The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1873-11-28
EMPOKIA NEWS.
GETTING An EDUCATION.

uEIIlNd AN BDUCAIION.
We may safely assume that not
a few of our readers are seriously
considering the subject of getting
an education, in its practical as,
pect. Parents are canvassing,
carefully and accurately, what is
their duty in regard to educating
their children; what amount OF
education should be provided
what schools within reach offer the
best advantages; and what course
of study Is best to prepare them
for honorable and useful lives.
On the other hand, the young men
and women who have already de-
cided TO go to school are canvass
ing the subject from nearly the
same point OF view, and perhaps
with scarcely less anxiety; but the
causes for perplexity may not be
the same in both cases, We have
thought, therefore, 10 might not be
taken amiss to offer n few sugges-
tions and some advice on this sub
ject which occupies their thoughts.
and upon the right determination
OF which may depend in no small
measure their future success.
We advise. first OF all, that all
young persons, whatever they pro-
pose as their life work, shall OBJ
tain the best education that their
time and means make possible for
them to attain. There is a nery-
Gus Testlessness among young
persons to be prepared for en-
trance upon n definite scheme for
life by the time they reach legal
manhood or womanhood. In the
effort to carry out this not well
founded, conviction they defrand
themselves OF the culture and
knowledge without which they
cannot hope, from whatever point
IL Is viewed, to make the most OF
life. The folly of such a course
is generally perceived when it is
too late to correct it, and it be-
comes q life long source OF regret.
For the design of education is TO
make true and useful men and wo-
men. And the best incentive to
get an education is the deter
mination to make the most of our
selves. We need to be influenced
by higher considerations than the
desire to obtain particular posi-
ton in the public eye, or to amass
the greatest amount of money.
God has made us stewards of the
faculties and powers with which
he has endowed us, and the op
portunities within our reach. We
are to make the most of these, and
In doing so We are to call to our
I'D industry, self-denial, and the
Wisekt consideration of our posi-
on and the probability that we
shall attain the average length of
life. 1t is the height orinconsiler-
ateness to rush into positions for
which we have not the qualiii
cations that we could have OBJ
tanned by study and forethought.
Looking out upon q life that will
probably be prolonged forty years
or more beyond the present, we
should plan for the whole of it.
We say, then, do not become i'm
patient, and determine that your
school life must be completed by
q fixed time. If circumstances
arising out of the necessity of
providing the means of education
by your own personal labor, or if
the still more honorable necessity
of having to provide for others
who IN the order of Providence
are cast upon you for their sup
port, compels a limited period at
school, the necessity should be
cheerfully accepted, with only
such regrets as come to all of us
who cannot do as we would.
But there are wonderful cempen-
satiens in sIch necessities that go
FAR to make up the character and
experience we seek in n liberal
education.
II possible, do not stop short of
a classical education. such as the
regular college course of study of
fers. IL you can obtain the means
do not regret the time it demands,
for it will pay, let It cost what it
may in time and money. We do
not propose to enter upon An ex-
animation OF the arguments for
and against classical studies, of
which 30 much has been written
in the last twenty years. tx
anime the catalogues Of such an
institution as the Wesleyan Uni
versity at Middletown, the oldest
educational institution of the
Methodist church in this country,
and see the rank and influence of
the men who have graduated from
its halls, and you cannot fail to
see the value of a full course of
classical studies. You will find in
similar lists OF other schools the
familier names that are cherished 4
for their worth to the world.
They are not the only men who
have succeeded, but the proportion
of them that have risen to some
thing OF eminence and usefulness
teach all young persons a lesson
that cannot be disregarded. The
classical course of our colleges,
when honestly studied from right
motives, makes men as well as
scholars. And the same fact will
become apparent when our young
women, having been admitted to
the same advantages, shall have
had time to demonstrate what
such education does for them
Cincinnati Christian Advocate.