The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1883-05-26
BRIEF EDUCATIONAL ESSAYS.
Education in Europe.
DONALDsoNFILLE, May y, 1873;

Education in Europe.
DoNALDsoNyILLE, May %, 1888.
| EDITOR CHIEF:
In Europe, the whole subject of education
from that dispensed in the primary schoo
to that impaired in the University, is placed
under the supervision of some public func-
tionary, and by such means the powerful
aid of the government is employed i'll sus-
tanning, directing and stimulating the en-
ergies Of the people and the iberality of the
benevolent. At this moment provisions
adequate to the elementary instruction OF
all the children of the land, exist not only
in Prussia, but also in Holland, in Saxony
Austria, and all other states of Germany, in
France, Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden and
Norway. Even in Russia, SO long the abode
| of barbaris1n, and associated now in most
minds with little refinement or civilization
a system of universal education is in full
course of construction; and already the ge-
NAL influence of the district school is en-
joyed in unhappy Poland, in the drears
wastes of Siberia, and in the wild, inhospi-
table region beyond Mount Caucasus. In
! deed, the time seems to have arrived-let
the Christian and the philanthropist hail il
with joy-when the great truth so long over
looked by statesmen and philosophers, is tc
/ be universally recognized throughout the
most enlightened parts of Chrlstendom-the
| truth that oil are entitled to share in
| the great heritage of knowledge and
thought-that the development of his fac
| ulties by scholastic culture is a right which
belongs to every human being, and that il
is not more the duty of governments tc
recognize and protect this right, than it is
their interest to cherish and extend it.
Nor is this all. The last twenty-five years
have witnessed another movementin regard
| to popular education, scarcely less cheering
It was thought sufficient if schools were es-
tablished and maintained. But it is now
known that all this may be accomplished,
and yet little be really achieved for the
cause of human improvement. That schools
may, in some cases, be substantially useless
and inoperative-that in others they may
| be employed by a despotic government as
convenient agents for keeping aloof the
spirit Of change and advancennent--in others
again, they may, by too exclusive cultiva-
ton Of the intellect and ministering to the
lower propensities, train up a factious and
6isorganizing spirit. These are sad, but
! momentous truths, which have at last forced
| themselves on the attention of the friends
| of humanity. It has been discovered, too,
| that every thing human tends to degenerate,
and that system of public instruction,
however perfect, can be upheld in its vigor
and excellence only by unceasing vigilance.
| A profound conviction of all this has led to
| the cultivation of new art, and it may be
added, to the formation of a new science.
teB8eeh9nT Be MhGh il it Mas 7y g,
and which was, i'll fact, usually committed
| (would that such we're no longer the case)
only to those whom physical infirnity had
rendered unequal to every other employ
| ment, is now beginning to be regarded as
an art requiring skill and address, as i'm
, plying also an active exercise Of the moral
| that pedagogy (as the Germans, by whom
| its principles have been most thoroughly
Investigated, term it, is science founded
| on the nature of man, and to be deduced as
we'll from the study of that nature as from
| the collective experience Of mankind; that
| if it be absurd for q man to practice medi-
| cine Or law without any special instruction
| and training preparatory to his profession,
so is it absurd III itself-fraught with dan
ger to the subject, and with presumption in
| the operator-for one to attempt to develop,
inform and guide the faculties of child
without previous preparation. In connec-
ton with improved methods Of training
teachers there have been adopted more eff
fectual means of supervising their labors,
and of securing for them the cooperation
Of the public as we'll as the powerful aid of
the government. There has arisen, in most
of the countries in Europe, new branch of
| social science-one which occupies prom
inent place in the eyes of statesmen, as well
as in those of the philosopher. The end of
! public instruction is no longer merely to
have schools, but to have good schools:
| schools which shall be sure to awaken the
mind and cultivate good principles-which
shall be imbued with the spirit alike of pro-
gress and of civilization-which shall con-
| tain within themselves the elements of per
| manent improvement, and the perennial
| sources Of a healthy and powerful influence
to those whom they train. G.