The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1884-11-06
CoMMoN-sCHooL TRAINING.

The Philadelphia Press calls It 4" a
lost element in education" lie refers
to the abandonment of the older meth
DDS in use in the public schools, and
the substitution therefor of defects in
received methods of school conduct.
The Press agrees with the STATES
MAN in declaring that too much is at
tempted in the schools, and that be-
cause of it's superficial character, IN
der systems or examining, a mechani-
cal process of thinking, resulting in a
commonplace type of excellence, is
being developed that vast amount
of waste energy is being expended in
learning useless things at the expense
of thoroughness and solid concen-
trated mental accomplishment. 1t is al
most universally admitted now by re-
tlecting people, whose numbers are be-
ing diminished by present modes of
teaching, that the effort to make all
branches of study specifically attract
i've and pleasant is absorbing much
talent that should be devoted, for the
betterment Of humanity, to questions
of more practical improvement in
methods of teaching; that the moral
element in public school education is
a lost art which will be hard to revive.
A good many people are boldly assert
ing that the present loose moral con-
ditions of society are traceable to
methods in the schools; that children's
minds are not being elevated, but that
they are drifting into immortality in
stead of assisting in the elevation of
society. The trouble about the matter
is that in this country anything
which grows to be popular is seized
with avidity by the demagogues, and
what might be of immense public
good is connected with that which
produces public harm. Public educa-
ton is regarded as a good thing, but
being falsely administered tits robbed
of its value. May it not be zoo,
that our common schools grow too
common; thatin grouping great num-
bers of children together different
tastes are made to assimilate, and that
thus morality, shaped by the more ag-
gressive minds of the worst, is made
in the aggregate to descend instead of
ascend. A splendid field, at least, for
human effort is opened, in which the
diversion of the minds of growing and
coming generations from the 1mprac-
teal as well as the dangerous condi-
tions of life may be diverted to that
which is beneficial alike to the physical
and the mental being.
THE present prices of wheat are
lower in this country than they have
been at any time since the war, and
wheat is now cheaper in Great Brit
ain than it has heen in 104 years. In
fact, there are certain grades of wheat
sold in Great Britain that are cheaper
per bushel than corn. These cheap
grades of wheat come mainly from
India and Australia. The highest
price ever quoted for American wheat
was in 1867, when the figures reached
$3.50 per bushel. In 1879 the price
dropped to S113 bushel, in New
York, which was considered very low.
No. 2 winter wheat now sells at "a to
IS cents per bushel.
A FEW years ago it was as much as
a preachers head was worth to be
even suspected of belief in Darwinism,
or in the doctrine of evolution. But.
there has been change. Yesterday
in the synod of South Carolina-a
body of educated men-the vote on
allowing the doctrine to be taught in