Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-09-18
ITO be continued.)
A Broader View OF Education.

Moral or ethical training may be Justly
termed the higher education of man: for
it apples to the development of those
qualities which make manhood lovabIe,
heroic, sublime, and which give to life its
richest significance, its purest JOY. | do
not wish to be understood as disparaging
intellectual culture, but in discussing edu-
cation we must examine it not from a mar
row or limited horizon, but from the hi gh-
est and most far reaching point Of view.
intellectual training has so long been
made paramount in the collegiate curricu,
luns that broader view of the question
invariably meets with opposition, or is
sneered at as an impractlcable. Yet it is
we'll to remember how little happiness Or
virtue purely intellectual education be-
slows; the greatest scholars, the most bril-
liant literary figures in history have been
far from the happiest of men, nor have
they been conspicuous for virtue or moral
greatness. Mere intellectual education,
with all its value, insures neither hap
piness nor moral worth.
While. on the other hand, no person
who conscientiously cultivates the various
attributes that constitute nobility of char
acter, fails to experience the purest pleas
ure known to life, while he as necessarily
makes the world brighter and better, as
fragrant flower perfumes the air IN which
it blooms. Nor is this education, as many
seem to imagine, chimerical it is eminent
" practical and may be impaired to all
children where parents and teachers have
arisen to those moral heights which en-
able them to realize the value Of this most
vital education-a culture which yields
the truest Joy. which wins the greatest
victories for the race, which holds in its
compass the power to lift into a higher
and sweeter existence the humblest artisan
toiling at the bench, no less than the sage
wrapped in thoughts profound.
Nor do these views apply to parents and
teachers alone; they are vitality applicable
to every life, as they carry with them a
contagious sunshine of health, happiness
and growth. Still further, if, as so many
of the noblest and most advanced minds of
our age believe, we are fast approaching
day which will scientifically demons
trate the tremendous truth that this life is
the ante-room of an existence of eternal
progression, it will lend deeper signif-
canoe to our plea for broad and compre-
hensive development of spiritual or ethi-
Ca nature. For such training will mean a
life On earth that to a henediction to all
whom the truly cultured one comes in
contact, and it will be preparatory train
ing that will enable the unfettered soul tc
enter the next stage of development erect
and with face fronting the morning. in
stead of MANNED. shriveled, and dwarfed,
shrinking from the onward moving forces
of light progress, and harmony When
the broader view of ucation takes pos
session of the mind of men and women,
when it is generally understood that there
daily emanates from every life an inhu-
ence, fragrant and inspiring or depressing
if not deadly, we may look fer higher
civilization in With parenthood will be
held IL far more sacred regard than now,
in which passion will be subject to reason
guided by the highest spiritual impulses.