The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1874-08-07
EpucATIoN.

EDUCATION.
We regularly receive and highly
appreciate that excellent monthly,
oHome and School," published at
Lexington, Ky, and as the subject
of education---a subject which most
deeply, Of all others, should engage
the human miDd--now attracts I'M
usual interest, We copy from that
work an observation Of Sir WALTER
ScoTr, and append some of our own
writings of many years ago, in the
hope of throwing additional light
upon a subject Of so much impor-
lance
"Sir Walter Scott, after the expe-
rience Of life. time, gave his YER
dict thus eve shall never learn
to feel and respect our real calling
and destiny unless we have taught
ourselves to consider every thing d
moonshine compared with the educa-
ton of the hearth And we shall
never render our daughters like
"corner-stones polished after the
similitude Of palace" until we learn
that development Of character is OF
more importance than the develop
ment Of talent; and that the devel-
ment of talent is permanently valua-
ble only as its exalts the character"
That which Mr.. Locke thought
ga curious subject Of enquiry" the
ORGANIZATION of the human mind, is
here suggested as the only true
foundation of enlightened develop
ment. To deUiSc as Mr.. Locke has
done, in his "Conduct of the Under
standing" a system of education,
without regard to the culture of the
innate qualities Of the mind itaelf,
was, simply, to effect new arrange
me,st for the acquisition OF knowl'
edge without throwing additional
light upon the mental nature en-
ployed in the acquisition. Instead
Of consuming so much labor and
time upon the question whether
there are or not innate ideas, the
decision of which is no practical mo-
ment, how greatly we might have
been benefited If his clear, logical
mind, had been devoted to the ex-
PLANTATION of those innate qualities
or laws Of mind-instinct, passion
propensity, emotion, memory, rea'
son, reflection, &c. There can be nc
question about these being innate
No one imagines that the mind Ac'
QuIREs them but as the very Es-
sENOE of human nature. Now, RA'
TIoNAL education depends-should
be founded, upon the the proper and
NATURAL development of these quail
tiles.
With physical and moral health
developed at HOME, parents may
then discuss the value of Academic
Knowledge. If learning could be
stript Of all its vanity of dress and
the naked truths of wisdom, in all
it's departments, submitted to the
mind there could be no question of
the value Of the Schools. But now,
we are coming to understand that
the human mind is not organized
simply 10 master the dull routine of
Academic forms. That these al
ways enervate, burthen, its native
energy, and can never be aught else
than mediums through which it
looks, from the knowledge of the
past, upon the things around and
before it. Often the medium ia
made to intercept or pervert the
view. And always thus when scho-
lastic education is taught as the END
of mental effort. The result is
misery accumulation Of forms and
words---blank, dark ---oblectless
and destructive.
Let education rest upon the native
instincts of the mind. Let it COM
mence with the education or regula-
ton Of its propensities and passions
and this win develope correct
habits without impairing that energy
which is the fountain of all excel
lence. All the instincts Of the mind
were given for individual or general
good. They only need to be con-
trolled Alright to remove most indi-
vidual and general wrong. This is
the parental province. When it is
well accomplished, INNATE mental
impulse and external Influences will