The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1893-04-26
Ex-President Hayes on Education.

Ex-President Hayes on Education.
Education begins at the cradle and
continues while life lasts. 1t is the
chief interest and the most indispensa-
BILE duty of the parent during the first
score years of his child's life, and until
age of maturity. What shall be its
scope, its aim, its purpose? Plainly it
concerns the mind, the heart, the eyes,
the hands, the health-before and above
all, the character. The child must be
fitted for the place he is TO fill in life.
Here is the rub. What place in life
shall the boy or girl fill? In the old
world society and individuals are gov.
erned in large measure by caste. Under
this blind rule an memorable fate fixes
for life the place of all born unto the
world. Children follow in the footsteps
of their parents. They are in The pro-
fessions, they are idlers, they are farm
ers or mechanics, or laborers, according
to the pursuits of their progenitors be-
fore them. The old-world law of caste
has one seeming advantage. 1t simpli-
fies the parental duty of education. The
blacksmith must send his boy only to
such schools as are needed in that handi-
craft, and so of other occupations. But
the new-world gospel of education in
culcates other principles. Here the
place in life which the young are to
hold is not fixed by the ancestral tree.
In America the sons of mechanics,
laborers, and farmers become scholars,
philosophers, generals, and the leaders
and rulers of states and peoples. They
fill the highest places for which their
live tola Nd hot ,N,xx
characters fit them. American educa-
ton, therefore, should give to all the
young of America an equal opportu-
nifty for the improvement of their nat
ural faculties and endowments. Amer
lea cannot afford to chain her children
to the past. If, upon the whole, it is
best for the son to adopt the calling of
his father, let it be so; but in our
scheme of public education-of educa-
ton for all-let diversity of taste, of in
tellect, and of gifts be amply provided
for. A good friend said to me, 6"
want to send my boy to school that
will prepare him for the farm-why
bother him with the dead languages?''
My reply was, That depends-the
dead languages are no fetch of mine
but suppose your boy is as awkward
with scythe as Daniel Webster is re-
ported to have been, and suppose he
gives signs of possessing the massive
understanding and the mighty power
of speech which made Webster the
great statesman and orator of his time
wouldn't you give him chance for the
career for which his gifts have fitted
him? Rather let our education be sc
broad and liberal that it will furnish tC
all the sons and daughters in America
the highest and best scholarships theil
talents enable them to receive. Schol
arship develops aud trains the power Of
expression"
Mr. Emerson says: GAIL the human
race have agreed to value man &C
cording to his power of expression
Let this rare and select power be within
the reach of every son and daughter Of
our land qualified by natural gifts tC
possess it. 1t is reproach to any agri
cultural or mechanical college if it doe.
not teach all of mechanics and of farm
ing that can be best taught in college
We know that large part of practica
skill in farming can be taught at home
and on the farm. 1t is no Just grount
of reproach to the agricultural and me
chanical college, but rather an added
advantage, if, while it holds practica
farming and practical industry in tn,
shop in due honor and of unquestioneC
worth, it also, in the wise words of Err,
Cornell, is Gan institution where an,
person can find instruction in an,
study"
My earnest suggestion to this body o
intelligent and practical men is: LIE
there be no opposition to any schem
of education merely because it furnishe
a more liberal scholarship than yo,
fancy you need for your children. N
parent is so wise and far-seeing as in
fallibly to know the powers, the posi-
bilities, the destiny of his child.
education is weak where it ought to b.
strongest, If in this common-sense ag
1t makes no adequate provision for tn
wholesome avocations of everyday life
ii 1t turns the young out into the worl
unable to make living by the skille
labor of their own hands-helpess vic
Tins of idleness and vice-reform il
reform it, reform it altogether Blu
remember, beg you, it is no remed
for the evil you dread TO separate you
students from the scholars with whic
they are to associate and to compete TO
the prizes of life. Caste will renal
perhaps for ages in the old world. Their
are those who would give it foothol
on this side the Atlantic. But it has n
rightful place in republic. Educatio
should be fitted to the child, not GOV
erned by the calling of the paren
Labor is the cornerstone of all civilize
society. Put labor, therefore, into tb
education of all our children. 1t shout