Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1871-09-06
The objects Of Fubne AehooIs.

Education is very commonly supposed T.
Dc a examining process. by which tie minds
OF children are stuffed with little knowl-
edge and furnished with the information e.
scntiai 20 d Successful business or professional
career. From this false idea Of the objects
to be attained from the public school system,
of which our orators are accustomed to
boast, arise most ~ The defects in the system
and the reluctance which 50 many people
exhibit when asked t. vote money for the
benefit OF schools.
At every school meeting the friends Of the
school are triumPhantly a-ked by Some one
of their opponents +. OF what use is your
Latin and Greek to my children, who are 70
spend their lives on a farm ?'' or by another,
=" Why must my money be paid to teach Al
zebra, Surveying and intellectual PhiIoso-
ply when my son is 70 be merchant - Of
by another, . Why should the peoples money
be expended to teach a few boys a little OF
Geology and Chemistry, and to train chiI
dren who have no ear for music in the Ian
guage of song?'
But have these people any correct c3ncep-
ton Of the true purpose of the sch jol. wheu
they imagine that nothing should be taught
except those branches which directIy assist
Us to earn our bread and butter? Have they
not shown themselves entirely without
knowledge of the purposes for which the
public money is to be spent when they put
such questions? As a matter Of course in
formation and knowledge are essential, and
no education is Of real value which does not
supply them. s., in order to live. it is nee
essary for most OF US to earn our daily food
But the earning Of bread is NOT the only. nor
chief object of mans lie, however essential
No more can the information necessary to
aid in this acquisition Of our daily susie
nance, however essential. b; considered the
only or the chief object Of edlcation
Education, as It's derivation implies, means
the leading forth Of the powers Of the mind
from the secret ab0des where otherwise they
would remain forever, almost as torpid as our
mountain beasts who sleep in their den.
until the warm rays Of the Spring SUI
penetrate the rocky cayerns aud quicken
their sluggish veins into renewed life anc
activity. 1t is a stimulating aud an invgo
rating not stulfng process. It requires an
active, not merely a receptive, mind upon
which to work It's object is not to give in
formation, but to discipline, to exercise and
TO polish, to make strong, intelligent and
cultivated men, not mere peiants 1t is
most emphatically a training, and may best
be compared to the gymnasium which edlt
outes leads forth the latent myth Of the
muscles and sinews Of the body and strength
ems them by hard exercise.
We should laugh at one who was content
TO prepare himself for d modern boat race
by gaining all the information about boat
and oars. and procuring the best boats ana
oars, negecting to make the most OF hinse7
in his forgetfuiness that the contest was re-
ally one Of physical manliness and not o
boats and oars. And why is it less a5sur,
to prepare the mind for the contests Of lif
by simply furnishing It with Information
about what it has to 10 and the kn1wle Il,
that viii enable it tJ make change, forget
ting that the contests in which it is to en-
gage are those of mind and not Of food an,
clothing? The mind Is the man, and men az
WUILu eJAucttliu5 more bIau either lQOl {
clothing.
The object Of education Is, then, to max
the most Of the powers which God has give
to the child, and the object of the State i
furnishing schools to all is to make men an
women who are able to use and understan
their powers; in other words, to make goo
and intelligent citizens. We do not mean
say that the State through It's schools shout
not attempt 70 make good farmers, GOO
Iaborers, good mechanics, good merchant
and so on, for all of these the State need
but its chief aim should be to make good eli
izens-
The stronger a mans mind, the higher tt
development of his faculties, the greater wi
be his succ IS IN any Of these useful an
necessary avocations, and the knowlede