The weekly miner., 1880-01-27
Views of Egbert Smith on Education

Postmaster Smith, Territorial Superintendent |
of Public Inutruction, was we'll attended and |
of SO. interesting character that we are tempt |
ed to give synopsis of the address:
The lecture was introduced by compari- |
son between two old trees, growing from the
same SOIL nourished by the same sunshine |
and rain-the one, tall, stately, strong and
bealltiful-the other, dwarfed, crooked and
deformed, having been when young turned
aside from the straight way, bent and twisted
by wanton hands.
Scratch the green rind Of saplng.
Or wantonly twist it in the soil
The SCARED and crooked oak
Will tell of thee for centuries to come
So with two men reared in the same com
munity. The one trusted, respected and hon-
ored for a well-spent life, the other forsakcn
and dishonored, because, like a young tree,
turned aside by evil associations, vice. and
ignorance from the proper course. What has
education to do with the character of man ?
As in architecture, brick added to brick in q
constantly ascending series constitutes the
edifice, so in education; character is scene
of the thoughts, deeds, and emotions that are
brought into daily use in childhood.
For the upbuilding of grand character
the faculties inherent in a child's nature rc-
quire proper food and proper exercise. The
i'm of education should be to furnish both
the food and the exercise that will develop Il
strong, symmetrical character. As in the
acorn there is the potency which under favor
ing conditions will develop into lofty, ma
jcsic oak tree, 50 in the child there are posi-
bilities under the tavOring influences of
education for noble harmonious character.
The fundamental principle in education to
be kept constantly ir view is that faculty of
whatever kind grows by exercise and there
fore whatever a child habitually thinks and
, d0cs, tends to build up a character in that
! direction.
\ child is an organized bundle OF faculties,
which are all hungerng for that exercise
which will glow into habit and eventually
into character.
Education in its best sense rises above all
literature and mathematics having for its OBJ
! iect the development Of children into the
! highest types Of manhood and wcmanhood.
! True education is not so much matter OF
reading writing an, ciphering. as it is of
| thinking, acting anu doing. The mind may
! he crammet with facts. the memory loaded
with rules and formulas. and yet no genuine
education is obtained; because the power to
use wisely these facts and rules has not been
acquired.
The old methods OF school-keeping have
done a great work, but not wholly good We
should examine principles, and put III prac-
ticc methods touu,lcl upon Il study Of TIE
science of education. There has been too
much OF the master. ana not enough O! the
teacher: too much OF rote and not enough OF
thought TOO much O. words and not enough
of IDEAS too much OF the dead past and not
enough of the living present
5 la the history Of education there is no
shame more .llrlnr than the mean estimate
thai has been put on fthe teachers Vualitlca-
tiuns. How insane to give over the training
of children to novices because they are cheap?
Good. qualified teachers are cheaper at any
reasonable price. None should be thought
worthy of this high vocation who have not
added to morality and scholarship, a special
,raiui,r. in the science and the art Of edUca
,jou. Teachers should read the standard lit
erature pertaining to the profession.
The lecturer criticized and also eulogized
the rlblic ,cLocl system of America.
He compared the public school with the
rcpublic al large, and said: In the public
school children are put upon common level,
where each is made to feel that his chances
for preterment depend upon hs own eNer-
tious: So in the republic, equality before the
law and free pursuit for enterprise make
every man in some sense the architect of his
own fortunes.
II is the habit of some to deny the value OF
a pub]ic education that is not distinctNelY
RELIGIONS, according to their creed. Ourpub-
IL. schools inrlcate morality through the
habits of punctuality. order, industry, obedl
ance ctc--these and other virtues, exercised
daily in every well conducted school, constl-
tutr moral responsibility. The State school
h,. the same relation to the church that the
,or,hli, has to the church: it is the ally of
,.l;oinn. bu, not the promoter of sectarlan
dogmas.
Il ;s shawn by statistics that the strength of
character developed by Il common education
is \ powerful check to crime and pauperlsm.
collection of statistics was cited in proof OF
: this position. .
If has be N claimed Il at the 'rlmlnai'ty OF