Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1885-02-27

much Il trash az is embraced in an
a.ttclr cC.;l!iuttI to ia :. \. H.
dy."rnt, ~ Rev. }. Is. WATSON.
lL,,~ y u Sins with an acEnoW :
ulacm,n: so,d.r made Ivy tho-e
who are most Interested in popul y
claca.ion. that tie system is far
h,m perfect. The confession in
Pie, tie lo,>.hlaty Of great i.npr. We
ucu aLI lcgina ut 'he foundation
Of the subject to discover what con
s'itut"~ the proper basis for u>'t"l
cducl,ion; utility being very proper
" REGARDED a. the great desldeia.um
Of all forms Of educ.ti which
brrs htpviue,s and contcntmen..
the grand rr!Zas for which we are all
struggling. DIR. WATSON says there
are two directions in which reform
IN tie system Of education seems
how e. lie both probable AMI posi-
be. These aie the recognition OF
IrdustIiil or manual educ.tior and
yhNs.cal culture, in some ioim or
other, as necessary elements OF Il
complete system OF uluca:; IN. As
90 tie growing hvcd OF in!ratria'
o..ucA'.on tlcrv can be 10 !nI':cI %
Doubt. LISA woii hnown fact tina:
a large number Of HE pupils in Cur
I public schools alc obliged 10 so and
ii ,ht the battle of lie for themselves
at an early age; and in school they
Team little that is Of any practical
use to them. Even the pupils who
are able to take the full course of in
slrction offered in the public schools
often find hat what they have learned
Is Of hale value to them in making
Their way in life; and, with all Their
nice catalogues of facts, they are fire.
qucntly less capable of making an
honest living than their former class
mates, who long before left the school
to become sriny apprentices or burly
butcher boys.
And there is another way of look
ing at this matter. The industrial
supremacy Of this country in the
markets of tile world depends upon
tho skill of our hnndicraftsmen in
the industrial arts; aud this skill
would be largely fostered and devel-
opJd by the establishment of few
great industrial schools. England is
fully alive to the importance of this
matter, and the industrial education
which she now gives to the children
of paupers and criminals serves the
double purpose of training these
children to be good citizsns, and of
adding valuable recruits to her great
industrial army. The day is coming
when there will be life and death
struggle between Great Britain and
the United States for the industrial
supremacy of the world, and, if we
are wise, we will prepare ourselves
for the great conflict.
Besides all this, an industrial
training will do what merely theo-
retical training will not do. 1t will
act as preventive of crime. OF the
Oh prisoners in the Eastern Peni-
Tertiary of Pennsylvania. only seven
are mechanics, and the English
Home secretary states that so per
cent. of the vicious Toys, who have
passed through industrial schools
and have learned some honest trade,
have been entirely reformed. As
matter of pure economy, therefore,
not to speak Of philanthropy, it
would he a wise thing to build more
industrial training schools and save
some of the money now spent on
prisons and refoimatories.
1t seems that these facts, supported
as they ale by such incontrovertible
proof, leave but little doubt of the
direction in which popular education
should tend. It should be towards
the practical nature of things, the
simpliGcation of the means whereby
the necessities of life may he placed
within the reach of each individual,
at tho least cost of physical strength
and mental strain. The elaborate
finish Of college course, the grace
full accomplishments of seminary
training, may be added if time per-
mits, as the finals after the struc-
ture IS completed, but every human
being, of either Sex, should be
brought into direct contact with
some form of active life and taught
the means whereby individual indie
pendence may be attained. Life's
current is too treacherous to rely
solely on compass and churt, supper
ed by the most elaborate treatise
ON their use. Individual effort
is essential. The navigator must
possess personal knowledge of the
contour Of the shore, must make the
whirlpools and eddies and shifting
sands objects of deep study, and the
fitting clouds be to him sign in the
heavens, from all which he is 10
form judgment and shape his