The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1870-10-24
Education Of Business Men.

mSuJ CiClhSS hahoB0AS VI AoSbOAiSS VI
stores, professionals, soldiers, sailors,
statesmen, are in reality business men,
although in the more limited sense of
the world it includes only merchants
and persons engaged in buying and
selling, or in conducting large cstab-
lishments. The number of men who
are placed beyond the necessity of
earning their daily bread by the use
of their brains forms very small mi
nority of the human race, and this is
consideration of primary Importance
when the subject of the education of
boys-those boys who are to be the
worlds future men-comes up. Could
a parent at the outset of his sons ca
reer .foresee with certainty what it
would lead -. there would be com"
paratively little din%sculy in providing
him with that kind of education pest
his
toresight is denied to human beings,
the next Lest thing is to devise such a
system of training as snail. on the av-
cravge, be best for tie largest GpmCsr
of boys. In manufacturing branches
of industry, better educated work.
man is required now to do the intelli-
gent work demanded of him than was
the case years ago, and in commerce,
generally, there is a greater demand
for educated men and the directions
which it now takes, call forth more
and more q mans abilities. What,
then, ought to be the preliminary
training which will enable the busi-
ness man to grasp with readiness the
merits and demerits of the theories.
ideas and experiments, which are con-
stantly being suggested to him in the
course of his business Ought he to
have been previously thoroughly drill
ed in the classics to be a master of the
intricacies. of Greek grammar, and
able to compose faultless Latin verses
to be able to calculate an eclipse, or
to investigate the properties of a curve!
or should he be content with moder-
ate knowledge of Greek, Latin and
mathematics, and devote proportion
of his time to the "onomies" and Cen
logies ?" or should he abstain from
classics altogether, and be content will
mastering his ,wn language and such
a moderate amount of mathematics as
will suffice for bookkeeping land-sur
veying, engineering or navigation
Each of these plans has its advocates
In the old world, particularly liz Eng
land and Germany, classical educa
ton is deemed ofprime importance,an
those youths who are not versed in au
cient literature, geography and my
thology, are apt to be looked down up
on. 1t is not so here, however, and
is we'll known that many of our mos
. successful business men and Influential
citizens have begun life with littl
knowledge beyond what their nativ
J, sagacity enabled them to acquire 70
!. themselves. This fact is sufficient t
e prove that classical education is nc
Z necessary to success in business.
has pleasures and advantages whic
!, enure to the benefit of the men Of lei
o ure, or of those who devote their abb
st tiles to literature, theology, medicir
h and law, but these are not properl
It business men. 1t cannot we'll be sal
E, that classical education is useless,
4 an obstruction to a business man.
s, will enable him to improve his leisu
= hours, and it will unquestionably asst
him in understanding and appreciatiI
o, much of the worlds art and literatu
y which would otherwise be but impe
IS fectly understood by him, and this is
means of refining his taste and !
pleasures.
50 So the study of the sciences in you
or may not lead to any practical resul
=. but it renders easy the subsequent q
or plicatiOn to them, should it be needle
Ill A course of chemistry, for instan
90 undergone by young man of TWEEN
ne ne may prove utterly useless to him il
business sense, because he may EN-
fnr on pursuits which require no knowled
of that science, and after thirty YET
the science itself may have undergo
considerable transformation
should he then have to turn his att
tion to it, his previous knowledge "
as make his path smooth to the futu
ets, - And so with the other sciences. /
{ elementary principles, once acquir
A will always be useful in aiding
- j ~. al