Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-12-24
THE EDUCATIONAL PROBLEM.
The Duty Of Parents to Provide Practical
Training for Their Children.

Every person Of intelligence has read, proba-
| bly,, without fully comprehending the import
| of its language, the statement found in many of
| the old-time readers: I'VE must educate; we must
| educate, We must perish" COnceding the full
| significance of the word educate, we must adj
NIT the truth of the proposition. II becomes
then both a prophecy and q pregnant warning
of danger.
Along this line we meet the two extremes OF
the province and purpose Of education. They
are extremes because they involve, measure
bly,, the impracticable, and suggest danger to
the rejecting. know of no better presenta-
ton of these extreme views, the Scylla and
Charybdis of all educational activity and prog
ress, than found in the writings of two men of
very like natural endowments but wholly differ
ent in The polish afforded by the schools, Dean
Swift and John Brown.
swIFT's PICTURE.
In his "Gulliyer's Travels" the dean describes
the grand academy of Lagado on the island Of
Laputa 70 wildly that his language looks
almost prophetic of some of our modern sys-
TENS OF education of tLe purely theoretical and
lmpr;:cc ical kind. In his tour OF observation
be found one man who had consumed eight
years upon project for extracting sunbeams
on: of cucumhers, which he intended to put
into vials Theoretically sealed and release them,
~ necessity required, on raw summer days, to
warm the frigid atmosphere. Another was ex-
pending his energies III an effort to calcine ice
into gnnpowder. A third, "a most Ingenious
architect, had hit upon new method Of
building houses by beginning at the roof and
working downward to the foundation. the like
practice OF the bee and spider affording him q
Sufficient precedent. Others were vainly try
ing 10 thread Invisible needles with invisible
thread The picture which Swift presents so
graphically may be studied by us as aflOrding an
cation that looks oulv toward the side of mental
discipline for its own sake.
JOHN BROWNS VIEWS.
The other extreme, the simple bread and but
ter side, Is presented in the letters which John
Brown wrote to his wife during the period of
his incarceration in the Charlestown Jail in
1859 With the realities of Il certain death i'm
pending he had little disposition to theorize,
hat looked carefully to the means which would
enable his daughters to struggle successfully
FOR existence i'll an unfriendly and jostliEg
world. Under the circumstances he would
naturally incline to the purely practical and
productive phase OF education. An extract will
show this.
Nov let me say Il word" he writes to his
wife. under date OF November 16, 1852 ''about
the efforts To educate or daughters. | am no
longer able to provide means TO help toward
that object and it therefore becomes me not to
dictate III the matter. shall gratefully 1slit
tho direction of the whole thing 10 those E,,,ose
generosity may lead them to undertake in their
behalf. while give anew little expression Of
my choice respecting 1t. You. my wife, per-
fectly well know that have always expressed a
decided preference for very plain but per-
fectly practical education for both SONS and
daughters. do not mean an education very
miserable AZ that You and got in early life.
nor as some of our children have enjoyed When
| say plain, but practical, l mean enough of the
learning of the schools to enable them to trans
act the common business comfortably and re-
specially. together with that thorough train
ing to good business habits which best pre-
pares both men and women to be useful.
though poor, and to meet the stern realities of
life with good grace. You will know that
always claimed that the music of the broom,
wash tub. needle. spindle loom. ak. scythe. hoe,
fail. &c, should first be learned mt all events
and that of the piano afterward. l put them
in that order as most conducive to health of
body and mind and for the obvious reason
that after life Of some experience and much
observation, have found ten women as well
as ten men who have made their mark in life
right. whose early training was of that plain.
practical kind, to one who had more popular
and fashionable early training"
L am not one of those who believe that
purely scientific, or classical. or a mathe-
NAUTICAL, or business training is to be selected.
1t may be eclectic in its character. and may be
the more practical in the degree in which it
combines, In proper proportions. the excel
lencies of each. do believe. however. with
Tyndall, that the present age has right to
decide upon its courses of study, and that it
should not be held i'll slavish bondage to the
courses established during the dark ages. At
another time may develop this thought more
fully, and indicate what. in my judgment. the
times demand. 1t will, l am free to say. be
happy medium between the ETHEREAL notions
ironically presented by Dean Swift and the
mere bread and butter ideas of Brown.
THE DUTY OF PARENTS.
Another vital question suggests itself: Why
should parents strive to give their children
good practical education? In these days of
brisk competition and earnest activity for
position and preferment this question assumes
vital Importance. Mrs. Livermore has an in
teresting lecture. entitled What Shall We Do
With Our Daughters?' Another question of
even more than twin significance is. What
shall We do for our boys?' The boys of the
land need greater attention. as a rule. than the
girls do. Both. however, need to be educated
practically for the duties of life. They need
an education that has more than the theoreti-
cal veneering which il often supplied by the
schOols-an education that fits for life and not
for some other institution Of learning. few
reasons may be succinctly given:
l. Parents should aim to give their children
such an education because it cannot be de-
strOyed by wind, fire or water. as is the case
with all the forms Of property. 1t is perma-
nent pOSSesSlOn. Tree from the r1skH ana losses
connected with real and personal property.
2. 1t cannot be stolen by the professional
burglar or the midnight thief.
3. Its owner cannot be defrauded out of its
possession by the cunning schemes and dis
honesty of designing rOgues This is IA guar
antee Of very great Importance to parent who
is interested in the real welfare Of his children
1t adds comfort to the hopes Of the dying
hour.
4. 1t can be easily and safely transported
from one part Of the world to another without
additional expense. 1t costs more to con-
vey educated brain from Maine to Califor-
mia than it does the most rude and unedu-
Gated.
5. 1t is recognized everywhere and at all
times as ready and acceptable working capital.
1t commands good position and influence and
enables its possessOr to enter at once the active
walks of life.
6. 1t elevates and improves society by fur
nishing for it higher order Of citizens intel
ligent. law abiding and Industrious. The moral
and intellectual tone of the community il ell
HANGED, and the ease and success of local gov
eminent are secured. As a necessary conse-
quence the expense Of government resulting
from the prosecution and punishment of crime
il reduced to the minimum.
T. Moreover, it places men and women be-
fore the world in their true light as rational,
responsible beings, whose efficiency and true
worth depend upon genuine merit rather than
upon the accidental possession of perishable
wealth. The being is measured and recog-
nized by what he is and does, and not by the
hpfIt a.1 tuty, ota L.