The daily intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Territory [i.e. Wash.]) 1876-1881, 1878-05-03

Official Press of King County.
Friday, May 8, 1878.
SCHOOLING.

Inc salt tnaL eaVOls tue sucCoesioi
school is severity. 1t is not encourage
ment that average young America" so
much needs a. training. The derivation
of the word exercise" itself properly
enough is military. The true school is
. drill-room-a training camp. 1t is
easier to pander to the popular desires
and vanities in matters of education,
and crafty the hayward tastes and
impulses of pupils, than to repress and
discipline them, and grind off their
rough edges to true refinement and
eveu temper. The namby.pamby school
that aims first at popularity by indul-
ging the whims and caprices of the
pupils is an unfaithful instruction of
agencies and resources. The test CT
merit in teachers is the ability to rouse
their students to exertion. to sharpen
their faculties, call out their powers.
and sccustom them TO act with vigor
and propriety under pressure of trial
and emergency. 1t 10 an error to sup
pose that the fault with most schools
is that they tax the pupils too much.
The opposite is more generally true
that so far as study and discipline 60
they are rather too lax than too rigid.
1t is the worst argument against
education that many of the high schools
and colleges of the country turn out
too many impracticable shilly-shally
kind Of men. mere fgure.heads, instead
Of downright, seasoned and tempered
men. men of grit and nerve and clear
cut discipline-men who are worth
their equipment and who are a recon.
mendation to their shop. 1t takes
something more than q mere schooling
to turn out disciplined men; it takes
stern, iron-mettlsd drilling to do it.
Therefore public opinion should demand
that schools should be well equipped.
and their discipline enforced with mill.
tary sxactitude.
1t is all-important that the chairs of
tuition should be filled by men of the
very highest culture and force of char
aeter, as we'll as education and integ-
rity, and the tax for the support of
schools should be the first in Importance
and the most liberal in amount, as it
should be the most literally paid. So.
ciety should call the highest ability to
the most important place and secure it
there by providing remuneration ade-
Quate to command abilities of the first
class. The law of supply and demand
regulates these matters as we'll as others
and the way to get better schools and
more valuable type of education is to
provide for their better equipment.
1t isa generally correct rule of trade
that We get a. COED rs We pay for. and
- popular education is the safeguard
Of the republic it should be the first
care OF the citizen and of the legislator
that this interest receivs tho attention
which is its due. The remedy for hood
lumlsn lies in the reinforcement of our
public school department rather than
that of the police department, and the
refrigeration of its disciplinary admin
istration. Not all youth are adapted
to the requirement of literary edu-
cation. Such should not be permitted
to lingsr in schools where they are out
of place Is elements Of disorder and
drawbacks in the school, and to the
waste OF their own time and energies,
but should be cut adrift at once a. gu.
perduous branches, and find their place
Is apprentices in some trade or calling
that is to their taste and suited to their
abilities and peculiar adaptation.
There is . good deal of mischief done
and waste involved by forcing sducs-
ton in cur schools where it will not
take, like sowing seeds on unplowed
sods, or forcing unthirsty colts to drink
by order. Demand and supply should
regulate all these matters and success
should be the test of practicability.