Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1880-09-23
The Right Education for American
Youth.

From an address st Hiram College, june IL, 1867,
by Genera James A. Garfield
1t is we'll to know the history Of those
magnificent nations, whose origin is lost
IN fable, and whose epitephs were written
Il thousand years ago-but II we cannot
know both, it is tar better 10 study the
history OF our own nation, whose origin
we can trace to the freest and noblest AS
pirauons Of the human heart-a nstlon
that was formed from the hardest, purest
and most enduring elements OF European
clvilZstion-a nation, that by Its faith
and courage has dared and accomplished
more for the human race in single cen
fury than Europe accomplished in the
first thousand years OF the Christian era.
The New England township was the type
after which our Federal Government was
modelled; yet 1t would be rare to find
college student who can make a cOmpre.
henslve and Ineligible statement OF the
municipal organization of the township
IN which he WAS born, and tell you by
what officers its Legislative, judicial and
executive functions are administered.
One.half of the time which is now al.
most wholly wasted, in district schools,
on English grammar, attempted at too
eaIly an age, would be sufficient 20 teach
our children to love tue Republic, a1d to
become its loyal and lifelong supporters
After the bloody baptism from which the
Nation has arisen to higher and nobler
life, il this shameful defect In our sys-
tenn of education be not speedily RENE
died, we shall deserve the infinite con-
tempt OF future generations. | insist that
it should be made an indispensable con-
ditiOn of graduation in every American
a.. 4
the history OF this continent since It's dis
covery by Europeans, the origin and his
tory OF the United States, Its constitution
of government, the struggles through
which 1t has passed, and the rights and
duties of citizens who are TO determine
its destiny and share its glory.
Having thus gained the knowledge
witch is necessary to life, health, industry
and citizenship, the student is prepared TO
enter a wider and grander field of thought.
If he desires that large and liberal cul-
ture which will call into activity all his
powers, and make the most of the ma
lerial God has given him, he must study
deeply and earnestly the intellectual, the
moral, the religious and the G ,thetlc ma.
ture of man; his relations To nsture, to
civilization, past and present; and above
occupy nearly, If not fully, half the time
of his college course. In connection
with the philosophy of the mind, he
should study logic, the pure mathematics,
and the general laws OF thought. la con-
nection with moral philosophy, he should
study political ana social ethics, science
50 little known either III colleges or Con.
crosses. Prominent among all the rest,
should be his uty of the wonderful his
tory of the human race, in its slow and
TOT some march across the cepturies-now
buried in ignorance, superstition and
crime; now rising to the subllmity OF he
rolsm and catching a glimpse OF better
destiny; now turning remorseessly away
from, and leaving 10 perish, empires and
civilizations in which 1t had Invested its
faith and courage and bOundless energy
Tor thousand years, and plunging into
The forests OF Germany, Gaul and Britain,
to build Tor itself new empires better fitted
for It's new aspirations; and at last, cross
ing three thousand miles of unknown
sea, and building in the wilderness OF q
new hemisphere its latest and proudt st
monuments