Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1867-02-23
" a r. / -E II x.
What Kind of Education is Now Needed

Not the least important of the many mo,
mentous questions arising out of the new
State of things in which we now find oursclyc
placed, is that OF the kind of instruction nc
ccssary for the rapid aud effective dcvclop
meut of our material resources In nothing
will there have to be moro marked and radi
Cal change than in our syStcu of education.
The day OF intelligent capital and ignorant
labor has Forever passed with us Labor is
now the common lot of all, and educational
labor is the necessity of our condition. Om
colleges and universities can no longer be
filled with the sons of wealthy landlolders.
Pnrsunga course of classical studies prepare
tory to life OF indolcncc. and luxury, or as 4;
training for the contests and victories OF po
tical ambition. But on the contrary the cdu
cation of our youth must now be tie captnI
with whic', they shall 60 forth in the fields of
agriculture, mechanics and commerce. to earn
their daily bread, and regain their wasted
estates.
We say that the youth Of our State must he
educated to this work, for we who are now ac
lively Engaged i'll clearing away the wreck of
the plst, eau expect to do little else than pre-
pare the way and mark out the foundations
for our future prosperity. 1t will remain for
those who succeed us on the fittul stage of life
to rear the SupcrStructure and herald the dav
when our noble Old Commonwealth, hnyiur
swept away every trace of her present dcsola-
tons. shall arise with more than her prpstinc
glory to control the political aud commercial
dcstlnlrs o. continent 10 accomplish this
end our youth must have practical education
The dead languages, metaphysics, law. aud
political economy, willie desirable and in thei,
proper sphere beneficial, must no longer br
the sole or even the chief studies of our chill
dre". The natural sciences, together with
their practical application to the great inter
csts of agriculture aud mechanics, the princ
pies of commercial economy, and the rules that
govern trade, must constitute, for the mos,
part, the training of tho mind while the phys
zeal education of the body to manual labor is
requisite tn successful preparation for the great
work lying before those who are soon to take
our places in the struggle for independence
and influence. The maxim that labor il hon
orhbie, must no longer be received and laid
aside as an abstract truth which has no prao-
tical bearing, but our children must be taught
that not to labor is dishonor,ble, and TINT how
to labor can only be learned by experience ut
the plow, the anvil and the workbench -
Whilst it is necessary that the classes Which
are to direct and control the work of r, con.
slruction, the proprietors of the soil and the
~
physically; it is equally as importantth til t tie
class which heretofore have only had physi
cal training should now be mentally and
morally instructed. 1t matters not whether
to the negro as slave this kind Of knowledge
was advantageous or otherwise to him as
freedman it is absolutely essential, if we would
develop IN him useful and profitable laborer
That educated is more profitable than igno.
rant labor, will, we think, hardly be denied,
and that an educated pcasantry is more desi-
rablc, both socially and politically, than an un-
educated one, is equally true. The questions
then are, how and to what extent shall this
class be taught3 TO the latter we answer to
the highest eStcnt practicable. We confess
that the light which experience throws upon
the intellectual capacity of tho negro is not
favorable to high state of cultivation This
is especially true of him whom freed from CO.
eroive government lie is by nature physi
eally indnlcnt and slothful, and seems to bs