The record-union., 1891-12-26
GRAN.
The System of Overlooking the Com
mon Schools.
The Practical Needed Necessity for
Eliminating opportunities
A Pointed Address.


Iivered at the graduating exercises of the
Sacramento Business College, Sacrament
10, Monday evening last They relate di-
rectly to the question Of examining in the
public school courses as recently ex-
posed by the RECORD UNION:
have always been an advocate for that
kind of instruction and training and drill
IN our schools-both public and private
that would tend TO give to our young peo-
pie broader comprehension and higher
estimate of the duties, the responsible
lies and the realities of practical life, thus
enabling them to draw up 10 happier,
more useful and nobler manhood and
womanhood.
take it that this is, and Of right ought
TO be, the chief object TO be kept in view
in all our processes of instruction and in
all our systems of education. If our
schools are TO prove of value to our boys
and girls it will be, not by giving to them
the opportunity TO acquire knowledge
simply, but to acquire power-the power
TO do-to bring TO pass; power which
constitutes the indispensable element Of
success, more precious than gold, and far
more valuable than the mere acquisition
Of knowledge.
With all our boosted facilities for edu-
cation it is a common complaint that our
children go out from our schools with
but a very Indifferent understanding of
the practical value of the work which
they have been prosecuting in them, and
with but little acquired ability and skill
in applying to practical advantage the
learning which they may have acquired
by their years Of devotion under the guild
ance of their teachers.
/ sometimes think, and sometimes dare
to give utterance to the thought, that it is
doubtful whether the boys and girls Of
to-day are, with all their multiplied OPP
portunities, any better equipped for
battling with the stern realities Of life,
than boys and girls were in the days in
which the three RS held a more prOmi-
nent place in the curriculum of school
work, than they now do. Certainly,
when we consider the greater length of
time spent each year in the schools, and
the greater completeness of appliances,
the comparison of the present with the
past ought to appear more favorable than
it does.
The fact can not be gainsaid that the
tendency of these modern times is toward
giving a moderate insight into a great
many things to the exclusion of that
completeness of training which is desira-
BILE and necessary in the more essential
and practical branches. We are reYers-
ing the old MAXIM Much not many"
and are inclining toward estimating the
attachments Of young people by quantity
not by quality. The standard of capa-
bility and proficiency, and the primary
object Of school work, seems to be the
number Of credits, or the per cents. which
pupils can secure in written eXamlna-
lions upon questions-often conundrumS
that have little, if any, relevancy to
sound, practical understanding; ques-
tons which neither cultivate nor test the
knowledge of principles or the power Of
applying principles. We seem to lose
sight of the cardinal doctrine that it is the
Tllp mo of q fay4yt hot
makes one ruler over many things.
We seem to ignore the fact that the ac-
QUESTION of power comes, not by dissi-
pating, but by focalizing effort, that depth
of understanding and strength of thought
result from concentration OF energy. The
true Office of education is to develop and
discipline the powers of mind; to cult
vate and strengthen the power to think,
not to teach facts. The greatest benefit
TO be derived from q course of school
training is the acquisition of the power
20 accomplish what we undertake.
A distinguished biographer says that it
is a characteristic of American youth to
wander aimlessly along, shifting as the
wind, ebbing and flowing as the tide. UNI
stable as water. Is not this characteristic
to-day becoming more marked in its
strength and extent by means of the
very instrumentalities by which it should
be corrected?
The power of practical application pre-
suppOses thorOughness; and thOroughness
IS not the result of dissipated effort; not
the result of attention TO many things.
Arion and Sunol are the effects of train
ing more than of blood. More training
and less teaching are the imperative de-
mands of our schools. 1t is training that
affords the culture which is required for
This busy, practical age. II is not so
much -knowledge-that we
need as it is genuine mental strength
that strength which comes from thorough
mental discipline and abundant exercise
in the application of what is learned.
Thought is the great moving principle
of progress. Thoroughness of training
gives the power of thought and generates
the spirit of self-reliance and self-helpful-
ness.
Had I the power I would eliminate
from our courses of study much of that
irrelevant matter, the effect of which is to
dissipate energy and prevent the concen-
tration of attention upon those branches
of learning that are possessed of good
practical value. Thus / would gain time
Tor drill in the application of principles
and for the preparation and strengthen
ing of the young for the active duties of
life. We are overlooking the fact that
Cur children may be deeply versed in the
books and yet be very shallow in under
standing. We are railroading our young
people through extended courses of study
so rapidly that it is impossible for them
20 catch more than mere glimpses of
practical knowledge.
We are losing sight of the great truth
chat the mind can attain its normal growth
and strength only when it grows in har-
mony with the growth of the physical
constitution. Such line Of procedure must
result in mental dyspepsia aggravated by
physical degeneracy. Concentration of
thought and energy ana exercise is what
we need. He who can grasp a sub
ject and hold it until he has examined it,
IN every possible light, is the one who
makes the powers of mind and the acqui-
sition of knowledge practically available
Jor the accomplishment of great results.
instability of purpose, indehnlteneSS OF
understanding and lack of power to util-
lie knowledge, are the inevitable conse-
Quences of attempts to direct attention to
TOO many things at the same time. The
Jack of all trades need not hope to become
the master of any trade.
Led to it by years of close observation,
and by somewhat varied experience, /
am an earnest, l may say, an enthusiast
tic advocate for such a thorough, pratical,
business education for our boys and girls
as will make them useful and helpful to
themselves, to their parents, their COM
munity, their State, their country-to hui
maDity.
1 believe, too, in an education in con-
sonance with what the reasonable proba-
bilities and natural inclinations indicate
that the hfe-work of the boy or girl is
likely TO be. I do not believe that the
education of those to whom God has given
different talents should be cast in uni
form mold. This to-day is one of the
, crying evils Of our common school sys-
tenn. We do not consult the natural gifts
and aptitudes of the young, and we are
Irittering away valuable time and oppor-
tunity in the vain endeavor TO make all
our children prosecute in our schools the