The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1888-01-26
TEACH SCHOOL CHILDREN THE
TRADES.

We are soon to have an industrial
school and an Agricultural college,
operated by the Stete>at Raleigh.
All right. X
They will do a great deal of good,
and they will work a benefit to the
State; bat we do not believe that they
will fill the bill
The Patriot believes that the time
has come when the trades ought to be
taught in the public schools.
We do not mean to say that every
school boy should learn to be a car
penter, or blacksmith, or a machin-
ist; NOR would we require every school
girl to study mantua-making or cook
ing. We would not make the learn
ing of any trade compulsory; we would
leave it to the option Of the children
and their parents, just as one now
studies law, or medicine, or theology,
or not, as his tastes and opportunities
incline him.
The common school system is a
great and a noble institution, but it is
not practical enough for this day and
generation.
The Nation and the States look
we'll after the professions, bellies let
ters, lawyers, doctors, ministers and
warriors; but. what are they doing for
the trades and the mechanical arts?
1t is a great satisfaction as we'll as
a great profit to man to have fair
education, and be able to read and
write and creditably transact the ordi-
nary business affairs Of life; but that
of'itself does not win bread.
To educate YOUTH simply for the
purpose of enabling him to make
money, is not adequate for the duties
of exalted manhood; but how to earn
livelihood is the leading and the
constant question which throbs at
every honest mans heart, and the
State ought to give him the opportu
nifty of supplying himself with the
means to answer it-a trade if not
profession.
The doctrine of utility is to be ap-
piled largely to the great body of COM
mon people when fitting them for the
battles of life, which are very earnest
and very real. What then is suit
able education for the masses What
profession, pursuit, or trade is best
adapted to give the person a living in
this busy and crowded world of the
survival of the fittest
Read the course Of study in the
schools, as they are now conducted,
and toward what does it lead the
children, as viewed from the practical
side of life ? Does it not hold out to
many of them, especially those in the
humber walks of life, false ideas and
false hopes which cause them to be-
come discontented with their proper
sphere in life? Does it not place
vaulting ambition in their blossoms
which makes them restless in after
years and which causes them to become
dissatisfied with themselves and
their lot ?
AS class, school boys do not now
want to perform actual manual labor
for a living many Of them are unwilling
to learn trades. The majority of them
expect to find some light occupation,
something respectable which will
not require them to soil their hands or
wear "work clothes" They aim to
become book keepers, statesmen, clerks,
politicians, officers of some kind-at
any rate, to obtain sincure position;
but they are not disposed to become
bricklayers, stonecutters, plumbers,
carpenters, machinists, printers, engi-
neers, or anything that requires labor
with the hands.
Men who understand either of the
above named trades readily obtain
work in Washington City at $3.50
and $500 per day, and that is about
what they earn in all large cities.
Clerks generally do not average $40
per week, or $1.5O per day. This
latter class of young men are over
crowding the cities, which is proof
of the false education they receive.
There is something wrong somewhere.
The remedy for this evil is to be
found in schools where the boy is
taught a trade before it is sought to
make money through him, and where
the principle that it is manly as well