attain practical ends. They
must be educated-thoroughy, practically edu-
Gated.
The term education is a very extensively in
definite one It represents very different states
and conditions as we look at it from different
stand-points. In It's original acceptation, it is
very forcible and perfect expression. Its the
e, or er duc0, the (hda0ing ont, or developing
whatever is to be educated. Nothing could be
more opposite to our present purpose We
need the e-duco-the drawing out or develop
ment of the minds and muscles OF our young
people.
Our people seem to have entirely overlooked
that only real and proper school OF a nation S
hope and success, that only school in which are
| taught practically, and In a manner never to be
| forgotten, the great lessons of ife-the school
Of experience This is the only successful
teacher the world has ever found. In it must
be taught the masses-that fundamental basis
| ola nation hope, power and wealth. We have
had enough of the old system We must now
try the, to U.S. new, though it is the one adop-
ted by the world around us. Our children must
be taught not only to read book, but te
read the great beok of nature to write, p" not
only elegant epistles, splendid tictions, and all
the lackadaisacal nonsense Of perverted htera-
ture, but to write their name high on the scroll
of success not only to write, but to do right
not only to s'cipher' through the pages Of
arithmetics, and the abstruse works of mathe-
matics but to cipher their way through ife
over all obstacles, to independence and success.
Let the youth Of the South then, be at once
put to school under this great and only teacher
/ At the plough handle, at the forge, at the
bench in all the various departments of practi
cal business life; let them learn in childhood
and youth those lessons that will be of priceless
value to them through life Let us have more
muscles and less Of mind-at least, simple, the
oretical ideality Let the mind and body both
be developed in harmony. Let the boy or gir
learn in the living, breathing, real, practica
world, those lessons Of life that will dispel al
the false notions with which noyelists and such
instructors of youth poison the mind, corrupt
the morals, and completely wreck all just hopes
youth of our State in the realities of practical
life, and you will have people successful, hap
py and free