Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1885-01-15
COMMON SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES
As Allies and Agents IN Western
Civilization.

All who have become acquainted will
{ American society have observed that il,
most marked feature is restless activity
/ Enterprise is more characteristic of us thar
in high civilization. A passion for glitter
4 and parade of wealth more than tendency
to substantial unostentatious investments
\ and solid comforts. Ii has now become a
universal statement and opinion that a
/ spirit Of adventure and Advancement, as
/ also an actual forward and ascending move
ment, are nowhere in the country more
| apparent than in the Rocky Mountains
This ardor and progress, as is always the
case in new countries, respects the physical
more than the ntellectual-fortunes and
honors more than facilities of knowledge
and achievements of mind. There is, how
ever, at the present time, a very general
and very determined purpose on the part
of the West to emerge intellectually and
morally, and place itself at least on level
with the best educated and best ordered
communities
1t is the object of this Paper to exhibit
the capable influences of western colleges
and common schools in assisting this gus
/ picious movement.
Let us conceive the whole career of man
to be one lnbroken progression from the
earliest lessons OF his life on through the
common school, and high school, and col
lege, OF further, from the earliest dawn of
his intellectual life on down through time
into the more rapid and marvellous de-
velopments OF eternity, as one continuous
ladder which he climbs step by step, step
by step, from the first round, on and on, and
on, through primary, and intermediate,
and grammar, and high school, and college,
and professional seminary, and through his
earthly career till he is lost from us among
the stars OF heaven.
The child beginner IS a student OF every
branch OF human learning, whether you
recognize the fact or not. When ne tries
to talk he Is student of language just as
much as the most learned professor. When
he observes the difference between heat
and cold, between acids, and between other
elements, he is a student of chemistry.
When he observes and asks about the fly
on the window pane, OF the mystery of his
walking ON the ceiling, he is student of
natural history. When he learns that one
and another are two he has stepped upon
the first round of the ladder of mathe-
matics, which, like Jacobs reaches mp until
il is lost in the heavens When he builds
his block house he is an architect, and
analysis He builds and he tears down
and builds again-synthesis and analysis
He is as much student of mathematics as
Euclid was of natural history as Agassiz
was, of astronomy as Herschel, of all the
branches, as the greatest masters of the
arts and sciences-only some generations
behind them-some rounds lower down on
tie same ladder. In every course of in
struction this fact should be recognized.
Whether you teach him these branches or
not he will study them, and what he
studies he should be wisely directed in. If
he is not instructed and led Alright
in his pursuit of knowledge he
will reach his own conclusions erroneous
and absurd as they may be, He may fill
his mind with superstitions the most gro
tesque and dangerous if his inquiries are
not intelligently directed ir his earlier pur-
suit of knowledge
Fearful indeed is the responsibility of
the earliest instructor who directs the child
IN its first searchings for truth-who gives
direction to an eternal career of mental ac-
tivity-who harnesses the infant mind to
methods of thinking which must forever
give character to his mental processes, and
as the heart is influenced only through the
intellect. opens avenues to that heart which
so largely determines also its governing
purposes, and 20 the moral character and
destiny of the man. This is the most i'm
portant part Of the entire period of the
child's instruction. For il, should be en-
ployed teachers Of the finest culture
teachers of the best experience-teachers
the most thoroughly and practically ac-
quainted with mental and moral sciences
teachers the most expert in knowledge
of all that goes to make up the entire man
physical, mental and moral.
Inferior teachers may do tolerable work
in the intermediate, or the grammar. or the
high school department,-but for the pri-
mary, teachers Of the highest attainment
and the most cousummate skill obtainable
should b. employed at any expense.
Taking the child where he is-stsrting
him from his own standpoint he should be
lead, and his course bs - carefully grade
in the earlier period - in the later in every
braEch Of human learning. The 6rst tsxt
book We place in his hand. for manifest
reasons, is On language, and the nsxt usu-
.rst always-mathenatics,--
and % at different intervals be receives ID
ditioual text hooks o. through hiD entire
course. The boundary i.Aes besween the
common school, the high school and sths
college are artificial and arbitrary. They
are determined for convsnisncs BY TIE
point which the avsrags scoool boy or girl
the ability o. inclination Of
taxpayen or supporters Of schoolsto main