The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1892-12-03
What Are We to Do With Our
Scholars ?

blowing his brains out IN his rooms
in college, with an at least dubious
death Of another the next week,
may turn, if but for moment, un-
thinking peoples attention to the
grave questions of the day, "What
are we to do with our scholars?"
Every single member Of society,
from the artisan and the crossing
sweeper to the shopkeeper and the
woman farmer-now, alas so rare
lis educating his son peg higher
than his father before him, and ed
ucating him above manual labor.
It is all very fine to say that man
can sweep crossing as we'll or bet
ter if he knows the rudiments Of
Greek and Latin grammar. The
question is not whether man will
sweep his crossing better or worse
on a classical education. AS a mat
ter of fact, after that education he
will too frequently refuse to sweep
one at all. Even granting that
knowledge of the dead languages
will increase his aptitude for per-
forming that necessary labor, it will
destroy his taste for it, or rather,
which is the same thing, give him
a taste for something of different
kind. He will want to work with
his head instead of his hands, to
be a clerk instead of a workingman
and to what end? The world is
packed with clerks. There are twen-
ty applicants for every miserably
paid post, infinitely worse paid than
honest manual labor. The rest,
the other nineteen, starve or ad-
dress circulars at shilling a
Thousand and eat their hearts with
misery and wretchedness. They
cannot teach; to dig they are
ashamed. And as if to make mat
ters worse, they not only will not
dig, they can not. The. product of
the board schools, the boys who
triumphantly pass the higher stand
ards, can not work with their hands.
They have developed their brains
at the expense of their muscles
very few can develop both simulta-
neously-and if they earn starva-
ton wages as clerks they would
earn none at all as artisans.
Ask at any of the scholastic agen-
cies if you wish to ascertain the
state of the market in the supply OF
schoolmasters. The market is pos
itively glutted. There are twenty
addressed, STOPPING, faded wretehes
painting for every assistant master
ship at ESQ a year, nonresident, or
EGO resident. And remember, on
such q pittance the poor fellows
have to keep up position. They
must dress as gentlemen, live more
or less like gentlemen, on the wages
of an omnibus-driver. But they
have taken up the profession; they
have qualified for it by years of Ia
borious, half-digested study. They
could not drive an omnibus if they
would.
Every head-master of every little
hedge school must have an athlete,
as we'll as scholar, for his assistant
nowadays. What chance has this
overworked creature of the educa-
ton craze to develop into an ath-
lete7 He has not the time, has not
the money, ten to one he has not
the stamina. Again, every head
master wants gentleman" man
with good manners, good appear
ance, we'll dressed, etc. And the
market is packed with young men
of unexceptional parentage, fresh
from the university, willing and
anxious to take even the smallest
posts. This is fresh cruelty to
poor Smike. These young men are
the sons of parents who have mod
crate means, but are determined
their sons shall have something TO
do."
When the choice is between these
young men who have had all the
from the tirst-public
school training and social, as we'll
as mental, education of the univer-
sity-which the other poor fellows,
from lack of means have missed, OF
course the gentleman's son is
chosen if he will come on the same
terms. He looks better bred, is
probably stronger and more ath-
letic, isincomparably better dressed
and more at his ease. He elbows
the poorer man out of the running
with light-hearted carelessness. and
the poorer man dies in q garret or
turns genteel swindler. It is a los
ing race from the first. Wages are
down to nothing because of the
number Of young men on an allow
ance who are willing to work for
little under pressure from home.
It is exactly the same lower
down in the scale. The less prom
lsing pupils, who never reach the
stage Of the university and the ex-
hibitions given to deserving stud
ents by city companies, are equally
useless products, and more hope
|essly stranded. For the others
have at least reached the goal Of
heir ambitions. They have got