The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-04-12
CHI A r L ES TON.
MONDAY MORNING, APRIL 12, 1869.
NIr. Eroude ON Education.

Of st. Andrews, Scotland, has attracted as
much attention by the boldness and straight
forwardness Of its language as it has com
mandsd respect by its close reasoning and
deep and earnest thought.
Beginning with the broad declaration that
"to make US know our duty and do 1t, to
''make US upright in act and true in thought
''and word, is the aim Of all instruction
(which deserves the name-the epitome of
call purposes for which education exists"
Mr.. Froude passes to the question which
is on everybody's lips: Whether the sub
jects to which the best years Of youth and
boyhood continue to be given are the best
in themselves, whether they should be al
tered or added to, or if so in what direo-
tions The great schools and colleges of
Great Britain are in the middle Of q revo-
lntion, which, like most revolutions, means
"discontent with what we have and NO clear
sidea Of what we would have" And the
causes are not far to seek. On the one
land, there is the immense multiplication
of the subjects of knowledge; ON the other,
the increased range of occupations among
which the working part Of mankind are
distributed We cannot confine ourselves
to the languages, to the grammar, the logic
and the philosophy which satisfied the sew
enteenth century. Yet if we pile on the
top of these tho histories and the literature
of our and other nations, with modern Ian
guages and sciences, we accumulate load
which the most ardent and industrious stu
dent cannot cope with. What, then, is the
secret Of success It Essays Mr.. Froude-
'that we understand clearly the result
(which we desire to produce"
To educate successfully, you should first
ascertain what you mean by an educated
man. Our ancestors, said Mr.. Froude, un-
derstood what they meant perfectly well.
They set out with the principle that every
child born into the world should be taught
his duty to God and man. The majority of
people must live by bodily labor; therefore.
every boy was as early as was convenient
set to labor. There was no thought of what
we call enlarging the mind. A boy was
taught reading that he might read the Bible,
and learn to fear God, and be ashamed and
afraid to do wrong. In both England and
Scotland, by the parish school system, the
children were put in the way Of leading
useful lives if they would be honest. The
essential thing was that every one who was
willing to work should be able to maintain
himself and his family in honor and inde-
pendence. In the education Of q scholar
the same principle was applied.
There were two ways Of being indepen-
dent. If you require much you must pro-
duoe much. Ifyou produce little you must
require little. Those who added nothing
to the material wealth Of the werld must be
content to be poor. If rich in mind, the
scholar was expected to be poor in body;
and 80 deeply was this theory grated into
English feeling, that when Esrls and Dukes
began to frequent the Universities they
shared the common simplicity. The scholar
was held in high honor; but his contribu-
tions to the commonwealth were not appli-
cable in money and were not rewarded with
money. Neither scholarship nor science
starved under this treatment; more noble
souls have been smothered in luxury than
were ever killed by hunger. But this old
idea Of education was dying away at both
extremities; the apprenticeship, as q sys-
tenn Of instruction, was gone, and the dis
cipline of poverty was gone also; and we
have instead what is called enlarged minds.
An enormous accumulation Of propositions
Of all roots and kinds is thrust down stu
dents throats,, to be, poured into exami-
ners' laps, and this too eswhen it is notori.
sous that the sole condition Of making
.sprogress in any branch OF art or knowl-
'sedge is to leave on one side everything
irrelevant to 1t. and to throw their undi-,
''vided energy on the special thing they had
"in hand" tr ..f
The old Universities, Mr.. Froude pro-
oeeded to say, are struggling against these
absurdities, and yet their work is scarcely
more satisfactory. A young man who goes
to Oxford now learns the same things
which were taught two centuries age: but
ne learns no lesson Of poverty along with
1t. La his course, he contracts habits of
self-indulgenoe and luxury which make
subsequent hardships unendurable. He is
called educated, yet If thrown ON his own
resources ne cannot earn sixpence for
himself. Gan Oxford education" Mr..
Froude said, ''fts anan, extremely well for
"the trade OF gentleman. I do net know
''sor what other trade it does ct him 90 at
"present constituted" More than one
Oxford graduate has been seem in these late
years breaking stones upon road in 9us.
trslia. That was all that he was found to
be fit for when brought into contact with
the primary realities Of things.
In modern schools We now iind the three
rs, about which we are all agreed; noxt
Latin and Greek, which the schools must
Keep TO while the Universities coniine their
nonors to these; and them mixed multi
suoe OK history, physiology, Chronology.