The Democrat. (Scotland Neck, Halifax Co., N.C.) 1884-1896, 1892-08-11
EDUCATE YOUR BOY.


siry Of On education, The only
thing there is d difference about is
how much.
One man will declare his intention
of educating his SOD, but when you
begin to question him, you find out
that what he wants bis boy TO have
Is a very limited portion, indeed.
As for Latin and Greek, he never
so much as thought of those as
coming in an education.
Some people, and the number Is
large, too, claim that Latin, Greek,
AMI the higher mathematics are
ornamental studies and are not
practical Therefore, a boy who
wants a practical education, has no
time to bother with them. That is
like the man who puts the backing
on his shoes with the brush but has
no time to rub 1t with the brushy
part. What is the matter with his
shoe? 1t has all the backing it
needs, entirely practical about that,
but It doen't shine. He was just in
too big q hurry to give 1t the fin
ishlng touch, and he had just as
well not put any backing there at
all.
SO the man, who says that be
will just give his boy the practical
part of education, reading, writing,
arithmetic, spelling and the like, is
making a great big mistake. 1t is
hard to decide just where the prac-
teal part ends and the impractical
begins.
Fol- our part we do not believe there
are any Impractical branches. We
believe That the knowledge OF
Latin and Greek is just as useful to
tue literary man as arithmetic is to
the farmer. We believe that
tngonometry is just as useful to
the astronomer as spelling is to the
farmers boy.
We believe that every thing that
Cne can learn Is useful to him. The
higher studies give him a margin,
and are useful to HIN In that ref pect
A man never loves to get clear to
the end OF his row. We don't love
to read book, If the lines run clear
ont to the edge of the paper. We
| want some margin there as relief
All things else being equal, the
man who has a margin is the
most successful.
Then, coming back to the origl
nal proposition, we must educate
the boys. We must educate them
to become suitable for the educated
girls of the land. We must educate
them to become the dispensers OF
truth, to prevent oGr coantTy from
running mad with error. We must
educate them to develop the genius
that is lying dormant in our midst
aud to put in motion principles
that will enhance le happiness OF
mankind. There is no lodging OF
this Issue. All parties are agreed
On the great question of education
Then, how much, is the question!
We think that the more a young
man has the better he is prepared
for business. IN fact, we believe
that one cannot learn too much
We are of the opinion that a lit
tie learning is sometimes danger
GUS thing, but we cannot agree
that 1t is a greater danger to Lean
Latin and Greek, as some people
seem to think.
| Sometimes man enters his 10y
at school. and teacher asks him i
he wants him to pursue the classi
cal course. He answers that be
never expects to send him to col
Iege, and, thefore, 1T would be use
less for him to study them. Maybe
he dosen't, but how does the man
know what the boy l5 gong to do
The father ot the writer, nor any OF
his people, ever thought that We
would go to college. Yet we went
and the only thing we regretted
was the fact that we hadn't
studied the branches at school that
were included IN the classical
course, ard had To do that when We
ought to have been doing some
thing else.
All ought to study the classics
# we don't go to college, it Will &c
| no harm; bat if SIC should, thcn We
are prepared. Let the boys of the
country be educated thoroughly IL
all the branches of an education
ana we believe that peace ant
plenty Will ultimately prevail.
W. c. A.