The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1875-06-25
CONCERNING EDUCATION.

CONCERNING EDUCATION.
AS the public mind is at present much ex-
ercised on the subject of our Public Schools,
we think 1t well to give place in our columns
to the following most excellent article, so re-
plete with common sense, which we find in
n contemporary.
We will add, that system of public school
education, based upon the principles enun-
ciated in this article, and entirely secular, so
that Catholic and Protestant, Jew and Gen.
tile, would have no cause OF complaint, COM
uniting the religious education of the child
entirely to the control of the parent or guar
dian, would give satisfaction and be cordially
supported by the people. Our contemporary
says;
A learned Northern Professor, treating of
education suggests general diffusion thereof
in the elementary branches at the public ex-
pense but that the continuation, or instruc-
ton in the higher branches, should be at the
expense of the parties most directly interest
ed The idea seems to be reasonable and
just. With children of medium capacity,
hve or six years devoted to elementary
branches, reading, writing, grammar, geog-
raphy and arithmetic, will suffice for a pre-
paration in most of the ordinary pursuits of
life.
With this foundation laid, the subsequent
education should be more or less technical,
or designed to improve the boy in, or prepare
him for, his proposed or probable career.
Now q great deal of the scholastic lore
taught at the higher schools has no bearing
upon the practical pursuits of the majority
OF our rising generation. If man Is to be
lawyer, doctor or clergyman. he may
devote some years to the dead languages, to
Latin, to Greek, or mayhap to Hebrew, to
his own advantage, and possible to the adj
vantage of the community. But if he is to
be merchant, a mechanic, farmer, q sea-
man, soldier, such studies will be of little
service to him, or to the public Now the
vast majority mostly engage in pursuits
which require other preparation than scho-
lastic learning. And, furthermore, young
man may spend so many years at school rs
actually TO disqualfy him for practical EUR
suits.
AS a matter of fact, we have already n
multitude of educated young men who do
not know how to make living. As one of
our contemporaries remarked not long ago, it
is much easier to hire educated Young me-
to teach, for example, at five or six hundred
dollars year, than to get the services of
skilled journcymcn mechanics at a much
higher figure.
Ifmen will be lawyers and doctors and
preachers, let them be so, but let them be
educated to it at the expense of themselves
or friends. Let the community contribute
for their education exactly what it does for
that of the young farmer or mechanic: moth
ing more and nothing less
Let common school education extend, saw
from seven to fourteen years of age Before
seven, children should have only to grow.
and to receive domestic instruction. Con.
finement in the school room Injuries them;
it not untrequently prepares the way for
subsequent i'll health. AT and after fourteen
it is time for the young American to be pre-.
pairing for his special career He ought to
expect to be workngman in some form or
fashion, and to contribute his share to the
common stock of national prosperity. Ifhis
parents by industry and thrift, or mayhap
less commendable agencies, have accumulat-
ed fortune for him so that he has no need to
work, then let him-but stop-let him do what?
All then his condition is one of immeasur.
able danger. We'll, he may go into the ranks
OF the ditettdnH If he has sense us well as
dollars, he may spend his money, when he
gets it, in giving employment to the school
fellows of his youth, who may be artists or
artisans, men of genius or of skill, who NAV
adorn or construct for him bringing togeth-
er the useful and the beautiful to the mutual
benefit of all parties. If he have dollars and
not sense, he may scatter his money among
parasites, like the prodigal son, and be none
the better himself, either for his education
or his money.
But We are not treating of the exceptional
man. Admiral Lord Collingwood, in speak
ing of the personnel for the British NAVY.
said that boys should enter the service
young, midshipmen and all, to be brought
up to their career. He thought the age of
sixteen rather late to begin. Certainly by
that age our youth should be making special
preparation for their life pursuits
1t is not reasonable or just to make peo.
pie who have no children, or whose chill
dren are obliged TO leave school and 20 to
work-that is the majority-pay for elabo-
rate education for those whose easy condi-
ton allows them to spend adult, or nearly
adult years in the schools. And, as q gen
eral fact, these are by no means better citi.
zens or more useful men than the selfeduca.
ted; that is, than those who have built I'M
their own superstructure ON the foundations
of a good elementary education. Washing
ton and Franklin had but these elements.
We would not have it inferred that we de.
preciate the higher branches of education
for those whose means, inclnations, or pro-
pensties require them. But we do object
to forcing the masses to pay for advanced
schools and colleges, of which the benefits
accrue almost entirely to the children ofpco-
pie in easy circumstances. 1t will be in the
memory Of most of our readers that but the
other day some respectable young girls were
driven from public school in New York by
the jeers of their companions, simply because
they were plainly dressed Now, we have
no sort of objection TO those fine young la.
dies learning all the olOgies in their textbooks
Qhough their learning make them neither
better wives, mothers, nor housekeepers),
but we do object to their learning them at
the expense of the parents of the girls who
were too poor to dress by the fashion
plates
There need be no fear that intellectual
ability will be lost TO the country if the high
err learning be left to be acquired Mt the ex
pense the scholars, or their friends. There
are instances in this community, and many
more in New England, where poor young
men, bent upon high education, have OBJ
tanned it by persevering industry at their
own expense and by their own efforts; and
education obtained in this way is not un-
like wealth obtained by industry Such men
deserve and receive honor, which is Justly
due to them, and their education is truly
their capital, which they use like acquired
wealth, according 10 It's true value.
Any ambitious youth who has elementary
education can acquire more if he have the
energy and the will, without burdening his
neighbors; If he have not the energy md
will, his pursuits should be otherwise di.
rected BY strange anomaly the learned
professions in our country are open to all
corners, with or without qualifications
whereas the mechanic arts, which are of
such extreme Importance to the public veal,
have their ways obstructed by society rules
so that mechanics often find their own
children debarred from learning the most
useful and profitable trades The schools Of
industry are thus closed where they could
be most advantageously used, while schools
f.EV ott md