The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1879-09-18
WHAT TO DO WITH OUR ;cHIL-
DREN AND THE SCHOOLS.

WHAT TO DO WITH OUR sCHII
DREN AND THE SpHOOLS.
The season Is 1T baud when anxious
parents of the capital snd of the
country earnestly inquire what must bt
done with the children. In the small
villages, IS the school system is man
aged, and especially in outlying
sPsrsely populated provinces like
Texas, the question settles itself. There
is but one school. The State prevents
the creation of another. The school
master gets his pay. 1t helps him to
something better. Each boy takes the
course into which nature pushes him,
digests as much of the dry husks of
knowledge as he pleases, and is
moulded into the kind OF man he is
to be by odd chances and touches. In
towns there is no such want of treat
nent. Every parent has his theory
and il we are to believe the
advertising columns of the STATES
NAN, there Is school to &C.
commodate every theory. Yon can
put your boy, as the Tri5uns says, into
the identical old classical mill in use
when the doing, ot th.kGreeks and
Romans made mp the bulk of knowl-
edge essential to a gentleman; or he
can be crammed by means of the new
est appliances with all the modern
knowledges, ready to be used on
sight, from Edison's last discovery to
a speaking acquaintance with Chinese.
The great social question among edu-
Gated people just now is how to fit this
harrassed next generation for its work.
II we knew what its work was to be
we should probably manage it intelli-
gently; but it may be called on to ham
die books, government, al engine or 8
hoe. The end of the difficulty is that
we try to fit it for any and every sort
of work; cram each individual boy
with the classics, science, practical me-
chanics, srt-heaven only knows what.
We try to make an Admirable Crichton,
and we turn out a piece of jobbery
very like those patent inventions in
which the souls of our Western friends
exulted at the Centennial, which are
book csseP, parlor organs and kitchen
ware IN one, and are cheap and nasty
in all.
One word to such of our readers as
have sons aud daughters to educate /:
There is wide choice of schools be-
fore you, as our educational advertise
ments show, each probably excellent IL
its kind; but it's excellence is nothing
to you If its kind does not suit your
child. 1t is the disposition and capac-
ity of the child you should study first.
The school Is secondary matter. 1t
does not follow at all that because
your neighbours boy, wiry, tough, allye
with obstinaoy and ambition in every
fibre of his lean little body, can stand
the fierce driving and fri lon of GER
tain model school, and come out keen
and sharpened from if, that your slow
witted, nervous, gentle lad will thrive
in it. In the schools which stand high
est in public esteem the Standard OF ex-
cellence is unfortunately kxed by the
capacity of the q pupils,
"There is no place Sese barn
yards, as leading tea sS1er vulgsrly
put it lately, for sick drNks.'" The
dull child, or the one whose mind
grows slowly, labors under a constant
sense OF hopeless inferiority, which
crushes the intellect as Fely as dark
ness and cold crush feeble plant. The
father does not see, or will not ac-
knowledge, that his boy is dull, or be-
ing dragged beyond his strength.
"Why can he not keep up with his
rivals?" The la1 must be lazy or
vicious. He is punished, urged, taken
from school at last, and in despair left
to earn his living with his hands. Yet
the finest moral nature and the keenest
sensibilities go with a slow-moving
brain; and the world is moved every
day by energetic practical men who
never stood at the head of their class
in college.
II you are q parent, judge of your
child yourself; nobody will take the
interest in him you do. III he is sharp
and pushing he will make his way in
almost any school; competition will
probably take the conceit out of him,
more useful lesson than any he will
learn in Euclid or Caesar; but if he is
dull and lacks self-confdence, keep
him out Of the great schools as now
managed, or he will 60 down for life.
The same advice holds good for girls.
Because the mother believes in the
higher education for women, that does
not prove that her pInk-cheeked, shy
little girl can go through triumphantly
at Vassar, or fight the doctors at clini.
ques. She is born for crochet and
cooking classes, and will absorb nc
A Al L II. L. Il
count the cost Of her ribbons. All the
training In the world will not turn al
antelope into q draught-horse. And
there is little space yet left in the
world, thank heaven, for something else
than draught horses.
We can't see why rich man, who