The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1886-04-30
TIE EDUCATION THAT EDUCArEs.

sWOhSJ JCnAo WIG SuDycCs
of education has %engrossed more public
attention than during any other period
ef this present century. Educate the
masses! Educate the heatheni Edu-
rate everybody, and with education will
come . cure for all tho evils humanity
3 heir to. Wars will cease and the
downtrodden masses will no longer be
ground beneath the despot's heel. This
has been the cry of the social reformer,
and his cry has been heard by the
government Of nearly every civilized
country. This is the ago Of Polytech-
MICS, Of Realschuien, Of free schooling,
of object-lesson schooling. of kinder
garden schooling, in fact Of every kind
Of schooling that the ingenious mind of
the man with the education bee in his
bonnet can device.
Every ccu.try seems to have its own
particular mode of educating its young,
but in no two countries will you find
m agreement as to what education
eeally consists Of. In America the
forcing system seems to me to be in
full blast, and, in many cases, the en-
deavor appears to be to teach boys
what few men know. 1t is considered
by many that education, or rather tho
art of educating, is in its infancy, and
that results which we can now hardly
conceive may be expected from its more
perfect development. By this class of
people education is confounded with
mere instruction, in applying to morals
principles which are applicable only to
intellectlais, and in imaging that the
march of intellect is the march Of edu-
cation. Now, education, after ali, has
to do with manners, morals,
habits, with the habits Of thought and
action, than with mental requirements.
One thing that has struck me in
American education is that it is, for the
most part, very superficial. The people
Rre truly omnivorous readers of whata
Newspapers, chiefly. True, a vast
amount Of knowledge may be gained
from a newspaper, but it is knowledge
of q certain kind, and net that degree
81 knowledge that constitutes what is
generally known as education. OF
really intellectual knowledge of books
and authors, of anything in fact that
does n appeal to them in their daily
business there is 4 woful deficiency.
When you do meet Il mar who is rather
better educated than his n%eighbors, the
chances are that he has acquired his ex-
ira supply OF education in some ready
reckoner style that has no real solid
foundation. In no country that | have
ever visited, have | found the principle
of ''educatio n made easy so prevalent
as in America, and the quicker a boy is
educated, so that he can turn to and
help to add to the family pile" the
better pleased the boys parents will be.
This is certainly a ''new country" but,
because it is so, is everything that has
the stamp of antiquity upon it to be,
therefore, tabooed' Are all the old
forms of education to give place to pat
ent educators worked upon the same
principle as incubatcrss That they
should give place. judging from what
one secs, appears to be the wish of this
ssnew country"
Two hundred years ago the teachers
of our ancestors had as high and com
petent qualifications for their profession
as any Of the present day. 1t is true
that they We're ignorant of many facts
IN science and language, but what then:
Did this diminish their power OF max
ing their pupils, like themselves, higt
principled. punetual. p~ersevering, res
olute, firme Were they less acute, o
less %retentiye memory, of inferior imag
nation. worse principled, less subordi
nate, less respectful2 Let me not b,
misunderstood. l do not mean to sa,
that these fresh discoveries in scienc,
ought not to be known (Which would b.
absurt) or chat they diminish the powe
of those who know them (Which wolil,
be also absurd). What l say is this
that seeing masters formerly produces
as great characters. as great scholars
rs great poets, as great divines, as gren
statesmen. rs honorable merchants Z
any do now, it may be concluded tbl
the advances Of science have Tess to Ill
with the real and permanent objects 0
education than the system of disciplin
the course of training, which o bein,
dependent on an new discoveries o
science or inventions of art, were a
we'll understood by some of our fore
fathers as they can be by ourselves in
new country" And it may be con
sSfuuGu. also, IHdt 40 pISab liupTOSe
ment i'll the grand results Of education
is to be looked for from the mere marcl
of intellect or tho mere adv ances @
science.
Another thing about education in thi
country in contradistinction to educa
ton in the old country, and by the oil
country | do not mean only England an
Scotland. is that it is considered by tn
generality of parents and guardians
great waste of time for boys to spen
several years in learning Latin an
Greek, reading authors, writing exc,
cises. and committing to memory whe
they will have no cali for such know.
edge in their future life, in business
This is nonsense. Boys WN have ca
for the knowledge they have acquire
in learning Latin and Greek. There
no knowledge how their taste or Gil
cumstances may change in a countr
where every boy may be said to carr
4 nomination to the Presidency in hi
vest pocket, and therefore, to say thu
they tctR have no need for such know
edge. ever though they may see Il
prospect of it, is absurd. But, on til
majority of fathers, this argumsr
would have no effect. because youc onl
not convince them that there would /
any call for the knowledge in question
aud If there was no call in the actui
shop or exchange business. it is in val
to urge any other call such as the col
slant demand in public conversation
for the treasures of literature, old ali
new; it is in vain that you state Il
marked and painful inferiority felt b.
what may be called, non-Latin men
company with men OF refined and cult
vatcd minds. it is in vain to urge an
Incidental or collateral, social or civ