The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1879-05-01
EDucATIoN AND VOCATION.

III w A4AA AM tOGA L4AAH
Educational matters are being brought
prominently before the people OF the
State just at this time by the text book
question and the remedies or evasions
sought to rid the public schools Of
series Of books that is quite inferior, not
to say utterly worthless. 1t occurs to
US in this connection, what has occurred
to us hundreds Of times before, that our
whole system of education is, 10 a great
extent, superficial and Impractical,
whereas it should be just the reverse, or
its entiIe ends and aims are defeated
The object Of all education should man
ifestly be to bring out by proper and
thorough culture chose talents that are
to be used in practical, actual, every
day life. High schools and colleges
turn out with annual regularity humid
Eeds Of pupils who have a smattering Of
languages for which they will never
have the slightest use, with heads
crammed full Of the outlines Of abstruse
sciences, any one of which would re-
quire a lifetime Of close application to
perfectly master the morning hours Of
life utterly wasted so far as any prepa-
ration for trade or business is concerned,
and themselves, unaccustOmed 10 labor,
thrown helpless upon the sea Of life,
educated " do-nothings. How much
better for all purposes OF self-protection
and individual aud community interest
it would be were every young man aud
young woman to quit school at COM
mencement time ready TO commence
life's battles, armed with a reliable
means OF procuring livelihood and an
understanding OF the common laws that
govern and control their property rights,
than TO be able to read Ovid, solve iu-
tricate problems in higher mathematics,
and boast textbook acquaintance with
chemistry, philosophy and astronomy.
Take, for instance, the common laws by
which all business transactions are gov
erned and to which all persons Of sound
mind are amenable. Are they so intri-
cate that but very few are able to COM
prehend their meaning? Is there any
reason why a person Of ordinary capac-
ity, after being educated at the public
expense, should be unable to conduct
his own business, draw up in proper
form deed, note or mortgage without
consulting and feeling lawyer, keep his
books and accounts in proper shape, or
at least know when they are so kept in
short, 10 transact his business from his
own knowledge? ? II II is desirable for
education to fit pupils for the duties OF
| life, these things should be looked into,
for surely they may be corrected. II
the modern plan Of education is to stun
pupils with as great an amount Of USE
less lore as their capacity will admit in
a given space Of time, then the present
system is a grand success, and its result
is to throw upon the world an annual
installment of persons who look Ian
guidly toward the already overcrowded
professions Of law, medicine, theology
literature-anything, in fact, that will
enable them TO escape the primal sen.
tenee, ain the sweat OF thy face shalt
thou eat bread" aud lacking both the
knowledge and inclination to labor with
their hands, lead ever Glow, miserable
lives Of hand to mouth" bearing per.
petual grudge against fate at what they
consider their hard lot. Persons prop.
erly fitted for a vocation in early life
almost without exception succeed in it
if they are temperate and Industrious
while those who are everything al
school and nothing outside Of it ar,
they who "repine and groan and withel
from the earth"-victims to a false sys
tenn Of education, which fitted them foi
nothing practical in life.