, 1881-05-15

labor for all that consumed in 1t. A
the money l ever made was In mechanict
business, and not in speculation" AZ
Murry Nelson, Of this city, in late letter
THE TRIBUNE, says: "What is to become q
our sons, who, whatever their opportunitfe
for study, have none for work. We carr
them in the arms Of luxury and idleness
/ the age Of 81, and then expect them to under
stand the use and value Of money, witllou
ever having ca arncd or saved dollar, or ha
any chance to learn its cost. I went to 81
Louis md saw the [nan11al trainingl schoo
which your paper described. The classes o
boys I saw there pursuing their trades aIlt
studies ut one and the same time, with ap
parent interest and enthusiasm, seemed tt
me to solve the problc1n,-what shall we dt
with our boys?''
Doubtless all parents would dearly love tt
make millonaires OF their boys. 1t is equal,
certain that all wise parents would prefer
that they should become millonaires by thu
Peter Cooper process Of giving the worll
san equivalent in some form of useful labor
for all that they consume" rather than b.
the Vanderbilt and Gould process of specu
lation, by which Mr. Cooper SAYS he never
made d dollar. Very few Of "our boys, y
| however, can. become millionaires iu any
event. The problem is: how to fit them
best for tho battle of life, how to give them
fair start In the race, how to make them
| useful to themselves and to their fellow
men, and hence strong and self-relant.
! There ought to be some scquential relation
between our system of public education and
/ fho Hrt r 4, },nr
ally conceded that in the schools Of the coun-
| try, whether Of high or low grade, there is
| very little adaptabillty to this end. Charles
Francis Adams, Jr.. <alls our conmon-school
| method ia combination of the cotton-nill
and tho railroad with the modern States
Prison,-pcculiar to our own time and coun-
try" lie adds: "Under these circun-
stances, education Is reduced to a mere proc
! ess of cramming-answering conundrums
and remembering formulas and concludes:
"Such q denial, in Republic, Of science
Of general education, Is one of the inexplic-
able facts of the day"
Prof. Barbour, of Yale College, says:
"Our schools are suffering from congestion
of the brain; too much thought and too
little putting it into practice" An obsery
ant Englshman says Of our schools: "They
teach apparently for information almost re-
gardless Of development" III repclins
Richard Grant Whites assaults upon our
public-school system, Prof. Swing is con-
strained to admit that Tour public schools
do, to some degree, build lip an intellectual
vanity more rapidly than they build up
wisdom"
The Detroit Free Press says: "We call
our boys Needless though we haye7,ot taught
them to be observing. They learn all about
planetary systems and cannot tell the size Of
brick" Says the Northwestern Lumber
man: i" Most boys Of mlddie-class families
are expected to be sclf-supporting upon leav-
ing school, though that school has not taught
them a single practical preparation for self
support" aIr. George 4. Walton's report of
last year OIL the common schools of Norfolk
County, Massachusetts,, which comprises Ger
tain suburbs Of Boston, contains startling rev.
Citations which go far to support the theory
of Richard Grant White. Says Mr.. Walton:
- 1t is not too much to say that there is not
a single utterly exploded method of teaching
children to read, write, ami cipher Which
was not foutid flourisl,ing in full vigor with
Adams, from whose paper in tho November,
1850, number of Ha1pcr's 1fagttzi,ac we have
already quoted, thus describes the system
which has led to the results given by Mr..
Walton: From one point Of view children
are regarded as automatons; from another,
as India-rubber bags; from a third, as so
much raw material. They must move
in step and exactly alike. They must |
receive tile same mental n1ttri1nent III
equal quantities and at fixed times. Its as
is wholly immaterial, but the mo-
tions must be gone through with. Finally,
as raw material, they are enpticd in at the |
primaries, and marched out at the grammar |
grades-and it is we1ll" What Mr.. Adams
demands for our common-school system Is
the application of science to the methods of |
instruction. In a word, in school the boy
should be taught to read as he will be re-
luired to read, to write as he will be required
TO write, anu to cipher us he will |
want to know how to cipher. when |
he becomes a man, and so on. Being I
this means a practical instead Of
/ finely theoretical education. And it means
manual rs we'll as intellectual training.
The savage of Australia in Capt. Cooks
lme could kill pigeon with spear at
thirty yards, but he couldn't count the fill
gers on his right hand. The Southern Esuul-
rlaux turns Il somersault in the water In his
'oat with ease. But his more Northern |
'rother hns no canoe, and Is ignorant Of the
Of boat; he has no use for boat,
BECAUSE the sea in the latitude OF his home
$ frozen the entire year. The savage is
augllt what he needs to know in his condi-
ion, and is taught nothing else; hence his
skill in the few ayocations he pursues. Tho
lviized boy In school is taught many
heories, but is not required to put any OF
hem in practice; hence he enters upon the
erious duties of life unpreparcd to dis
barge any Of them. It may be said that he
J in real danger of the Penitentiary until he
earns a profession or 4 trade. ''Of 4S7 con-
lets consigned to the State Prison for the
'astern District of Pennsylvania in 1879 FIVE
xths had attended public-schools, and the
a1ne number were without trades." It Is
oticeable also that during the same period |
not five were received who were
hat arc called mechanics" In the
otff rf ~; |