Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1888-12-26
THE BEST EDUCATION.
That VI hich Trains Hand and Israin To-
gether-A Great Mistake.

That " hich Trains Hand and Brain To-
gether-A Great Mistake.
Each year brings to the general public,
as well as to the educators, the convic-
ton that the present system Of education
is inadequate to the demands of the day.
The great public, which is more directly
interested in school methods than the ed
ucators themselves, are waking to the
conviction that there is much useless ex-
penditure of time and effort in putting
the boy and girl through the course of
study in the schools. This conviction is
not limited to any class Of intelligence.
1t is permeating all classes. With this
more complete view of education comes
among the higher classes a greater re-
spect for skilled labor. In these days
when riches suddenly take to themselves
wings and fly away; when there may be
luxury one week and perjury the next,
it is necessary for every one to be pre-
pared for these emergencies. The ext
gencies in business life cannot always be
foretold with accuracy. The laws that
govern the evolutions of commerce are
to certain extent the same in their ten
dency and as unerring in their effect as
those that govern the evolutions OF ma
ture.
1t has long been a great mistake of the
rich to educate their children in the eff
horesences of knowledge, and to teach
In its influences. But self preservation
is one of the first laws of nature and
there are comparatively few people who
would rather starve to death than work
with their hands. The instinct of ma
ture is strong with us all, and there is
that consciousness in every one, at least
in nearly every one, that forces him to
labor in order to save his own life. The
complications of social conditions and the
consequent competition in all depart
ments of industrial and professional life,
together with these sudden disappear
ances of fortunes, are impressirg upon
the minds of all, the rich as well as the
poor, the necessity of being forearmed.
The man who is armed is always ready
for an attack. The man who has a
skilled brain and hand to fall back upon
is ready for an emergency.
If society is to be compactly built and
enduring we must all contribute our
labor, not only to make it so, but to
keep it so. We have now as much of the
disintegrating elements as we need. These
are the criminal classes, the paupers, the
insane, the bed ridden, the homeless, the
aged, the infirm. We have in this wide
domain many that are needy, but that are
not yet the wards of the public. With
the increase of the population comes an
increase in society's burdens. The COM
plication in social conditions must be evil
dent to every one that will take the trou-
BILE to penetrate the slight crust which
envelopes life in the United States. The
only way to put an obstacle in the way
of this alarming increase in our non-pro-
ducing class, or non-contributing classes,
is to educate our children to become pro-
ducers and contributors. The present
system of education is good SO far as it
goes, but it does not go far enough.
| If all members of society were produ-
GERS as well as consumers there would be
less necessity for poorhouses. Practical
education might, and undoubtedly would,
lessen the tendency to crime. An idle
brain is the devils workshop is saying
as true as it is old. Thomas Carlyle's
ringing sentences may be quoted here.
Says the great philosopher: Produce,
produce, produce. Ii it be but the most
fnfnitesinal part of product, in Gods
name produce it. Work while it is yet
day, for the night cometh wherein no
man can work." It is the business of
those who direct education to consider
these facts deeply. Detroit Free Press.