New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-02-01
thorough TRANSACTIONS which will give them much
more inspiration than the university graduate can
possibly draw from them in the original

possibly draw from them IN the original
MODERN MONASTERY
II is said young mans education is finished
when he leaves school. There never was a greater
fallacy. In the highest sense, education begins
only when man leaves school, college or uni
versity In those institutions, he learns only the
use of the tools Whether he is to be educated
or not is to be determined, not by knowing how 10
the tools but whether by the Use of these
tools he makes mars his future development
and his fework.
Whether young men should go from school
business college to a university is question, not
whether they should have more education or not.
but between two modes Of education. 1t is best
for them as a rule TO 20 directly into contact
with practical work and real things and obtain
their education in the finest schoo-the world
around them-or should they he confined in the
university, which is at present conducted the
modern monastery mtigated by football, and
the four most precious years of their lives spent
in producing such results as are eXemphcd in
great many Of the university graduates utter
hclplessneSs 10 begin the practical work of the
world, and lack of all knowledge concerning
business?
We hear much of civil service in the various
branches of government; butt it is far more i'm
portant that strict system of civil service be
L
factory, mill, store, bank and school, deserved
promotion should be the strict rule. It is the
strict rule and must be- in all establishments which
are phenomcnally successful, for the only way TO
attract TO any institution the most capable young
men is TO prove to them that in it service-mcrit
is the only test and only thing certain to meet
with recognition and promotion. This sautary
system requires the young To enter the service
While IN their teens, and to work up from
stage to another until they reach the top The
young man who attempts to start at twenty-five
or twenty-thrce direct from the university cannot
enter at the foot not only because he does not
know how to perform humble duties, but because
he has TO unlearn much that he has learned.
He is untitled to begin at the foot of the ladder:
besides, when young man is furnished with n
certificate from leading professor that his educa
ton is finished it is exceedingly difficult TO bring
him to the knowledge of the fact that the pro-
cssor is all wrong, and that his education is about
TO begin. There is something supremacy absurd
in keeping under tutclagc, at school, one whom the
law has invested with all the rights of citizenship
for year-a man beyond the twenty one years of
his majority. Imagine the university student
asking the professor whether he get away 70
vote for President, and being denied because he
had failed in his Greek roofs that morning.
l have no hesitation in stating that any young
young woman fortunate enough 10 have
to make his or her way in the world chooses
wisely in making an early start. | believe that
three or four years spent at the time of beginning
life would De unwiscly spent in trying To obtain
all that "a university gives TO its graduates. |
hear il often said that every business man who
has not received university education wishes in
afterlifc that he bad There is truth in this
know that they regret every day that they did
M loar ar fbar (lpe UyiShn HOT,
he could converse fuenty Gin French, or play the
piano like Paderewski, or sing like Fischer, or
knew more Of the gems Oficlasscal literature and
the history Of the past But it is impossible in
this busy age for man to have every accom-
plishment, or TO fathom all knowledge; and do
not know Of any good thing that business men
have learned which they would exchange for
any different thing which a university would have
given in its place.
OF course in all that I say in regard TO the
present system of education in universities, !
refer TO its influence upon those VINO have 20 make
their living, as trust all my readers have 10 do.
There is heritage so beneficial fer the build
ing up of character honest work stimulated by
honest poverty. If any young man has special
abilities and tastes for the pursuit Of knowledge
in any branch and has ithc means for pursuing
that branch as his life work. and is not under
the necessity Of making his own living, and can
devote himself to original research IN any Of IN"
professions i'll which pccuniary returns may he
disregarded my structures have no reference 10
him. Such men exceptional and will follow
their own bent and obtain knowledge in then
own way.
DEAD LANGUAGES DOOMED.
All things are improving in this age. II is the
best age for a man TO live in that ever wa,
Wrongs are quickly exposed. Changes are rapidly
Effected The world is moving forward az rapid
pace : and we may all congratulate ourselves mat
we live in a period of activity hitherto un-
equalled.
In the universal movement forward, no long
established system is being more vigorously "t
tackled throughout the world than the classical
system of education. Even at the most venerable
Of these monastic seats Of learning, OAlori ana
Cambridge, the attack has almost reached success.
Old England is rising 10 lust estimate oil The
gricvOus wrong done in4the past by those VINO nave
controlled the education OF Inc people. Last year
a motion against the compulsory study of dead
languages was lost by few votes only. inns
year or the next for the battle can end only when
victory is attained, il rs expected % succeed. Inc
irrepressibe Emperor Of Germany has recently
astonishcd the fosszc, professors by telling them
plainly that the old mOnastic idea Of education
which taught how TO he Greeks or Romans
must give place 10 the modern system winch
makes them Gcrmens.
1t is certain that only few short years are -
pass before these useless dead languages small
he no longer required. just IS sure as me sun
shines, as the dead go down and are buried our
own living Literature will ascend, and as thc
university student knows less Of the problems oi
the past, lie will learn more and more of the me-
moods Of to-day. AS lie drops the dead past, he
will take hold Of the diving present.
AFTER TWENTY, TIE WORLD THE sChOo'''
>, 80 o,d ,,,,nou e rcsnnusiblp for |