Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1889-07-11
AMONG THETEACHERS.
AN INTERESTING PAPER RBAD BY DOCTOR
MYERS.
Tie Demands o. Higher Education Discussed More
o. Tie Practical Faysrsd-Ths Study Of the
English language President Turner'S
and Pnt Sipss Views.
sDeeiai C0repondence on ne RegLEter.

special Correspondence or ne REGISTER.
MoRGASTOwN, July 9.-Dr Myers read
a very interesting paper before the State
Teachers Association to-day. At its con-
clusion it was ably reviewed and discussed
By President Turner.
SYNOPSIS OF DIR. MYERS PAPER.
Doctor Myers, in opening his discussion
upon ''The Demands Of Modern Educa-
tioD,n said that hodesired it clearly under
stood that it was not his purpose to attack
any Of the public institutions Of the State,
but that it was dealing with sentiment,
which, 10 his mind, was leading to an i'm
practical system Of education. He based
his discussion upon Paley's definition,
which Is education in the most extensive
sense Of the word may comprehend every
preparation that is made in our youth for
the sequel of our lives" laying the stress
of this argument upon the preparation for
the SEQUEL of our lives. He sssailed the
idea Of educating a boy without any
object in view, or without any purpose,
claiming that it is better to have a
student study with a definite object in
view, and that instead Of using the dry
husks Of the past for the purpose Of men
tai training, the live Juicy problems Of the
present should be used. Young men de-
cline TO spend years Of labor upon things OF
little use when acquired, and which have
been relegated 10 the past in every trans
action of modern life IN this country"
MAY I ask what field of industry or en-
terpriss outside of the two or three sO-called
learned professions q man may enter IN
which he will find much use for the bulk
of knowledge acquired in carrying out the
regular course of classical study So laid
down in most Of our college euricula?"
''The impracticability Of the ordinary
college course Of study is 80 notorious, and
its complete failure to answer the demands
Of modern education 90 conspicuous that a
very large share Of the business men posi-
lively refuse to employ a college bred
man In their offices until he has had time
10 wear of some Of his college notions and
is ready to get down to the practical affairs
Of life. A graduate Of our higher institu-
tions of learning should have acquired
something in his course Of study that
would &c him for some of the higher duties
Of citizenship in this.great country. As 1t
il, he has learned absolutely nothing of the
ordinary requirements of business life,
and when he goes into sn Office, he stands
exactly upon the same footing as the young
man who has taken his twelve weeks
course at q good commercial college, with
the chances Of success in favor Of the
latter
He claims that the system of higher
education does rot lay force enough upon
English and does not give our students
sufficient training in the use Of theiI
mother tongue and the history OF modern
times. and does not make them acquainted
with modern thought and modern philOso
ply, or the history Of the Christian re-
hgion, but that it fritters away the time
of the student very largely in dealing with
languages that are not required in the Sc
ouels of our lives. He does not oppose the
stady of the languages, but insists that
Foglish should be made the principal Ian
puegs of our institutions, and that after II
should come the modern languages with
their literatures, before devOting so much
time to the dead Languages and their liter
atuIes.
"If young man succeeds, he
MUST LEARN HIS MOTHER TONGUE
sooner or later. 1.-THE sequels OF our lives
demand the knowledge of and use Of En-
Qlish every day that we live and do not re-
ouire much Greek aud Latin, does moi
common sense dictate a larger amount Of
the study Of English and less amount Of
Greek and Latin? Why not adjust ouI
course of study to meet the requirement.
of a mans life? Why accept as fixed thS
ideas Of education based upon conditions
existing one eundrad and fifty years ago in
the old worldg Il he means to secludS
himself from the world and live upon the
Past. IL is all right. 1 think he If
making a fair beginning and society
needs some such men. There will
always be a necessity for them, and II
is very desirable 20 have some such schools
But If a man expects to live IN the latter
part of the nineteenth century when civil.
lizstion and all that civilization means If
moving forward with greater energy than
ever before; when science is finding sppli'
cation in every department Of industry
when commerce and intercourse among
nations are carried on by means Of steam
and electricity; under new system OF
government, under laws never before tried
and adopted to no other sge Of the world
in the midst Of manufacturing enterprises
never before attempted; surrounded by
combinations Of capital and associations OF
laborers: with wealth greater than that Of
Clmsns piling upon one side Of the street,
and poverty exceeding that Of Lazarus
dwelling upon the other; when Sunday
schools aud churches and Young Mems
Christian Associations are doing gran de'
work than ever before. think that If the
SEQUEL Of mans life is to be in this age
when cherished ideas are passing away
when