The Republican journal., 1892-07-07

~ -'N-
Mrs. PRESIDENT, LADIES AND GENTLE
MEN In a recent article in the Arena
upon "Full-orbed Education" by Prof
Jas X. Buchanan, he begins by asking
the question, "What is the true and SUI
preme pulposeof Education, and answers
his question 10y placing at the head OF these
requirements: "A physical constitution
competent to do, to dare and to achieve;
competent to bear with ease ali the bur
dens of life in any Situation;' and second,
LAS the world lives and advances by lab
OF. work is the chief business OF lite, the
chief duty for which education should
prepare us. II is. therefore. to indus
trial education we must look to ''malle
every man and woman a successful pro
ducel and contributor To the national
wealth adding that 'une'lueated ply
sical ability never produces wealth OF Sc
cures comfort.
Tie old ideas upon education We're en-
tirely opp' sed to the present most intelll-
gent thought upon that subject. Then
the sickly. deli ate. feeble in health and
ignorant of practical business affairs of
life. with his hte hands and whittier Inv
er, storing up over the midnight lamp
useless supply of useless knowledge, was
the beau ideal OF the equally useless wom-
an. who spent her days in drumming up
on the piano. or dawdling over silly novels
to tie detriment OF all personal vigor OF
mental development. But with the new
gospel Of phN steal and manual training
has come i'll the equally new gospel OF
good health The sickly and feeble of
both sexes, who are made so by their own
folly. are now relocated to the back seats
and the strong and vigorous mentally and
physically. are rightfully at the front.
This reaction has come none too soon
for the salvation and continuity of the
race. and now friends, though we are but
small fraction of the race, Let us do what
we IN in this direction of building up a
stronger anG better manhood and woman
hood. 1t will not be long ere the girls
and boys in our streets to-day, will be
istels. teachers, traders, etc, etc.-ln
sl,l7 filling all positions of trust and
lal,l. now carried on.-and more-fo; as
civilization advances. life grows more
con1ltN. and greater demand for skill
in al these lines % work VIII be required.
~ turn loose upon the world these
yorrg men and young women entirely
un] pared to earn IN honest living is u
e1ts.:eS OF cruelty we have been slow to
discern II is simply adding increased
numbers to the victims of ignorant I'M
skilled labor that are pauperizing and
criminalizing vast portions OF our large
cities to-day, equally the despair of polit
ical economists and philanthropists Many
of rs. whose hairs are slvering with in
creased years. remember with regret that
the terribly false education to which we
We're subjected developed a spirit of caste,
which has been hard to shake Off.
Industrial training not only was not en-
cou1aged, but an almost insuperable
barrier lay between the indoent student
of Greek and Latin and the hard handed
laboling man OF woman.
Excessive devotion 10 books is the
curse of all educational systems, says
Nh. Huchanan: also. that las a specimen
of humanity" the unschooled hunter OF
Indian warrior with all his senses. facul-
ties. muscles and energies fully developed.
is d ncjIel example than the over trained
ctfCpGuate scholar who has lost his man
heed III trying by false methods to cult
waite one fifth of his nature. and has failed
even in that. For that cannot he called a
true odUcation which fails TO give useful
know Wedge independent thought, a capac-
ity fci finding ont the truth. and sound
Judgment III all the affairs OF life. This
NAV ,e a very sweeping statement of MI
Bucl anan' sand some may dittel from it,
But ihat it contains a truth none can
deny. The swing of the educational pen
dulum is certainly in the direction of man
uaI on industrial training. Many wise
and sensible people-educator preach
ers and philanthropists look to it as a
means of solving many knotty problems
that are confronting all peoples and ma
tons. The poverty and crime curse, the
drink habit the social purity questions
and divorce and many Others
What then is manual training? 1t has
been defined as the ''subjugation of the
hand and arm to the control of the brain,
so they shall work in obedience to the will
at the exact instant desired.' The expe-
rience of Kindergartens proves that the
training of the land-tlaat most wonder
full of all instruments-can be begun in
the child of three years of age-so that
his supple and growing fingers shall be
taught to move i'll definite directions for
definite ends.
In this our grandmothers were wiser
than we, for they taught their daughters
to make fine shirts at very tender
age. We know that the girl who never
uses a needle until she becomes a full
grown woman can never become an ac-
complished seamstress-so with musical