Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1884-03-31
DOES EDUCATION EDUCATE?

10 iEC C1itOr II INC car ORR lfiOHHc
4 remark il one of your recent literary
notes Oh the bad manners Of She rising gen
Grafton encourages me to say.a word on the
same subject. There has been I. good deal
OF talk OF late years about education, and J,
being Yankee. and so naturally progress
sirc, some time since began 10 adopt tho
nc.y ideas about training tho young. &Iy
own farther belonged 10 the Old school. lie
brought UP large :anily IN The nurture
and aGmontiou CT the Lord, = and he neither
SHARED The rod, strap nor shinglc. But now
aGays that kind OF thing i obsolete, and |
and my neinhOor5 have given over corporal
punishment and discipline entirely, and
trust 10 moral suas:on in the training Of our
children. Now the philosophy unOn which
the new system is based reads beautifully, !
mus; say. II does seem lon paper as
though children had rights CT their cwn,
and tina. parents ought not 10 take 4 mean
advantage II their superior strength anG
power 20 cccr>c and const:aiil tbs little ones.
Appeal /, their reason, say thc phI!oSn
pliers. and yUu can do anything Win tiehi.
Well. We have gone upon that system ROW
G,r some tin;. and it is because the results
su!nenc% DO tot pan out right. as =
California friend puts it, that | write
to you jor information. Perhaps pattern
III affection has biassed me as 10 my
own children. but certainly ! am not
mistaken about those OF other people. And
what see al around Ec is a distinct de-
te:inraion in the manners and behavior OF
Tia young people, Notwithstanding the
wonderful advance Of educational agencies,
ana the increased scope ci instruction atthe
schools.
don't sag the young olks arc not smart
or ambitious. They have lost little in these
respects. il anything. But / do sa% that
the. used 10 have some manners ana that
thew have nOnc now. and tins l THINK,
though / may be wrong, Is a really serious
change ior The worse. More than this. their
want ~ manneT& seems TO grow out oi an
indifference t. anybody bat themselves
which i litiniu! t" see in children, and / AM
sorry TO say that this indflerence increases
as they 4rcw older. We were brought up
To thini: much of others aud little o! our
selves. i:-e we're taught 10 reverence our
elders even when the" were strangers We
were made 10 rcpgcss and restrain ourselves,
and given 10 understand thar the world was
NOT cur heritage. but that We IIad 20 deserve
and earn before wc couil cuj0y ana possess.
ii is ali different n0H. Every boy and
cir. thinks he or III" haS :: perfect right TO
lock cut for Numhrr Ga" alone, and this
brings bad results And he worst comes
when childhood h;ts rassea and The genera
ton 50 hru,inlt ur i setting down. Let
ms .iy., you az Illustration from my eN
rcr;cncc. \ likely lad and lass in our neigh
horbood were married 4 year ago. Their
future looked bright. lie had good bust
ness. They wCrc sell housed and comfort
able Bat they only lived together six
months. aah now they are ttco again, with
| small prospect Of reconciliation. ] happen
to l:uo;@ the causes Of this separation. The
simrle truth is that neither Of these young
| Deonle had ever learned to give up their
| own way TO anybody, and they couldn't
| bring themselves 10 feel that they ought to
| do il for one auother.
| Now this is i typical case, for scores Of
| thousands Of children ell around us are be-
| ing brought UP in just the same way and
50 are Gcin" prepared for just the same do
mcstic unhapDincss People wonder why
| thc!G /, 50 much divorce in these days, but
| Il thvy %JuI1 lool; al the kind Of home
train;ng the children get IN 100 many cases,
they would not think il very surprising that
| there Should he 50 much matrimonial IN
! computibiIiIy." As to what should be done,
| confess 10 n1g know: but there IS sure
IL something wrong il tt!e modern theories
| Of education "ud home training, or the re-
suits would be more satisfactory. If you
can throw any light or this dark subject
yuu will, am sure, crafty many of your
readers, ana also = pcrplcxed and not lit.
tie discouraged REFoRMER.
New Iori, March -, 1881.