National Republican., 1878-10-19
EDUCATIONAL Department.
Let the press and the educators OF our country be
co'laborers In the great work Of education.


when they leave schoolfr
Talleyrand said: The chief object of tho
state is to teach its children 10 become pro-
ductive citizsns." In. the New England Jour
nd' cf Education for October 3, Professor Angus
tus Grote says: THE public schools turn out
their pupils with q sentimental aud quasi
literary education and without any adequate
idea Of the world In which they live. .
We turn out clerks rather than farmers and
mechanics" That the necessity exists for
skilled labor and for special preparation in
successfully carrying on the different depart
ments OF industry Is an accepted truth.
Inc wonderful progress which has been made
WITHIN the last fifteen and twenty years In the
development ofinventive genius and In tho
perfection OF labor-saving machines whereby,
In all the mechanic arts, machinery Is used as
n substitute for manual labor has made toll
less reality than when the apprenticeship"
system existed. The principle Of our fathers
was that every boy should learn trade and
thus have in his own hands the means Of
maintaining himself. Therefore the boys of
older growth in family attended tho district
schools during the winter months, which
time usually dated from the Monday after
Thanksgiving to the following March or Arril,
when they left school to work upon the farm.
or were bound OUT TO learn q trade--ren-
orally that Of carpenter, mason, stone cutter,
plastercr, &c, &c.-with tho provision that
they were 10 attend school again In the win.
ter As manufacturing increased many found
places towork In the factory, and thus learned
The use Of tools and principles of manu- factur-
ing. While thus engaged boys would spend
the long winter evenings In reviewing or con-
tinuing the studies of the district school, which
being limited to geography, grammar, arith-
metic, spelling and defining, reading, and
writing, made 1t not a difficult task to accom-.
plish.
Now We send our boys and girls to school
till they graduate which Is at no fxed age,
and then opening tue doors of the building
stand them on its precincts, to go forth into
the world to do something or nothing. Tho
courses of study have been arranged for tho
literary pursuts-and the fact that there arc
different classes Of minds, which must be util-
lied by special training, has been too often
ignored.
For the large mass of boys the course Of
instruction pursued is useless for oil the prac.
tical purposes Of life. Hence arises the Gues-
tion, What method shall DO adopted to meet
the exigencyH" Mr.. Rugglcs, of Boston, a
philanthrOpic gentleman, too well known
| throughout our country to need special notice
here, would have developing school,
which the pupil may enter after he has left the
public, high, or private school. Here would
be seen in practical operation all tho needed
tools and appliances of the various trades, and
| Dy tnc ulfCCtlOn anu RESISTANCE Of q supertn-
tcndent be able, In a brief time, to choose q
trade suited to his natural talent.
Following this would be tho trade shop"
where his speciality is taught. aud where he
would be thoroughly instructed in the use Of
everything pertaining to his mechanical art
in the shortest possible time and without neg
Letting good workmanship and thorough
knowledge. I am told that two years would
be ample time for the instruction of youth
IN any mechanical art or trade, even If he
possessed only ordinary mechanical skill.
Mr.. Rugglcs would have such instruction
free, rs was the literary instruction, and
when the boy left this school he would bo
graduated for business, with an aim in view
rs producer, and not consumer only.
difficulty might arise of educating the
many in too few trades and to suricit II given
field of labor but as every good has It's at.
tcndant evil" this could be Obviatcd by Judi.
cious training and turning talent into tho
right channel. 1t docs seem desirable that
here, In this Capital of the Nation" should
be found such schools, that the mass of our
boys may be trained for real life aud not for
surface only. Let them learn that labor Is
honorable that the hand which bears marks
of utility ennObles its posscssor, docs not dc.
grade It,. \ CITIZEN.