Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1890-04-02
How Much Time for Education.

The American idea is 10 put boy,
and girls into the primary school wher
they are and years old, and keep the
boys at their sthdies until they stop of
for business or a trade, OF have finished
their professional studies; while the
girls are expected to 20 TO school unit
they are old enough to he MARIE ed oi
are compelled to go out Into the wOrlC
and earn their own living. The youth
do not advance. III the aggregate, SC
rapidly as they did when the schooling
| took less time and was not made the
drudgery of ones earliest years. The
difficulty is felt by all intelligent edu.
Gators in our public schools, but 1t i,
appreciated IN a different WAY 10y those
whose ,!uty it Is ID stand by the higher
education and see that il reaches the
greatest number of intelligent youth Oi
the country. We are multiplying col.
lcge5 and universities, but We aIe not
| multiplying students In proportion tC
the numeral Increase of tie population.
The difficulty Is "A serious one, and II d
cannot be met, we shall find that TIE
college AMI university Will Ire more an !
more neglected by young men who can
not afford TO spend ten years in acIuir.
ing their professional outfit. Everybody '
is straining to-day for a shortened Sy,-
TEN, and the pressing question l.
whether the American youth can not
obtain their intellectual out fl as quickly
and AS thoroughly as the European
youth obtains theirs. In Europe the
Young men on the average enter pro-
fcS,ional life at twenty-five; in tins
country the majority are not through
with their studies unl il they are twenty.
five or 2G years old. This is an injus
tice to young men, and crippes them
for the future. In a given family the
son enters upon a business life, and by
his twenty-sIxth year IS married and has
an income of from 81 900 20 8, 600 .
year, while his brother at the same age
has simply an education for which hIs
diploma is the only voucher. lie has
still tO make his mark In the world,
before reaching his Both year. This il
a pra tical statement of the difficulty,
and 1t is just for thi reason that hun
eds OF young men fOrego the advan-
tages of a college education.
Doctor Adams, President Of Cornell
Unive slty, suggests that he college aud
university, in the work of the junior
and senior years, should he allowed tC
anticipate at least first year Of prOfes.
S4OIldl bLuug- II j. AOL O4lllgulI ~ ut
this, al least in the university, because
the higher elective studies Can be chosen
with this end in view.
President Adams also suggests that
the vigorous pruning of the course Of
study in the secondary schools would,
perhaps save a year or more in that
direction, and observes also that, if
there were better teaching in the prin.
arV schools, the greatest gain OF al
might be made IN American education.
The two suggestions here made art
practical AID possible, and unless they
ae wisely worked out through the
Joint action OF the heads of colleges OF
the one hand and the conference oi
leading public school teachers on tht
other, we shall have an increased and
just complaint that our American sys,
tenn of education IS too clumsy AMI in.
efficient to meet the exacting conditions
Of American life.