Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1889-09-20
SUBSCRIBER.

needs tOhe better educItej than he
is at present on reaching his twelfth
or fourteenth year. lie needs to
take into his occupation, whatever
it may be, some special training for
the work he has to do. The French
youth, who are practically two years
ahead of our own in their studies,
secure a better and broader training
than our boys have, and the French
schools are better adapted for the
French youth than our schools are
for our own boys. No one will say
that boys do not need to be ground
ed in elementary studies, and any
thing short of the whole course of
the grammar school is too short for
their needs. The question is how to
give our boys this general education.
which every youth needs, and how
to add to it the special training for
the professional, the mechanical and
the industrial youth, so that each
class will take something ont of the
public schools beyond elementary
studies. We have gone that far in
our public educational scheme where
something more than the bare ele-
mentarY training is required, if our
American youth are to have fair
play. The boy intended for the
professional life begins his classics
as early as his twelfth year. Why
should not the boy who displays an
aptitude for mechanics begin his
special direction at that age? And
why should not the boy who has an
aptitude for affairs begin to grasp
the principles of working life at
that early period? The father of the
American boy asks these questions.
In the absence of trade schools, which
are as much needed as classical
schools, and in the absence of the
apprentice system, which once took
all boys through a certain amount
Of industrial training, it is more and
more recognized that tie public
school is to meet the new demands
Of society. 1t is not right for it to
train young men for the profession
unless it also trains them for the
practical and the mechanical indus
trial arts. Favors should not be
shown to the one class any more
than to the other.
1t is here that the suggestions for
u different method of treatment con-
verge. 1t is here that Supt. SeAver,
in his recent report, has done some
thing to solve the problem. Greater
flexibility in the studies of the Eng,
lish high school is proposed, and
this is good as far as it goes; but
the gist of the whole matter is found
in his suggestion for the establish
ment Of the mechanic arts school.
There exists the same reason fol
this school that is claimed for the
Latin school. The reason is even
more imperative, because theparent'
of large portion of those who are
looking to professional life are abun
dainty able to pay for the education
of their children at a private school
On the other hand, the public schoo
owes it to the parents of our Ameri
can boys that they shall be educated
up to the needs of good citizenshiE
at an earlier age, as it is the case il
the French schools, and that the
public schools shall press still more
closely the training of our boys ii
the principles which regulate tho
work to which they are likely tc
give their lives. Our public system
of education is based upon the prin
ciple that all men are free and equal
and that the American President il
to spring out of the ranks; but the
| gifts of men are very unequal, and
what the school ought to do is tc
recognize this diversity of gifts, and
proceed to educate our youth upor
the lines of nature and common
sense. This demands greater fexl.
| bility of method than is now EN-.
ployed, but it will also greatly di
minish the expense in the public
education of each individual. Al
immense amount of time is wasted
in the schools because one you'll
waits for another, and the majority
of our youth who leave school il
their fourteenth year are not edu
Gated SO well as they should be fol
their work in life. We need to rec
ognize the diversity of etnploymeuts
as early as possible in the public
school, and to begin to give oul
vouth trainino in the industria