The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-01-04
THE HIGHER EDUCATION.
Suggestions Growing Gut az tbs Lecture
Hsfore,ths stata Teachers.

Suggestions Growing Out az tbs Lecture
HsforestAs state Teachers.
What knowledge 10 Of the most WORTH
by the answer q man makes to this ques-
ton may DO judged his rank in the scala Of
excellence. 'I'd rather have d thimblefsl
of common Genas than be- I graduate Of
Yale college" 10 a speech I heard tho other
day. This remark il intended 10 raiss 4
laugh ct the expense Of what ID called
higher education. What Ii implied? II In
that the man who has no education is more
liksly to have . thimblsful OF 90
ssnss than tho man who i educ ated. II
would b. ! fippart reply TO suck d remark
TO say, ''Just 20, just about q thimbleful Of
common sense, and no mors;n but this re-
ply falls short OF the mark. II forgets to
state that education IL Z matter Of mental
training, and that the most valuable mon
tai training 10 not tho gift of a college; and
svsry sduoatsd mind recognizes this great
truth. The most valuable knowledge ID not
gotten from books, or At least not from
printed books. for there are books in mn
ming brooks" ~ Shakespeare has 1t. All
experience which teaches Misrepresentation;
all experiences which teaches how to get =
living; all that experience which teaches
tina most ordinary laws Of good morals;
comes not from books or colleges. 1t comes
from the contact with things and with our
fellow nam; it begins In infancy. enlargos
with our growing manhood, and this
grave, kind and inexorable teacher,
experience. never leaves cur side while We
hold possession Of our mental faculties;
and We listen most respectfully, and heed
most wisely aud carefully her teachings
the older We. grow. This. then, il the
source Of such common sense as We may
have; and the faculty Of acquiring common
sense, i not less developed in the the edu-
Dated than in the uneducatsd man, but on
the contrary the educated man will have
an immsnse advantage. Such SCOTS at
sdueation are very taking, but they are only
taking with shallow minds.
In certain respects the half naked boRRar
boy In the streets Of New York il smarter
than the spruce looking lad who il walking
the Same street on his way to school. He
has = sharpness and presence Of mind
which overcome some kinds of difficulties
which ths latter has not. but given the same
degree of natural powers of the mind, and
the same experience Of common things and
give the higher education and withhold il
from the other and who will be bold enough
to prefer ths emptier to the fuller vessel?
The phrase common sense" when prop
erly used. means that degree of mental
power to Judge Alright which all intelligent
trast ii then with nonsense, but will com-
pare il with educated mental power. We
state this comparison to show where turks
tbs fallacy in this soornful remark, and the
fallacy il not psroieved by the person who
hinRs the scorn. By reason of his conoeit
he does not exercise the common sense
which at the very moment he IL 10 boastful
OF. Can the man who has only common
sense truly say: MY mind to me . king
LON isl
The higher education Of our mental fac
ulties is tho enlargement Of our mental
0yh ArMs ~ 30 thu ~ A. .n@na~A -
our happineso; it is to get happiness from
q source which ID higher and nobler than
the senses can provide for us. The supe-
rior man 10 always recognized as the one
who draws his highest snjoymsnts from
the use of his intellectual faculties.
simply the average amount Of ssense.''
without education, even whom the means
Of higher education ara offered to him, may
be likened to the man who with the means
to live in . palace with u commanding pros
poet of beauty around him, prefers the
n%arrowness and squalor Of q dirty hut.
But, | fancy, the man who makes the as
sertion contained in the text, means that
natural shrswdnsss without education is
better than education without natural
shrswdness, but this il simply to assert that
q considerable degree Of mental ability is
better than a less degree of mental ability,
a mere truism and there is no point in the
the proposition.
Ridioule of education is the point of the
remark; and whom it is examined and ina
lived it appears absurd, that ID to say fool
ish, for native shrewdness without educa-
ton auperadded is better than native
shrswdness alone; else enlarged mental
faculty is no better than narrow mental
faculty. But man il distinguished from
the brute by superiority of mentality and
tic more hs.g mind is cultivated. that ID,
educated, the higher he ascenda above the
brute. CHARLES A, GREGORY,
Bozeman, Jan. 1, 1892.