New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-08-16
VACATION NOT WASTE.
ARGUMENTS AGAINST HURRYING THE PRO
CESS OF EDUCATION.

To tho Editor of The Tribune.
sir: Since your editorial The Vacation Waste in
Yesterdays Tribune begins with reference 10 current
discussion Of educational ways and means please al
low me to add somewhat TO that discussion even
though It be in the direction Of dissenting most vsvr-
ously from the views you express
You a. gue that We must have dstfnctvey Amer-
can system of education, that shall be superior 10 the
efYee systems that Have only succeeded In producing
suoh scholars such science and such literature as those
Of England France and Germany; that shall teach all
NJ useful knowledge that they teach and that shall 40
90 IN much less time than they require In brief you
demand that the average American boy shall be grad
mated at university and begin earning his own living
before he comes Of age With the first of these prOpo-
sitions have no particular quarrel; although when
We consider how many Of educational works are
necessarily either OF European origin or based upon
European authorities, dstnctlvey Anne lean system
does not seem easy TO establish. What would be a
distlnctlvely American multiplication tablet Or dis
tinctively American binomiA theoreml But IL Is
from the last proposition that wish chiefly 10 declare
dissent.
If The average duration of human life were shorter
in America than elsewhere, or if it were shorter now
than in the preceding generations, there would be
force In the plea CT shortening in corre5pndng meas
ure TIA period of education But just the reverse Is
true The duration Of life IS longer aud Is growing
SIN longer And that means that each of lis ages
infancy childhood, adolescence, manh0Od-is longer
and IS growing longer. Maturity IS not attained as
soon as 1t was And thus by the logic Of physiology
the educational period Is heightened, rather than
shortened Moreover, education Is not cTammng' but
cultare 1t IS mental discipline, not mental filling up
The Tribune's quick lunch appaatus may I'll q
mans stomach with food in thirty seconds instead OF
thirty minutes but ii cannot hasten tie process OF
Digestion \ boy may be rushed through school,
seminary aid university before his twentieth brh1ay,
but viii he have digosted and assimated all his men
ST. Not rrnIA =
American brain as well as system of efuoatiOn.
tree reaches maturity and bears frult az given age
YOu may put il IN good soil, and prune 1t, ana Keep
of insects and thus get more and better frut' but
the period that IS reproductive save IN prepa atom tF
productlveness will remain the same. You might
hurry matters by putting the tree in hthouse. but
have never supposed that distinctively American
culture was to be Of the dollhouse kind.
With human progress. the curriculum Of necessary
knowledge is lengthenlng. century ago the science
Of chemistry was unknown. generation ago electrical
science had not come into being. Tie extension OF
learning in other directions is very great Are we To
say that the scholar of to-day must learn all That his
predecessors learned and all these things besides III
less time than they devoted % their meagre studies
II seems 70 ne not reasonable, neither does 1t seem
10 me reasonable Just 10 brand a. inc0nsequential
frivolous or contemplate any one who sees NJ ana
can afford 10 devote TO study some years OF lie
beyond the age Of twenty. cannot conceive tiit II
Is desirable ttl every one siOL~A 10 NI'+o 49, WA
living At that point In his career Mr. GradsIind may
have thought so. and NJ. Jefferson Brick. But Nr.
Grad -ind was not dlstinctivey American educator
no, did Mr. Jefferson Brick write editorials for The
Tribune We are certainly not prepared % take the
cross and sordld view the sole object % life Is
10 make money, and that every one should devote
himself thereto az the earliest possible moment. /
10 not think that we call IL dsgraceful for man
IN devote even his whole life 70 the acquisition OF
learning though he never may earn cent. The
greatness Of a nation. Emerson said Is not measured
bv the census nor by tie crops, but the End OF men
n tnrns out And even the ehete Institutions OF
learning at oxford and Eedeberg are possibly ysiteI
producers Of manhood than Wall street or the Chgo
Gattle wards IL is pretty bad 70 be dude 4 is IN
CONSEQUENTIAL, frivolous, cOniempuDlc. But HeNc-.
6rbid that il should be d!stincuyely American u %
a hustler -, -.
work FOR fnll years pay would be all right II teachers
Tot full years pay. The fact l., they get about
three months pay for nine months work. while ule
educators OF our children the guardians Of the next
generiinn OF voters, are paid les than clerks OF
MECHANICS II pretty poor time 10 sneer az them As
Overpaid aud underH Orked 10 Is not Che teachers thaS
have 10 conoede etc, but the people who ought To
concede that the laborer even though solooteaeheF
4 worthy OF HIS hire. ., -.
might tais up the general Issue OF vacation waste
but 10 would mako this letter TOO iona. Lei me Only