The University daily. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 18??-????, 1880-06-05
EDUCATIONAL CONVENTIONS.
EYES. cox, PARKERsBuRe, W Va.

M ny IS " lndL one SO Often IelQfIlS ITOIlE5
meetings Of educators with the feeling
that at these meetings nothing very valu-
able gets said Or done Isit because the
schoolmasters way Of treating things Is
not very lucid ornoble wayl One feels
oneself disposed to listen to fresh and val
liable words on some real educational
problem d method Instead 81 this, one
must listen for the hundredth time to
stock arguments ii favor Of the study Of.
the classics. Would it not be an immense
Advantage il we could take some things for
granted? Good readers will remember
the Incompatible anecdote which Hayden
tells of Charles Lamb. The connptrol-
ier's question, DO you not think, ST,
that Milton was 4 great genus n finds
fit parallel4in many 81 our educational
discussions No fact IS better settled III
literary criticism than that Milton pos
sessed eminent powers. Among liberal
and cultivated people, that IS no longer an
open questions Onklak subject one Is not
permitted to talk unless he can give toiit
some new ~ notable or discriminating
thought. But there az fresh and high
questions Of criticism, even as regards
Milton, which do uot tire, and which al
ways invite one to a region of clear air and
wide horizon.
N Are there moi, also, some things set
lied in educational sciencep Does a man
d high and wide experience need to be
told things which he ought to have known
before he beganto teach atall 4 Must We
constantly show our lack Of the literary
sense and our lack of enlightenment BY
drearily questioning and proving things.
that among people ofrespectable informa-
ton, are never doubted7 To many Of our
discussions It IS complained that the pub
Lie does not listen; and possibly the. pub
lie is not4much to blame. When VIC. as
sumo high grounds and make our discus
sions readable, they will be listened to;
and until then the world will be very apt
to treat them as the; world treated poor
George Primroses paradoxes. The surest
way to remain unread lis to state and RET
state, as ifit we're new truth, that every
wise person regards as settled. If an old
subject must be treated, let it Be mades
new with good thought There is always
~ bs. IN 3 !! ! i 3E 40
room for this, just as there are regions
where a true critic may talk to 4 purpose
sbout Milton Where real teachers are
met together educational commonplaces
are not necessary.
Let us 6egrn on better and more cheer
ful grounds. This viii make ii possible
for a speaker to say something valuable at
once, and will lead up to the best and
Ffreest utterance8o f which he il capable.
Az present the best thought and best ex-
perience of educators are, somehow, left
out Of their elaborate essays and lectures.
Good things are waiting to be said, but
they 40 notoftetr get said Would il not
By we'll to sacrifice even 50 ancient and
respectable a thing as commonplace, that
these better things may have their day
i, irl a company Of scholars and think
ers there are some things 50 completely
settled that they will not bear restating i'm
a company Of WelEinstructed educators,
there are, also, few things which maybe
IL !. ~
supposed to be known. What IS needed
u better educational scisnce issa mere adj
equata treatmentof things which are. as
yet unsettled, gor settled only III the
minds Of a few, There IS good education
althought IN the air. but it is long time
II getting arranged into method. Like
the air ofalmonntains. one has to climb to
reach ii But aflittle bracing climbing is
just now the educational exercise which
Is most needed II is needed if only to
get us out Of the uncheerful atmosphere
Of commonplace and to give Us at least
one Whit from more invigorating heights.
There IS 4 clearing and enlarging spir-
Iii il the air, says one who has himself
felt that spirit IS much as any modern
thinker May this spirit be felt il educa-
ton as tits beginning to Be felt ia life and
letters. and give Us IN the end larger and
more instructive treatment Of our best Id
vocational problems l
SHOW THAT YOU HAVE "A
3 HEART.